TIMEOUT: Goodell's integrity cry comes too late

Dear Mr. Roger Goodell,
I noticed your name in a news crawl the other morning. "NFL Commissioner Goodell wants to test for HGH to protect the integrity of the game."

Testing NFL players for human growth hormone. For integrity's sake. Interesting.

Once I read the whole Associated Press story about your intent, I just had to write.

You see, I think the integrity of the game of professional football has already been inadvertently thrown out the window. And, I partly - or largely, actually - blame you.

You've allowed, under your watch, players to be drunk and disorderly, get arrested and show up on the field again with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Oh, yeah - you did instill fines and penalties.

However, when the clowns playing with an NFL patch on their shoulders make far too much money with each tackle or completed pass, you've become a laughing stock when they are fined. They laugh at your measly punishment, as it's just a comical, annoying, drop-in-the-bucket to them.

Their suspensions? Not seen as much of a punishment by anyone, as that's when the players are enjoying their five, Lamborghini-filled garages, along with their childish games and toys in their mansions. A year before they file for bankruptcy for being stupid with way too much money.

The fans who pay their hard-earned money to sit in way-too-narrow seats and pay $12 for a bottle of water are also shaking their heads at you.

Maybe, if you ever felt the pain of losing two sisters-in-law in separate drunk driving accidents, three years apart, each before their 21st birthdays, you'd feel differently toward the non-sober hooligans known as NFL players.

You've allowed NFL players who were accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault, assault with deadly weapons and other infractions toward their dogs, girlfriends, spouses and college-age female drinking buddies to continue with their behavior. They are also the same ones who are miraculously back on an NFL practice or game field far before they've served their time, solely because they claimed to clean up their act and sweat a tiny bit during practice.

Again - I wonder if you could put up with it as much, if it happened to your own 19-year-old college-student daughter.

You've permitted completely reprehensible behavior to continue on and off the field.

You allow an organization to pay a player $10 million dollars, with no recourse for him when he refuses to play and doesn't show up at mandatory practices? Really?

You're worried about the game's integrity now? You already have the horse, Mr. Goodell - let me find a cart for you.

I find your behavior and approval, pretty much across the NFL board, appalling and laughable. You've catered to the players union which, predictably, has opposed blood tests to check for growth hormone.

Have you not noticed the 20-year-old, scrawny, red-shirt player evolve into a 300-pound, virtually neckless behemoth who has to waddle across the field by age 24? How is it you do not see how ludicrous that evolution actually is? How can that just be a result of working out in the gym with its own, in-case-they-have-a-headache spa? Why do you need sports fans like me to bring that to your attention?

The AP's story said you NOW strive for integrity and the hormone is considered a key target in the anti-doping movement. "The substance is hard to detect, and athletes are believed to choose HGH for a variety of benefits, whether they be real or only perceived - including increasing speed and improving vision."

I wonder, actually, who needs to work on their vision. Maybe the integrity of yours is actually more compromised than even you can see.

Sincerely,
Margaret Steele