Get Serious

Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has been suspended for six games, may or may not be the biggest A-hole in the league.

But this action by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell "for violating the league's personal conduct policy," is all window dressing and pure bull.

Twice in recent years, Roethlisberger has been charged bu police with sexual assault. Twice the charges have been dropped or he has been found not guilty.

That, of course, hardly confirms his "innocence."

But, unless the commissioner is privy to some information that we don't have, it makes this kind of punishment a PR stunt and not much else.

How does the NFL attempt with a straight face to present itself to the world as a clean family entertainment?

Aside from the regular scourge of screaming, violent drunken louts in the stands, the league is peopled with creeps, criminals and miscreants.

This is a business that awards often ignorant, certainly young, men with millions of dollars, who easily become part of a guns 'n girls culture.

There are revered murderers playing in those stadiums every Sunday. They line up against felons of practically every stripe.

The biggest job most NFL managers has is keeping the players from ruining their own lives each week. It is the most expensive baby-sitting job on the planet.

Sitting out all six games would cost Roethlisberger an estimated $2.8 million of his $102-million total deal.

He is a sacrificial goat. He is being burned on a fake altar for a dirty mass illusion.