Editor's Note: We are thrilled to bring you another entry in our series of guest columns from sports personages. Today’s post was written by none other than NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who for some reason felt this blog was a good place to make a major announcement.



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By Roger Goodell

Bountygate, Spygate, faked injuries, cover-ups of real injuries, and steroid use. These are all exactly the sort of things that the Commissioner of the League is supposed to prevent. Now, some of you may feel that, based upon our track record, we have failed, that I have failed in that responsibility. I am here today to tell you that you are 100% right. I have one job, ONE JOB, and that’s to stop football people from being jerks. And I have been terrible at it.

Sean Payton, Greg Williams, Mickey Loomis, Joe Vitt, Ndamukong Suh, Johnny Jolly, Ben Roethlisberger, Donte Stalworth, Adam “Pacman” Jones, Michael Vick, Terry “Tank” Johnson, Chris Henry, and Adam “Pacman” Jones, again. These are all players and coaches who have behaved so egregiously on my watch that the League had no choice but to suspend them. And where was I while all this was going on? While Ben Roethlisberger was groping college girls, Donte Stallworth was drinking and driving and “Pacman” Jones was being, well, “Pacman” Jones? Sitting here in my Park Avenue office, dispensing justice from on high as if I wasn’t responsible in the slightest for the things that happen when I’m in charge! I made no acknowledgement of personal culpability whatsoever. Who do I think I am?

I mean, if a team can fire its coach or GM because they aren’t performing well, why shouldn’t there be some accountability further up the ladder? I just presided over a lockout that could have crippled the League, and which caused the first half of last season to be so bizarrely played, so riddled with out-of-shape or injured players that the Buffalo Bills started 5-2! The Bills!

And now it turns out that my way of dealing with a bounty situation that I first heard about almost TWO YEARS AGO was by saying “Hey, guys! Knock it off!” and then turning my back and assuming they would! How lazy and arrogant is that? And then I find out they didn’t listen, and in fact could have potentially damaged the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people by deliberately causing injuries…and I’m shocked. Shocked?! I don’t get to be shocked! I’m the Commissioner! Why did I have nobody watching them? Do I have so little control over the League, do I command so little respect, that the Saints really felt like they could just ignore me and get away with it? How did I allow things to get to this point?!

Now, I have had serious talks with myself in the past, in which I affirmed to me in no uncertain terms that I was going to straighten up and fly right, but unfortunately my behavior demonstrates a lack of commitment to that effort. And so I feel I have no choice but to act. I am invoking the strongest powers at my disposal as Commissioner, hopefully to teach me a lesson, but also to hold me up as an example to me of what I happens when I don’t live up to my own standards. I am suspending myself for the first 8 games of the 2012-2013 season and fining myself 500,000$. Hopefully the time off will give me a chance to reflect on who I am and who I want me to be. I am eligible to apply for reinstatement after 4 games, but I will need to demonstrate some real growth as a person before I would consider allowing me to Commission again.

In my absence, my position will be filled by the winner of a League Office Paper Football Tournament, which is how the new Commissioner is traditionally selected. I do not yet know what I will do in the time off, but I have assured myself that I will use the time constructively. I’ll definitely do some soul-searching. Maybe I’ll play with my trains.