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Peter King's lengthy profile of Goodell

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Herbert Anchovy, Feb 2, 2011.

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  1. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Gets really dicey when Verducci is talking about anything to do with Roger Clemens.
     
    Boom_70, Feb 3, 2011
    #37
  2. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    You are off on this one.

    Goodell's dad didn't -- or couldn't -- pull any strings to get him into the college he wanted. The name Goodell didn't even do that. By all accounts I know of, even though his family was relatively well off, Goodell really was the kind of guy raised to be tending bar while he was in college.

    There is no evidence that Goodell's dad had anything to do with him getting into football. In fact, all the evidence is to the contrary. Goodell really did write all those letters. Every team, the league office. It's not like this was a two phone calls deal. Goodell was very, very persistent. He basically bugged the shit out of someone until the guy let him in the door. Barely in the door, by the way.

    And as Shockey pointed out, Goodell's dad was long out of politics by then. Maybe he had influence. But how much do you imagine by the early 1980s?

    Even if you don't believe that, Goodell got his foot in the door as an administrative intern at the league office. What did he turn that into? An internship for the Jets. Those are small opportunities that people don't typically (I should add blue font) parlay into "NFL Commissioner."

    Why can't this really just be a simple story of a really single-minded guy who got his toe in the door and then worked his way to where he wanted to be? I understand being cynical. I am as cynical as anyone.

    But this one really is what he says it is.
     
    The Big Ragu, Feb 3, 2011
    #38
  3. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I just read the piece for my day job, and I thought Peter did well what many profiles do, let the subject take the lead and present the subject's view of his life and times. That's not to everyone's taste (like, I don't think it's Matt Taibbi's approach), but it's perfectly valid. Many a subject has hung himself in such pieces.
    Goodell is energetic, dedicated, intelligent, and so forth. That, however, doesn't make him a good commissioner. He's so erratic in his decision making, it bodes ill for any role he might play in labor negotiations -- which will be next door to none, of course. In the 1987 work stoppage, Pete Rozelle might as well have been vacationing on Neptune.
     
    Michael_ Gee, Feb 3, 2011
    #39
  4. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    Fair enough, can't really disagree with that
     
    JimmyHoward33, Feb 3, 2011
    #40
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    The subject might care who the writer is. Goodell might allow access to King that he might not allow to someone else.
     
    Mizzougrad96, Feb 3, 2011
    #41
  6. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Yep. Saying X writer would have done a better job is beyond hypothetical, because of the trust/access factor with the source.

    I liked the story. Good lead with 21-year-old Goodell tending bar.
     
    playthrough, Feb 3, 2011
    #42
  7. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    The guy had every advantage. Somehow he made it past those mean streets of Bronxville.

    The story makes it sound like he was the child of a deli worker. It's a joke.
     
    Herbert Anchovy, Feb 3, 2011
    #43
  8. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Like pro basketball's commish, eh?

    Haven't read the story yet. Posnanski's piece on the back page was better length for bathroom break. Which is the ultimate test of printed media anyway, right?
     
    Joe Williams, Feb 3, 2011
    #44
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I wasn't talking about the story. I was talking about all the unsupported assumptions people have made on here.

    But where in that story does it make him out to be the child of a deli worker? The subhead begins. ... "A politician's son, who rose from intern to NFL commissioner." The story says exactly who his dad was, and points out that he grew up friendly with the Mondale and Udall kids. It also points out that he was something of an underachiever and a bit of a brawler, too. It just seemed to paint a picture of the guy. Not necessarily a false one. And if it is, tell me what is false about it?

    If you are going to say the story made him sound like the son of a deli worker, I really missed the false portrayal. Agreed, he had every advantage. He is a WASP, born to a lawyer / politician, who grew up very comfortably. It still doesn't mean, as everyone is assuming, that he is where he is today because it was handed to him. It's kind of an unfair assumption. If he achieves anything in life, because of who his parents were and where he was born, it's evidence that it was handed to him?
     
    The Big Ragu, Feb 3, 2011
    #45
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    "Roger has so much of his father in him," Tagliabue says. "He listens to all sides and has the courage of his convictions. I used to see it a lot when he was dealing with state legislators and governors. He understood the pressure elected officials were under." So Paul Tagliabue knew Charles Goodell. The same Paul Tagliabue who was working as a lawyer for the league, and well on his way to becoming commissioner, at the time Roger Goodell landed his internship with the Jets, and at the time Charles Goodell was practicing law in Washington, D.C., the same city where Paul Tagliabue happened to be working. And the New York Jets hail from the very state where Charles Goodell was a longtime Congressman and short-time Senator.

    This is really funny that you would think those things had nothing to do with him landing that internship and rising so quickly through the ranks at the league office. I don't know what you get out of pushing the myth.

    Also, shockey is incredibly wildly incorrect in his depiction of their life growing up. Charles Goodell died in 1987, when Roger was the tender age of 28 and long after he had secured his internship. The story discusses the death of Roger's mother, but he was out of college and working by then.
     
    LongTimeListener, Feb 3, 2011
    #46
  11. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I don't "think" anything. You can play specious "guilty by association" games all day long, when you are talking about prominent people.

    When Roger Goodell interned at the NFL, Paul Tagliabue wasn't the commissioner. Pete Rozelle was. Would be for another 7 or 8 years. Although, yes, I concede that it's possible that Charles Goodell made a call to Paul Tagliabue -- because as you suggest, they probably knew each other (guilty!) -- who made a call to someone he knew over to the league office, who in turn gave Roger Goodell an adminstrative internship. ...

    I mean, even if there is no evidence that happened.
     
    The Big Ragu, Feb 3, 2011
    #47
  12. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    He covered it.

    Pete Rozelle was a self-made man, not this commissioner. Goodell was fast-tracked from the start.

    The story is so eager to paint him as an honest prole that it opens with the bar scene. So he worked a shitty job in college. What a yeoman grunt.
     
    Herbert Anchovy, Feb 3, 2011
    #48
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