Goodell right, Cowlishaw wrong

In a column on the front of the sports page of today’s Dallas Morning News, Tim Cowlishaw mistakenly writes that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s punishment handed down to the New Orleans Saints surrounding the "pay-to-permanently cripple" program was too harsh. (I would inlude a link to the column, but because the News makes people pay to read it, you might as well use that money to purchase an entire paper or, even more nourishing than that, use it to buy two tacos at Jack in the Box.) It appears Cowlishaw also thinks former President Richard Nixon was impeached because of the Wartergate break-in.

Cowlishaw's opinion
a real head-scratcher

Of course, that’s not the reason Nixon was driven from the White House. His crime was the systematic cover-up implemented to hide his administration’s involvement in a series of election dirty tricks.

By the same token New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was not only punished for overseeing his reprehensible bounty program. Goodell came down hard on him because on two different occasions Payton sat down with the commissioner and outright lied to him about any knowledge Payton had about the affair. He was the caretaker of the program and then he tried to cover it up. At least twice.

I have already expressed my admiration for Goodell’s correct handling of this incident. And, fortunately, the News has an expert on all things NFL and other sports, Rick Gosselin, who also applauds Goodell (although Gosselin’s more reasoned column is buried inside the sports section). Someone needs to educate Cowlishaw before he makes himself look even more wrong-headed on this issue.