McDonald’s stupidity gives Goodell convenient outlet for outrage
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By DERON SNYDER
The NFL doesn’t kick off until Thursday but the season’s first result is in.
“Congratulations Ray McDonald! You just won the league’s “Bad Timing” Award!
Maybe the 49ers defensive tackle never heard the hubbub surrounding Ray Rice this summer. Maybe McDonald was unaware of San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh’s thoughts on domestic violence.
McDonald certainly must’ve missed last week’s news on NFL discipline for that offense.
Other than sheer stupidity, there are no other explanations for McDonald’s arrest on suspicion of felony domestic abuse early Sunday morning.
According to The Sacramento Bee and other media reports, McDonald was involved in an altercation with his fiancée at his birthday party. She showed police minor bruises on her neck and arms and he was arrested without incident, charged with “inflicting injury on a spouse or cohabitant.”
What was he thinking?
Just two days earlier, commissioner Roger Goodell issued a mea culpa for the league’s handling of Rice, who in late July received a measly two-game suspension for a domestic violence incident. “I didn’t get it right,” Goodell wrote in a letter to the owners. “Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.
“… My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment, and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families. I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values.”
The letter included information on “enhanced discipline,” effective immediately. Little did we know Goodell would have a chance to back up his words so soon.
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