Jonathan Vilma Sues Roger Goodell

I don't know if suing Roger Goodell will come amount to everything but I love it.

The suit in U.S. District Court in New Orleans claims Goodell, "relied on, at best, hearsay, circumstantial evidence and lies" in making comments about Vilma while discussing the NFL's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

Goodell has said Vilma was a leader of the team's bounty program that put up thousands of dollars for hits which took out opposing teams' star players from 2009-11, including $10,000 each on then-Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and then-Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre during the playoffs in 2010.

"Commissioner Goodell opted to make very public and unfortunately erroneous allegations against Jonathan," said Vilma's attorney, Peter Ginsberg. "By making these false and public statements, he has significantly harmed Jonathan's reputation and ability to make a living. ESPN

The suit states that Vilma seeks an unspecified sum in excess of $75,000 and alleges that damaging statements by Goodell were made "with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity and/or with malice.

In the 16 page document it says this:
35. Vilma never established, or assisted in establishing, a Bounty Program or any similar program in violation of NFL rules.
36. Vilma never "pledged," made or received payments of any kind encouraging or resulting from an opposing player being carried off the field, i.e., "cart-offs."
37. Vilma never "pledged," made or received payments of any kind encouraging or resulting from an opposing player being unable to return to the game, i.e., "knockouts."
38. Vilma never "pledged," made or received payments of any kind encouraging or resulting from an opposing player being injured.
39. Vilma never "targeted" an opposing player in any manner that would violate NFL rules.
40. Vilma never engaged "in unsafe and prohibited conduct intended to injure players."
41. Vilma never "participate[d] in a program that potentially injured opposing players."
42. Vilma never "embraced" a Bounty Program or any similar program in violation of NFL rules.
43. Vilma never paid, or intended to pay, $10,000, or any amount of money, as an incentive to any player to knock Warner, Favre, or any other player, out of the 2009 Divisional Playoff Game, 2010 NFC Championship Game, or any other game.
44. Vilma never placed $10,000, or any amount of money, on any table or anywhere else as part of a Bounty Program or any other program in violation of NFL rules.

Vilma has put on twitter; "As I've said before..I NEVER PAID, NOR INTENDED TO PAY ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY, TO ANY PLAYER FOR INTENTIONALLY HURTING AN OPPONENT."

If anything, this puts pressure on Roger Goodell to release evidence, because for him to suspend 4 players for an extended amount of time without releasing evidence is absolute bullshit. Even the biggest Goodell supporters have to admit, that's a little fishy.

If Goodell has evidence, I see no reason to not release it. That would squash any type of speculation from people like me and shut up upset players and fans of the New Orleans franchise.

I also hate Goodell, and I don't think he has enough evidence to support his suspensions. I think in Goodell's mind he wanted to flex his commissioner powers and make a statement, rather than fairly judge players. He wanted to make a statement and he made Jonathan Vilma unfairly a scapegoat and suspended him for listening to his coach. Also, in the report he doesn't deny a bounty program, he just denies his involvement, and if he had no involvement in the program the Captain needs to write Vilma a letter of apology.

Goodell must be stopped, and they need for him to not be the judge for appeals as well. The whole system is fucked, and Goodell needs to release evidence.

More Goodell Douchebaggery

I'm sure you're getting sick of my Goodell hatred and I'm sure you just think I'm incredibly biased due to my affiliations with the Steelers and Saints, however, what was the NFL thinking when the voted on and passed Goodell to be the judge and jury when it comes to suspensions and appeals. Only one team (The Steelers) voted against this and now every player is going to be unfairly punished because the Dictator is an ego maniac.

I can just imagine Goodell being one of those Sheriffs in old western movies where the deputy is also the judge. Rick Reilly's article put it perfectly;
And here was the most hilarious part. The NFL hired a former U.S. attorney named Mary Jo White to "review" the evidence, and you'll never believe what she concluded. She said the NFL was right. "[The players] always had the option to say no," she wrote. "They didn't say no." And who knows the intense peer and coach pressure of an NFL locker room better than Mary Jo White?


