Roger Goodell’s biggest emphasis since he took office in 2006 has been the way the players in the NFL conduct themselves by avoiding conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League. But, has it actually protected the integrity of the shield?  No.

In a perfect world it would show the public that the NFL is trying to be on the right side of the law, but when the NFL punishes its troubled employees it has almost the reverse affect because it creates a bigger news story than it would have if they would have let it slide by.

I understand that you have to punish players that break the law, but a fine and whatever punishment the court system sends their way would have the same effect instead of putting more fuel on a story that puts the NFL in the same light as assault weapons, bar fights, dog fights and rape.

The NFL would do itself a great favor if it separated itself from the small percentage of losers that decide that having millions of dollars means they walk on water and are above the law. Silly, that a rule that is supposed to help weed out the bad people actually links the NFL to them and hurts their product.

Also Goodell, even though his intentions are good, might be over stepping his boundaries. In the United States we pride ourselves on how great our court system is. I am not defending Ben Roethlisberger but I don’t think the NFL has the right to take away someone’s pay when they haven’t done anything wrong legally under the rules of our fine country.

I am not angry that the NFL wants to be a league of respectable citizens but punishing people that the law enforcement couldn’t is not a good way of going about it.   The NFL is the biggest league in the US and they have a product that they need to protect but when they help push their problem players to the front page of the sports section they fuel the problem and the perception of the players they have in their league.