He said all the right things about how he has been working hard on behalf of those who built the NFL into a multi-billion dollar monopoly, since he took over as League Commissioner.
Everything he said before or after though, was rendered null and void when he told members of the House Judiciary Committee, that he would not acknowledge a connection between head injuries on the football field and later brain diseases.
It came in the course of hearings on the league's policies on concussions before Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., among others.
Asked by Conyers whether he thinks there's an injury-disease link. Goodell responded that the NFL isn't waiting for that debate to play out and is taking steps to make the game safer.
"I asked you a simple question. What is the answer?" persisted Conyers.
Goodell replied by saying a medical expert could give a better answer than he could.
Rep. Maxine Waters wondered how the league was addressing the welfare of retired players during collective bargaining negotiations with the union.
Dissatisfied by his high-minded, elusive answers, Waters chided Goodell, it's time "for Congress to take a look at your anti-trust exemption" and that she thinks it should be removed.
Conyers weighed in on the economics, a major reason why the NFL is stonewalling the issue, for fear of dense and costly litigation.
He intoned sardonically, that "surely an $8 billion a year industry can find it within its budget to make sure players are adequately protected and that any victims of long-term brain disease are fairly compensated."
In some respects, the NFL's see no evil stance, is painfully reminiscent of the United States Defense Department's assertions that Agent Orange was harmful only to the foliage of South East Asia.
For years the United States Government and Veterans Administration strenuously fought vets claims at every turn, even as their health deteriorated from ingesting the carcinogen, dioxin which was a prime component of the Viet Nam War era defoliant.
Just two weeks ago, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki, finalized a new program which brings to 15,
15!, the number of presumed illnesses recognized by the VA as related to exposure to the supposedly benign, Agent Orange.
The intransigence of the government and the league in the face of overwhelming empirical and anecdotal evidence is nothing short of immoral.
"I'm from the Government / NFL, trust me!"
