Deputy Roger Goodell was waiting behind the billboard with his ticket book for Jim Irsay to walk out of the courtroom and awarded the Indianapolis Colts’ owner with a nifty $500,000 fine, just to top off his day.
Irsay had just pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, publicly, as it were. It was an off color affair that most baseball fans would simply rather not have to deal with, but the media has made a mad circus out of the events following that ugly night. Perhaps we will see some closure now.
It seems that the National Football League has a personal conduct policy the Mr. Irsay violated by getting caught driving drunk and on pain pills. Puts the rest of the owners in a bad light, so Roger Goodell gets to slap huge fines on his billionaire employers to what? Impress the public? That little fine is surely not going to hurt the bank accounts of anyone with enough capital to own an NFL franchise.
But still, Irsay will have to pay the money to the league which will do what with it, I wonder? Where does all that fine money go? Goodell surely doesn’t need it! Additionally, Jim Irsay, the second generation owner of the Indianapolis Colts, will not be permitted to attend the first six games of the new season that the Colts will play.
The six game suspension means that Irsay will have to be content to watch his team compete on television until after the Colts play the Houston Texans on October the 9th. And the injunction goes on to say that Irsay may not even show up at any practices or games or represent the franchise in any way.
Perhaps worst of all, Goodell won’t even let poor Irsay engage in any media interviews or get into any social media conversations regarding the Colts or any other team in the NFL. In other words, ‘Shut Up, Jim!” No Facebook, no Twitter, poor man.
Of course Goodell had to rub salt into the wounds by including a letter to Irsay in which he said, “I have stated on numerous occasions that owners, management personnel and coaches must be held to a higher standard than players. We discussed this during our meeting and you expressed you support for that view, volunteering that owners should be held to the highest standard.”
Thanks a lot, Rog.
