If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has turned into Big Brother during the offseason, he ought to be referred to as Big Blinders when it comes to controlling non-sporting behavior during the year.
That’s the only way to explain the lack of a suspension for Houston receiver Andre Johnson and Tennessee cornerback Cortland Finnegan after their helmets-off throwdown on Sunday.
First off, a fight like that in NBA would’ve led to nearly Gilbert Arenas-length suspensions and set the sport back 30 years.
But in the NFL, Johnson and Finnegan walk away with $25,000 registration fees for the bout (does that money go to the Texas Boxing Commission?) handed down by the same guy that thinks his own sport has become too violent.
There’s something to be said for first-time offenders, except for the multiple haymakers Johnson unleashed as if he was in the Octagon, not on the gridiron.
But more importantly, for all of Goodell’s concern over the league’s image, the dispensing of dartboard-style justice puts plenty of holes in his own reputation.
