Just got this Tweet from Colts back-up middle linebacker Cody Glenn:
Meeting with the commish...
Roger Goodell is in Anderson to watch the Colts annual Blue v. White scrimmage. After that, he heads to Canton, OH for the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies.
So far, the Commish's "Madden Cruiser" tour has not gone so well. Players have openly questioned the value of meeting with a commissioner who won't answer questions about the "elephant in the room," also known as the possible lockout in 2011.
London Fletcher, the longtime NFL veteran and current Washington Redskins linebacker, summed up the players' frustration with Goodell:
"We just wanted more answers to the questions that we had and he really didn't have 'em," said inside linebacker London Fletcher, the Redskins' player representative. "Obviously, some of 'em he didn't even feel like he could answer 'em as part of the negotiations, so to speak. Guys want to hear straight from him as far as what's true and what's not true. Let's not read about it in the media. Let's not have the information come from a second source and things like that."We had him here. And he opened up the ability for us to ask him questions. If you open up that ability then you have to be prepared to answer our questions. Certain things, he said, were part of the negotiations. But again, he was the one who opened up the possibility for us to ask him questions. When he did that, and guys had some real questions that we wanted hard answers to, not the typical questions, he didn't really answer. He didn't give us sound answers on a lot of the issues."
I've met Roger Goodell myself and he's answered questions I've asked to him. In general, he seems like an approachable, thoughtful, intelligent guy who cares about football, in particular the integrity of football. However, in this instance, Fletcher is correct. If you are going to have an open forum, you absolutely MUST answer all questions. Otherwise, you lose credibility.
Roger Goodell is a good commissioner and he's done good things for this league since taking over in 2006. However, this bus tour idea was a bad one. The timing was wrong.