Goodell good as it got
Fun for all, commish included
FOXBORO — At exactly 7:33 last night, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell emerged from the visitors tunnel at Gillette Stadium.
And that was just as well, considering Goodell will never be at home inside the Razor.
Raw meat for the masses is what it was, a long-awaited opportunity for firedup Patriots fans to give Goodell his long-awaited comeuppance. The feeling throughout New England — and at Patriots settlements the world over — is that the NFL’s highly compensated czar overreached when he suspended iconic quarterback Tom Brady for four games over the Deflategate caper. This was get even time.
So even though Pats fans were still filing into Gillette, there were enough of them to the left, to the right and above that runway to see Goodell, and to see red.
They booed, they hollered, they cussed.
They proudly wore their Barstool Sports-purchased Roger Goodell clown-nose T-shirts and proudly waved their Barstool Sports-issued Roger Goodell close nose towels.
A woman held a placard that formed a shotgun marriage of national news and local noise: “NEVER MIND IMMIGRANTS. DEPORT GOODELL!”
The commish shook some hands and slapped some backs, but only with those members of a posse encased inside a ring of state troopers and security guards. He did not wander up to the fence and leap into the front row like a wideout who has just caught a touchdown pass.
Goodell could have shouted something light and clever, such as, “If you think my nose looks red on those T-shirts, you should have seen me after a week in Cancun last spring!” Maybe a few people would have forgotten themselves and laughed.
But there was no levity from the commish. This was a photo op, is all. He walked out to the field for the sole purpose of allowing everyone to deliver their 15 minutes of blame and then disappeared back inside the tunnel. And that was that. Happy now, Patriots fans?
Look, it’s not like they were going to march Goodell out to the 50-yard line immediately following the unfurling of the latest Super Bowl banner. The best Pats fans could have hoped for was what they got: Goodell doing some well-protected sideline preening an hour before the game.
And because it played out that way, everyone was a winner.
Pats fans were winners because they got to wear those cool tees and wave those cool towels. They may be angry about what happened to Our Tom, but everyone had a blast last night. It was F-U-N fun.
“This is a slap in the face to Roger Goodell,” said Gerry Giallongo, a construction worker from Osterville who was proudly wearing one of Barstool founder Dave Portnoy’s tees.
“This is the icing on the cake,” said Dan Hamilton, a social worker from Pembroke who was holding a Goodell clown-nose towel. “He was dodging us all last year, and to have him here tonight is awesome.”
“Tom Brady and the team got their payback by winning the Super Bowl, and these towels represent our payback,” said Jeff Sullivan, a plumber from Pembroke. “This is just our, ‘Hey, we won.’ ” Slap in the face. Icing on the cake. Payback. Hey. We. Won. Yes, Pats fans were winners last night.
Barstool Sports was a big winner as well. Whatever your age, whatever your reading habits, it’s impossible to ignore Portnoy’s Stoolies emerged last night as pro football’s version of the French Foreign Legion: Mercenaries defending the Patriot Way.
But we all need to be big boys and girls, and understand something about Roger Goodell: He wins again.
He is a marketing man at heart, and under his watch the NFL has added yearround soap operas to its weekly array of games. And this one is a beauty; if you were expecting him to redden with shame at the specter of appearing at Gillette Stadium, or if you think he’s some kind of coward, guess again.
By appearing at Gillette Stadium when he did — last night, Opening Night, Week 1, just as the new Super Bowl banner was to be introduced — he added yet more buzz to the festivities.
Goodell didn’t speak to the crush of media assembled on the field before the game. But when he disappeared inside the tunnel he found himself in the company of just two media types — WBZ’s Steve Burton, who he knows ... and me, who he wouldn’t know from former Pats cornerback Terrell Buckley.
“These fans are passionate,” he said in response to a question from Burton. “It was fun to be here.”
In no way was he lying. He is the most powerful man in sports. He earned nearly $32 million in fiscal 2015, the last year his salary was made public. His Deflategate victory brought him yet more power.
Yeah, he got booed and we’re all talking about it.
Good times for Gerry the construction worker, Dan the social worker and Sully the plumber.
Good times for Dave Portnoy and the Stoolies.
And, yes, most assuredly, good times for Goodell.
The only losers last night?
Chiefs 42, Patriots 27.