Originally posted by baltien:
Uh, it does matter because if someone is to be punished for a crime or misconduct.....then a probable instance of said misconduct should exist. Aldon is no angel, however, you are essentially defending Goodell's idiocy in that if he *thinks* you did something wrong he reserves the right to punish you regardless of the facts. That isn't his place.
As much as he may think he is, Goodell isn't God.
No, I'm not saying he should be able to suspend players regardless of fact, I'm saying he should be able to make his own judgement regardless of whether the other party involved decided to press charges or not. Aldon Smith was already in a deep hole, and then when questioned at airport security he acted "belligerent and uncooperative" with TSA agents. How is that not a "fact"? Does that really sound like a guy that has cleaned up his act and matured off the field? For somebody that was already on razor-thin ice, behaving like that with TSA agents -- who are nefariously cautious and no-nonsense -- is downright foolish. It is a complete and utter lapse of judgement.
On its own, no, it's not worthy of a suspension. But in light of everything else that happened with Aldon, it sure as hell did not do him any favors.
[ Edited by theduke85 on Aug 29, 2014 at 1:46 PM ]