Getting It Right

Even a stopped clock gets the time right twice a day, they say.  The NFL should be so accurate.  They confused high noon with midnight this week, suspending Raiders’ linebacker Aldon Smith a year for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.

This is not a workplace-related issue.  Smith is accused of doing a whole lot of stupid and potentially dangerous stuff stemming from an August DUI incident, which was not his first.  According to the San Jose Mercury News, Smith could face a maximum jail sentence of 2-1/2 years if convicted on all counts.  But that’s not good enough for the NFL, which has an image to protect.  Where once the league stuck its collective head in the sand over player misconduct, now it acts like judge, jury and executioner. 

If Smith goes to jail, there’s your suspension.  If he beats the charges, no one has to give him a job in football.  Smith was cut by the 49ers after the DUI arrest, and the Raiders picked him up despite his five arrests.  Oh, now I get it.  Roger Goodell has to step in when teams can’t stop themselves from doing wrong.