Note: this is written without editing and with pure rage.
First, the decision. The NFL in its infinite wisdom, and with the support of the NFLPA, has granted eligibility to former Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor for the supplemental draft. The NFL has granted this eligibility with a catch: Pryor will serve the NCAA’s five-game suspension in the NFL, making him eligible for action Week 6.
Joke. No other word for it. Absolute joke.
How can the NFLPA claim to be a legitimate organization, let alone a legitimate union, when they’d allow for such a ruling to stand? How can they set a precedent as potentially damaging as this for such a third-rate talent? Does every NCAA ruling now carry over? What about school-instituted suspensions? Do they carry over? How long till the courts get involved in this? What if a player is kicked out of college or banned for life by the NCAA? Does that restrict them from ever earning a living playing the game? And wasn’t Pryor freed up to play the bowl game for Ohio State even though this ruling had been made? Will that happen in the future if the suspensions carry over?
Can you imagine a scenario wherein Bud Selig would call Donald Fehr and suggest a Texas A&M star serve his suspension for the Trenton Thunder? No, you can’t. Because Selig would never be stupid enough to make that call!
And don’t get me started on the damn league itself. At one time, about a year ago, Roger Goodell carried the image of a tough-as-nails, no nonsense commissioner. He was ready to suspend your mother for six games if she blew a .08. Then he lost control of everything, got booed out of the building at Radio City and watched his pet project, the 18-game schedule, never make it onto the negotiation docket. Goodell is the perfect commissioner to administer this new ruling for he is a joke commissioner. He has the power of the Queen of England and the intelligence of her tapestries. Why in hell should the NFL become responsible from fixing the NCAA’s bullshit?
And what about Pete Goddamn Carroll? How can this league look itself in the mirror as one of the most corrupt college coaches of the modern era collects $5M a year in Seattle as they thump their chest to remove five game checks from a 2011 third-string QB like Pryor? Is the NFL truly this hypocritical? Answer: unequivocally yes.
The NFL, as a league and American institution, needs to seriously consider a minor league system. I don’t know how it would work and I don’t care. But if the NFL is going to start aligning itself with the NCAA, it won’t be long till the close the big tent and put the elephants to sleep.
