When Does the NFL Ignore Sex Crime Allegations? When the Accused Rapist is a Team Owner.
It seems to be that it's been a little while since we've gotten some good old fashioned smug, self-serving, self-righteous pronouncements from Roger Goodell about how being in the NFL is a privilege and not a right, "defending the shield," and holding the people around him to high standards of ethical behavior and all that.
Of course Ginger Satan's favorite moments to trot out these old rhetorical chestnuts is when he's deeply, deeply concerned about some serious allegation directed at one of his players. I mean, not necessarily a star who is the celebrity spokesman for the bank that sponsors the stadium of Goodell's Augusta National golfing buddy committing a heinous act of domestic violence caught on a security camera. In a case like that, he's only too happy to look the other way. At least until he no longer can.
And then there's cases like the one where a star quarterback gets credibly accused of sexual assault by dozens of alleged victims. Der Commissar is not above suspending him if he's left with no other choice. But once that time's been served? There's no reason they can't be the kind of best buds in the whole wide world who aren't afraid to express their mutual affection in a physical way:
As the saying goes, if it wasn't for double standards, he wouldn't have any standards at all. And there's no better proof of that then when one of his own gets accused of rape. And by "his own," I'm referring to the people who pay his salary, the NFL owners:
Source - The criminal charges against Texans limited partner Javier Loya, pending for months and not discovered until today, have become one of the biggest stories in the NFL. Except, of course, on the online media outlet owned and operated by the NFL.
There is no story on NFL.com. …
Loya, as previously explained, faces one count of rape, five counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. …
As of this posting … [t]here’s nothing about the very serious charges pending against a member of an NFL team’s ownership group.
And the excuse can’t plausibly be that the NFL doesn’t cover allegations. Here’s the item from February 2022 regarding the then-fresh battery allegations against Saints running back Alvin Kamara. …
Over the past two decades, most have gotten numb to the predictable reality that there are certain stories NFL.com and NFL Network will ignore. Obviously, however, that doesn’t make it right.
Let us pause here to say all the right things about how Javier Loya is entitled to the presumption of innocence and his day in court. Partly because that is my deeply held belief, but mainly because I'm entitled to not getting sued by a guy rich enough to own a chunk of an NFL franchise.
This isn't about the charges against him. It's about Roger Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment and how they handle stories that reflect badly on him. When a player or coach finds himself on the pointy end of the accusatory pitchfork, that's news that gives him a chance to look like a hero. When it's an owner? That's different. Because he has no power over them. They're the ones who extend his contract. They're the ones who determine his salary and bonuses. And they're the ones whose puppet strings he dances at the ends of. Therefore, it's a non-story when one of them is in legal jeopardy.
Just file this away for the next time Ginger Satan is heroically riding to the public rescue and valiantly defending his league from those who would taint it with their immoral misdeeds. Deep down, he's a bully. And like all bullies, when it comes time to stand up to people he's got no power over, he turns into the feckin' coward he is even deeper down.