Baltimore Ravens receiver Derrick Mason caused a mini-stir a couple weeks ago when he called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell “a joke.” But considering the recent comments of former Giants’ receiver Amani Toomer, Mason might appear lenient in his assessment of the way Goodell is handling the labor situation.
This is because unlike Toomer, Mason stopped short of comparing Goodell to the secret police force used by Nazi Germany through most of the 1930s and ‘40s.
Yes, Toomer said recently that the way Goodell has approached the situation, and used his power, strikes him as a little Gestapo-ish, a reference to the brutal secret police overseen by the SS, and runner-up for “most evil guy ever,” Heinrich Himmler.
(Somewhat ironically, Toomer made the comments on Wednesday, the 20th--both the birthday of Adolf Hitler and the anniversary of Himmler being appointed as the head of the Gestapo. The more you know...)
World War II history aside, here’s what Toomer had to allow, per the Sporting News:
"I think the way Mr. Goodell has handled this, the way he's kind of using his power, is like the kind of a Gestapo-type situation, controlling the players, not letting the judicial system do its work. It rubs a lot of players the wrong way, and that¹s why you see a lot of players now lashing out at Mr. Goodell."
Lashing out, yes; we’ve heard some of that. But before Wednesday, the Commissioner had not (that we know of, anyway) been compared to a ruthless Nazi police agency. And since we haven’t heard any reports of Goodell having opponents of the NFL jailed and beaten, we’ll consider Toomer’s remarks slightly off the mark.
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