On May 7, Vilma and his former teammates announced they would appeal their suspensions.


So who does somebody like Vilma go to when he thinks the sentence handed down by Goodell is unfair? Who does he see to get his hands on the evidence that Goodell will show Mary Jo White but not him?
Goodell, of course.


Goodell: Jonathan, we have evidence.
Vilma: What? What evidence?
Goodell: You don't get to see it. You're suspended one year.
Vilma: What? I appeal!
Goodell: No problem.
(Goodell flips "Commissioner" sign around on his desk to the other side. It reads, "Appeals Court.")
Goodell: Court's in session. What's your beef?

It is almost laughable that he will be able to be a fairly judge not just these suspensions, but ANY suspensions or penalties going forward. I mean remember there's no video of any Saints player making illegal hits on Brett Favre or Kurt Warner in the two bounty games in question. To be ordered to carry out a hit and then doing it are two different things.

What Goodell has set up is absolute power and almost like a Castro like dictatorship. And the scary thing about this, is that it's 9 more years of this nonsense because that is when the CBA runs out. Also the only reason why teams had to vote on Goodell getting absolute power, is because he forced teams to either vote on an 18 game season OR him to be a 1 man judicial system. That's just fucked to me and Goodell must be stopped.

Roger Goodell Is A Hypocrite and Out Of Control

Last week I had to stay out of it, when Dictator Goodell wrongly suspended 4 players from the Saints in their dealing with "Bountygate" our own Captain of course took Goodell's side with these columns about how the message has been sent, and it was right for Vilma to lose a year and Goodell is the greatest. He is in reality just happy that this deflects the attention off the tainted championships in New England. Goodell is a hypocrite, liar and is nothing about an ego maniac.

This doesn't make it right, however, I would bet that most teams in the NFL used a pay for play system behind the scenes, it would be stupid to think otherwise. Darren Sharper of the New Orleans Saints said that every team he has ever played for (Green Bay and Minnesota) had these scenarios.
In 2011 Rex Ryan wrote a book Play Like You Mean It. From pages 16-17 of the chapter called Blunt-Force Trauma: “Each game we might also designate an opposing player with a dot. Players don’t want to be dotted by the New York Jets, because that means we want that dude knocked out of the game. Of course, it has to be legal and by the book. We don’t play dirty, and no way will we intentionally hurt a player with an illegal, cheap shot. We dot players fair and square. There are players out there who think they are badasses, and you just might see two of our players knock the hell out of him. Pow! Pow! That’s our mentality. Everything we do is aggressive and, hey, we may make a mistake, but we will go one hundred miles per hour and we will knock the hell out of you. Big hits create turnovers. You haven’t been Punked — you’ve been Dotted!” What is the real difference between the Saints and Jets other than money? It just seems as if they wanted to knock the players out of the game.

Now let's get to the suspension of Jonathan Vilma, Anthony Hargrove, Scott Fujita, and Will Smith. 1. they are way to long and extreme, 2. reports said that 20-27 people were involved in Gregg Williams bounty system, so why suspend 4. 3. The grey area is beyond significant for Goodell to make this statement, I saw a comment on this site last week that said there are reports that Gregg Williams gave Vilma 10k, our own BMack decided to put a link to Wikipedia as a reference (which is slightly embarrassing since it's written by people) but according to ESPN and NOLA.com, it seems as if Williams INDEED gave Jonathan Vilma 10K as a prop and a motivational tool since he was a captain and wanted it to last with the players. Reports also say, he gave back the 10K to Williams. From 2009-2011, the Saints did not get flagged anymore than the league average, there was no spike in Illegal hits, or knockouts. Most of the hits in the NFC Championship Game against the Vikings were legal, so who cares if they were hard, shouldn't players hit hard anyways, that's what I was always taught. Also when Anthony Hargrove knocked Kurt Warner out it was completely legal, even Kurt Warner said it was legal and thought other teams actually seemed to have it out for him more. So in fact, the spotlight of these 2 games, doesn't really prove anything, and in fact was that players were frowned upon for playing football.

