As I'm sure everyone is aware of now, the news cycle this past week was dominated by the NFL for very non football things. Not only is the video of Ray Rice abhorrent, it is appearing more then likely that the NFL saw the video released on Monday and still decided on the two game suspension for Rice. It wasn't until the video was released to the public that they decided to change their decision, and only because they lost public opinion. As more news pours out regarding the handling of this case, it has created a call for Roger Goodell to step down in light of his handling of this situation and other egregious charges.
This is all known, and mostly agreed upon by sensible people of the world. Believe it or not, as much as I am not a Goodell fan, the NFL handling this the way they did doesn't start with him. I present to you the curious case of Leonard Little.
In 1998, Leonard Little was suspended for 8 games. Since this predated things like TMZ, and hell, the internet news cycle completely, the reason for it got swept under the rug.
Leonard Little killed a woman.
He was convicted of killing Susan Gutweiler while driving drunk. He was convicted of manslaughter and received 4 years probation. Less then six months after this conviction, Little was back on the field for the St. Louis Rams, and played another decade in the league. During that time, he won two NFC championships, was named to the All Pro team, and won a Super Bowl.
He also won the Ed Block Courage Award in 2005. This isn't the man of the year award, thank god, but it is still a prestigious award given to the player who "exemplifies commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage."
Earlier that year he received his second DUI and was sentenced to two years probation. He was not suspended.
While Goodell definitely handled this entire situation completely wrong in every single sense, this isn't the first time this has happened in this league, it's just that now we're able to actually have all the information on the event in question. If Leonard Little killed Susan Gutweiler today, things would be very different then they would have in over 15 years ago. And for those of you who don't know, Goodell was not commissioner of the league when Little did this.
Here are my week 2 picks. Home Team in Bold
Baltimore (-3) over Pittsburgh
Miami (even) over Buffalo
Washington (-6) over Jacksonville
Tennessee (-3.5) over Dallas
Arizona (-2.5) over NY Giants
Minnesota (+3) over New England
New Orleans (-6.5) over Cleveland
Atlanta (+6) over Cincinnatti
Detroit (+2.5) over Carolina
Tampa Bay (-6) over St. Louis
Seattle (-6) over San Diego
Houston (-3) over Oakland
Green Bay (-8) over NY Jets
Denver (-11.5) over Kansas City
Bears (+7) over San Francisco
Indianapolis (-3) over Philadeplhia
Last week: 8-7-1
Overall: 8-7-1
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