Goodell would do well to ignore Gumbel’s tirade
DETROIT – The NFL remains an easy target because it’s the gluttonous that stand out. The sports and entertainment monolith burps thousand-dollar bills, attracting critics hopeful that its voracious appetite for autocratic power would devour its integrity as well.
But the NFL isn’t fatheaded.
And when new commissioner Roger Goodell officially assumes the trappings of the monarch Friday, he shouldn’t give Bryant Gumbel the satisfaction of exposing the league and its television arm, the NFL Network, as nothing more than a propaganda shill.
Gumbel’s incendiary comments regarding the business relationship between outgoing commissioner Paul Tagliabue and players’ association chief Gene Upshaw has placed his role as NFL Network play-by-play announcer in jeopardy. The NFL hired Gumbel for its slate of eight late-season games.
But perhaps the strongest reaction has come from players tired of being dismissed as lapdogs at the negotiating table, happily accepting whatever crumbs the wildly rich owners throw their way. More than a few have expressed their displeasure at the tenor of Gumbel’s attacks.
“He’s suggesting that we, as players, aren’t paying attention or don’t care what our union representation tells us,” said Detroit Lions place-kicker Jason Hanson, who played at Washington State University and Mead High School. “And that’s not only uninformed, but it comes close to crossing the line into insulting.”
Hanson has a better perspective than most. He’s beginning his 15th season in the NFL, bearing firsthand witness to the relatively amiable relationship between labor and management.
During his career, the salary cap grew from $42 million to $102 million. There’s more than enough milk within that cash cow to keep everybody fat and happy.
“We’ve avoided work stoppages since I’ve been in the league,” Hanson said. “Why does that necessarily mean that (Upshaw) wasn’t tough enough with him or that they were in league together? There’s nothing wrong with something being worked out and being fair to both sides and I know that, this time, there were some owners that were unhappy.
“I mean, we complain about the unwillingness of those in power to make deals that are in the best interests of all parties, and then when you have a situation where there is a constructive willingness to work together, that’s criticized. I just don’t know where it’s all coming from.”
It’s spawned from Gumbel’s arrogance and hypocrisy.
He blasted Upshaw during his closing commentary on his latest “Real Sports” HBO sports magazine, shaping his venom as friendly advice for Goodell.
“Before he cleans out his office,” Gumbel told his viewers, “have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash. By making the docile head of the players’ union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving the players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch.”
He denigrates Upshaw as a willing accomplice to a supposed corporate exploitation of its employees, yet he seemingly has no problem taking the NFL’s money, which would be the fruit of those alleged abuses.
Does Gumbel understand that guaranteed contracts were never negotiated into baseball’s collective bargaining agreements? It was the product of wily agents and desperate owners.
“I would like to see him back it up with some actual evidence or some actual incidents of what he’s talking about,” Hanson added.
Gumbel wants to embarrass the NFL and the only way that happens would be if Goodell reprimands Gumbel for his acid tongue. If the NFL takes his play-by-play gig away from him, it has exposed itself as possessors of a hide several layers less than thin. If the NFL makes him beg for forgiveness, it comes across as tyrannical egomaniacs.
The best strategy is letting it go and let Gumbel drown in his own double standards.