Also, for players to be suspended for listening to orders from coaches is ridiculous. I get Gregg Williams getting banned, he can't run a program like this for the NFL to save face about player safety. And I'll even somewhat defend the suspensions on Sean Payton, Mickey Loomis and Joe Vitt. But for suspending players for following orders that the higher ups in the team, embedded, allowed and embraced is asinine. In a players mind, coaches dictate playing time, playing time dictates your next contract, your next contract gets you rich and helps your family, why would you want to risk that and not go along with Gregg Williams orders or way of dealing with things?

Also, if the Dictator was all for player safety why was he pushing for an 18 game season? He sees what has happened to former players and how the concussions and lingering injuries really mess up the mental health with some. So making the season longer and putting the players mental health in more jeopardy to me seems like he cares about 1 thing and 1 thing only. Money. And speaking of the former players, that Goodell says that he really cares about, take this quote from Jay Feely; "A lot of players don't believe he has their best interests at heart," Feely said. "If he did, he wouldn't have 200-plus workmen's compensation complaints caught up in the appeals process. He wouldn't be dismissing disability claims right off the bat. There are so many things that happen behind the scenes that fans don't know about that make players distrust him." The League could give 2 shits about player safety and it all starts and ends with money.

The Game Isn't Played That Way Anymore

From across the country, NFL players rallied around the four Saints that were suspended yesterday. The players felt as though Vilma, Hargrove, Smith, and Fujita were being punished for "playing football." That trying to hurt an opponent was "part of the game."

Not anymore.

That's what the players and some fans don't seem to get. The NFL is trying to get rid of that part of the game.

The scandalous part of this scandal was the money. Pay-to-injure. The Saints coaches and players like Vilma paid cash to players for injuring opponents. Which is a salary cap violation. And it also goes against what the NFL has been trying to do in order to limit injuries.

And I know Goodell and the owners are concerned about the safety of their money more than the safety of the players. I know Goodell is an autocrat, a king operating without restrictions. But that's what his position requires.

Everyone in the NFL is concerned about money. Players hold out for money. Players switch teams for money. Neither the owners or the players can use the greed argument against the other. They're all greedy. We're all greedy.

The NFL wants to protect their investment. They invest in the players and invest in the game. The League wants the game to be as hard-hitting and as safe as possible. It's a tenuous balancing act. The NHL is struggling with a similar problem. The NHL wants the game to be as fast and physical as possible, but they don't want to see players carted off the ice with their heads in neckboards. Both leagues want the game exciting so fans watch, but not so violent that they turn away.

The Saints' bounty program unbalanced what the NFL is trying to produce. The Saints' bounty program was purely about hard hits and injuries. The NFL can't allow that.

Vilma, Hargrove, Smith, and Fujita helped Gregg Williams and Sean Payton set up this bounty program. And before this off-season, such a program might have seemed to be part of the way football has always been played.

But it isn't how the game will be played anymore.

Enough of this Saints stuff. I'm going to take Bills' linebacker Kirk Morrison's advice:

Instead of following this Bounty fallout, I'm going to google "Kate Upton Cat Daddy" again. Yeah that's a great idea. Now that's a fallout.
— Kirk Morrison (@kirkmorrison) May 2, 2012

-The Captain

Captain's Thoughts: Saints Suspensions

When Jonathan Vilma put $10,000 cash on the table and offered it as a reward to any of his teammates who could knock Brett Favre out of the NFC Championship game in early 2010, he had no idea that he would be costing himself $5.5 million. That was the punishment handed down by Roger Goodell today. Vilma has been suspended for the season, without pay.

