Over the next 13 months, we're going to see the main reason former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue wasn't quickly ushered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame the way past commissioners were. It's going to come to life as owners and players continue pulling and tugging on their $8 billion Golden Goose as a work stoppage in 2011 looms.
Hopefully, they won't rip the head off the Golden Goose. I have my doubts.
There are no more great owners with enough power to help steer the league for the good of the league. And for that Wellington Mara must be doing flip-flops in his grave.
There's also some question as to whether Goodell is a strong enough leader to avert the disaster that seems inevitable. He's tough on players when they misbehave and can slap hands with the best of them, but can he be a visionary leader when the stuff is about to hit the fan? We'll see.
Even if Goodell isn't that person, it would be hard to hang the bulk of the blame on his neck. Not when you consider the mess Tagliabue handcuffed him with before washing his hands with an ill-conceived, short-term, let's-get-this-done-so-I-can-retire-as-a-Hall-of-Famer labor solution in 2006.
Remember March of 2006? Time ran out on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. There were extensions as the owners and the players union negotiated. An agreement was finally reached and, well, basically the late Gene Upshaw, who was the NFLPA executive director at the time, emerged with Tags' head on a stick.
The players had won nearly 60 percent of the pie. The owners were convinced to sign off on the deal, voting 30-2 in favor. Tagliabue had gone for the quick fix and all but two owners jumped off the cliff with him.
Remember the two guys who voted Heck No!? Ralph Wilson and Mike Brown emerged and warned everybody that the owners had just made a huge mistake that would come back to haunt them. They were dismissed at first. But, boy, were they right.
