It was so bad, the NFL shouldn’t have held it in the first place. He’d have been better off staying in hiding in the proverbial undisclosed location. As low as his credibility had sunk before stepping (late) in front of the cameras in that New York hotel ballroom, it was somewhere beneath the parking-garage level by the time he was abruptly hustled away.
If all he’d done was send out a press release that states platitudes and face-saving generalities, which offers nothing concrete and avoids answering serious questions, at least the visuals wouldn’t have been so embarrassing and the feeble performance preserved on video for eternity.
Goodell was never stronger or more definitive than when he was asked, point-blank, why he should keep his job. Part of his answer: "I acknowledged my mistake."
Which he did, early and often, sticking to the "I want to get this right" blueprint he drew up the first time he circled back to his original wrist-slap of Ray Rice last month, which at least two owners (the Ravens’ Steve Bisciotti, the Vikings’ Zygi Wilf) have copied since then.
That’s not good enough to justify the complete betrayal of confidence, from the public (also known as the customers) and the players (who shredded Goodell in real time on social media). It certainly wouldn’t be good enough for a player pleading his case before Goodell on a personal-conduct violation. Would he accept that from Rice, or Greg Hardy, or Adrian Peterson?
"I said I was sorry and promised not to do it again, okay? I need to get back to practice now."
By that time, though, all the apologies and promises had evaporated in Goodell’s defensiveness, tap-dancing, vagueness and, at its core, condescension. "Believe us, because we said so. Just like we said last time, and the time before …"
Who believed Goodell throughout his double-talking in the week-and-a-half since the second elevator video of Ray Rice and Janay Palmer surfaced? More than the number that believes him after that evasive press conference.
He danced around questions about why he changed his punishment of Rice after the second video; why he said he thought Rice’s explanation in their meeting was "ambiguous"; how "independent" the investigation by Robert Mueller really could be.
Whether the report of the NFL office receiving the second Rice video was true; Why the highly-publicized hirings announced by the NFL this week included no women of color; whether the sudden distancing by major sponsors (including Procter and Gamble, a big supporter of the league’s breast cancer awareness programs) were a wake-up call.
Even whether he has the support of, as he was asked, all 32 team owners. "I have the support of the owners," Goodell answered, leaving out a critical piece.
Real, substantive details of a new personal conduct policy were absent, which was not a surprise, but was still disappointing considering the gravity of the situation. The same goes for the lack of presence by anyone from the players' association, with whom Goodell said the league would partner on the initiative.
At least that can be excused, because nobody’s presence was needed more on this day than the commissioner who had been AWOL since his CBS interview last Wednesday.
What can’t be excused: Getting shown up by a reporter from the very news outlet that set this crisis in motion — TMZ. Goodell was asked directly why they got the elevator video "with one phone call," yet the NFL and all its resources claims to never have gotten it at all.
Goodell made a crack about how TMZ gets its information. Next question.
Goodell has run out of reasons to be trusted. He had a chance to provide a few Friday afternoon. He failed. How many more failures can he, his owners (bosses), and his sport stand?