And I'm all for it. Vilma offered a financial incentive (which is a violation of the salary cap) to injure a player. Anyone who thinks the punishment is too harsh must take into consideration those two points. The Saints were violating the cap. And they were encouraging their players to injure other players. I don't know if you've noticed, but the NFL has been trying to clamp down on injuries, especially to QBs.

Oh, and then the Saints repeatedly lied about it, and continued to do it even while under investigation. Like a burglar continuing to rob a house even after the police show up.

And maybe this took place with other teams. I doubt the Saints were the only team that had such a program. It won't happen anymore, though, after what happened to Sean Payton and now these four players.

Anthony Hargrove was suspended for 8 games. Probably due to his obstructing the investigation and initially lying to the NFL.

Will Smith was suspended for 4 games (and sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in California). He reportedly helped former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams set up the bounty program.

Scott Fujita, who is now on the Browns, was suspended for 3 games.

What the Saints did was wrong. And even if other teams did it, that's a lame excuse. If you got pulled over by a State Trooper would you say to him "You know, I'm not the only one speeding on 128 right now." Yeah, good luck getting out of that ticket.

No head coach will promote or allow a bounty program after what happened to Payton.

And now, no player will try to set up such a program on their own, or even participate, after what happened to these four guys. The risk has become greater than the reward. Thanks to Roger Goodell.

-The Captain

Goodell Causing Less Arrests For NFL Players?

Say what you want about Roger Goodell and his suspensions for things on the field, but one thing he seems to be doing well is lowering the amount of arrests in NFL players. Since 2007 when Roger Goodell implemented a stricter conduct policy arrest have been trending down...

79 arrests in 2006
73 in 2007
72 in 2008
62 in 2009
64 in 2010
62 in 2011

That's still too many arrests every year, but at least it is starting to go down. Arrests are down about 22 percent since 2006, and I just feel it is something that should be at least noted since Goodell is ripped for a lot of stuff on this site. For at least this one area I think he has done a pretty good job at making people responsible for their actions.

NFL Finally Going To End Pro Bowl

"Sources say that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has previously voiced his displeasure with the lack of competitiveness in recent Pro Bowl games, is strongly considering suspending this year's game, sources say. Beyond 2013, another league source believes the Pro Bowl is "DOA (dead on arrival) (ESPN)."

THANK GOD.

There is nothing worse. It's a terrible game, no one wants to play, and there is no such thing as playing "safe football". With so many players dropping out every year there are a bunch of guys that "make" the Pro Bowl that have no business there (Example - David Garrard).

The NFL should name who made the Pro Bowl, and then just have a fun skills competition. Who is the fastest? Who is more accurate thrower/kicker? Best hands? Best Bench Press? Best arm? DE/LBs run through obstacle courses, you know that kind of thing. Like a big combine, but for bragging rights. That's all you need.

Mickey Loomis Is A Scumbag (Maybe)

ESPN's "Outside the Lines" reports that New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who will begin serving an eight-game suspension for his role in the team's bounty program, had an illegal eavesdropping device that allowed him to listen to real-time playcalls of opposing coaches during the 2002-2004 seasons. ESPN

If this is indeed true, Mickey Loomis needs to be fired or banned indefinitely, and the Saints 2013 draft should be removed. It was from 2002-2004 so it wasn't during the Superbowl, I initially thought it was, and if this eavesdropping thing did happen, I would have been completely OK with them stripping the Saints from their only championship. But in 2002-2004 there were 24 home games and 12 wins. Jim Haslett was the coach at that time.

Mickey Loomis is in a lot of hot water already since the bounty thing. And many of his apologists have already came out and said, "This really doesn't effect the game." If that's true Mark Schlereth, etc, then why do it? This effects a lot since he could know about injuries, strategy and what they are setting up.

The Saints need to find a way to distance themselves from Loomis in the future, he has been in the news way too much lately. Oh yea, Drew Brees is still not locked up.

Either way Goodell is up in his tower petting his hairless cat, ready to suspend.