Friday Firings: Roger Goodell, Albert Haynesworth

Albert doing what he loves. (Credit: AP)

It's been a tough week for the Redskins' Albert Haynesworth, who was indicted on sexual assault charges. It hasn't been such a great week for Roger Goodell, either. First the NFL is ordered to end the lockout, now he's being fired by Sports HR for whining and for not suspending Haynesworth. It's firing time for these two, plus someone needs to point out the unrelated fact that baseball is as balanced as ever. So we are. 

Fire Haynesworth for being an all-around a-hole - Now that Haynesworth has been indicted for allegedly sexually assaulting a black waitress (you'll see why race matters in a second) at a hotel restaurant in Washington, he should be suspended by the NFL whenever normal league activity resumes. Although Haynesworth has an iron-clad alibi on his side (he said he doesn't "even like black girls"), in the past year he has been involved in lawsuits brought by a bank, an exotic dancer, a man he allegedly punched in a road-rage incident and his ex-wife, who said he wasn't paying her health insurance or making child-support payments. Any one of these suits could conceivably have justified suspension.

Now he faces criminal charges, which some players whom Goodell suspended (Ben Roethlisberger) never dealt with. The only difference between Roethlisberger and Haynesworth is that Albert's off-field troubles have gotten a lot less press. The HR Department loves Goodell's hardline stance on discipline, but he shouldn't suspend players only when there's enough media pressure. Haynesworth should have been suspended a long time ago for being a failure as a citizen, and Goodell should be fired for allowing Haynesworth to keep misbehaving.

Fire Goodell Whining About Labor Relations - Speaking of Roger Goodell, the Commish painted an apocalyptic picture in a Wall Street Journal op/ed about the future of the NFL if there is no collective bargaining agreement. Goodell is right that no agreement would be bad, but is anyone saying that's going to happen? Haven't heard anything from DeMaurice Smith or any of the players about a refusal to ever reach a collective bargaining agreement.

Goodell is pissed because Judge Susan Nelson's ruling crippled the NFL's ability to bend the players until they snap. Goodell called Nelson's ruling (which the HR Department fired, to be fair) a "decision [that] may endanger one of the most popular and successful sports leagues in history." Really? The players are just going to ruin something that generates $9 billion a year? Seems pretty unlikely. The players will never do everything the owners want, but that doesn't mean they can't be sensible. Goodell is being a sorer loser than Bill Belichik after he lost Super Bowl 42 (Roman numerals are silly), and he needs to quit whining and start negotiating.

Hire Baseball's Competitive Balance - MLB is quietly becoming a very evenly matched league. Through the first month of play, just three teams in all of baseball are more than 5.5 games out of first and no team has fewer than 9 wins. As time goes on some teams will pull away from the pack, but MLB should be pleased so far.