Roger Goodell spent 20 years taking hits. The NFL never stopped winning | Opinion

Ladies and gentlemen…Roger Goodell.

That’s pretty much the standard reaction when the NFL Commissioner gets before a crowd. It has rained boos with Goodell on the stage at the NFL Draft, during cameos at NFL stadiums and shoot, a few weeks ago in Canton, even when he popped over for a photo op with more than 100 Hall of Famers on hand for enshrinement ceremonies.

No, it’s probably nothing personal. It’s just that Goodell, 67, is the face of Big Football – the league that prints its own money while so many of the worker bees wind up with broken bodies or worse, battered brains. And your fantasy team stinks while your parlay tanked.

Sure, he gets paid big bucks, as in reportedly at least $64 million-per-year in compensation, to steer the ship and serve as a human heat shield for NFL owners when it comes to absorbing shots and criticism from all angles. Good that Goodell, who hit the 20-year milestone in his post on Tuesday, has some thick skin to go with his polished persona.

It comes with the territory. The dude just attracts a lot of jeering.

Unless, of course, he’s working for you.

“He’s done what…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/