Just yesterday, the NFL witnessed its biggest move of the offseason - and it had nothing to do with the draft or free agency. In a complete no-brainer, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell rejected the appeals of the members of the New Orleans Saints' managerial staff, upholding suspensions initially handed down as a result of their compliance in a bounty ring.
Let this decision, though hopefully obvious to any ethical person, not be skimmed over and given a mere nod or word of approval. Remember, this is the same organization that has concealed head trauma statistics, squabbled over revenue sharing and failed to rein in its most violent players.
This whole scandal has accomplished a number of things, not the least of which is uniting fans and news junkies alike. It has also painted Goodell as a purveyor of justice and lent credence to the belief that these kinds of things do indeed happen.
Moreover, onlookers diligently keeping pace with it have gotten a glimpse of the disarray afflicting the Saints, both a much-deserved and too-lenient consequence of their actions.
But my goal is not to pontificate about the necessity of fair play in sports. UNESCO, oddly enough, does an adequate job of that.
What I'm going to tell you is so stupefying that I'm almost ashamed it was said in the context of my favorite sport. I've discovered through various media forms that there are those who remain with at least one foot in the Saints' camp, people whose comments I will try to make sense of here.
Soon after the details of the case emerged, one indignant Saints fan boldly suggested that no action should be taken until a more exhaustive investigation - a phrase I construed as referring to the investigation of all 32 NFL teams - was carried out.
I stared blankly at my monitor, but that's beside the point. For me, such finger pointing hearkened back to the Patriots' videotape scandal a few years ago. The very same reaction - albeit on a far grander scale - abounded, with fans claiming that all teams participated in similar illegal activities.
As much as my hatred for head coach Bill Belichick and the Pats skyrocketed after that story, there's a glaring difference between the two: It is one thing to spy on another team, but it's another one entirely to intentionally jeopardize players' welfare. Neither is right, but I would take the former any day of the week.
There were a number of reactions that did not fully embrace a crackdown on the Saints organization, but, in order to preserve my sanity, I won't touch upon most of them. I will, however, address the worst of them.
Steve Gleason, a former Saints linebacker from 2000 to 2007 who suffers from and raises awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), denounced the decision of filmmaker Sean Pamphilon to release audio of former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Williams was the supreme bounty hunter commander, urging his squad to target certain members of the San Francisco 49ers prior to their 2012 NFC Divisional Round playoff matchup.
In the words of Keyshawn Johnson, "C'mon, man!" If only levity were appropriate here. While Gleason may have permitted Pamphilon to film his struggle with ALS, to say that he felt "deflated and disappointed" at the exposure of the information is embarrassing; one would think that Gleason especially would have been cheering all the way to his next fundraiser.
Say sorry, suffer the consequences and don't do it again - a foolproof three-step process. Still, the Saints and a few of their fans have tried to push back against the grain, to justify what occurred.
Sensibility? It's sports, stupid.
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Sam Gold is a freshman who has yet to declare a major. He can be reached at Samuel_L.Gold@tufts.edu.
