Sacking Another Myth: The NFL and Goodell

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Some myths and legends represent deeper truths about our lives and the world in a way that brings us closer to each other and to where we all want to go; other myths take us further from the truth and get in the way of seeing reality or confusing us over the steps needed to move forward. It is the myths of the latter that I have often written about in previous columns.

In politics in the aftermath (or even in the midst) of elections, many myths are promulgated that take us further from the truth and darken a true view of reality. And these then have deleterious effects on decision making in the present because they are a misread of what actually happened.

In 1992 and many years after, the myth was repeated that Ross Perot's independent candidacy cost President Bush his reelection. The truth was that Bill Clinton would have won by a bigger margin if Perot had not run at all when one looks at exit polls and second choice responses, as well as demographic breakdowns of his support.

The 2004 election carried with it many myths, one big one being that President Bush won re-election because of gay marriage initiatives being placed on state ballots causing an increase in conservative voter turnout. The final results actually showed there was no difference in conservative turnout between target states that had gay marriage referendums and those states that didn't have them.

In the last few elections I have also attempted to show that television advertising in presidential elections has very little if any impact on election results. And even though the media keeps reporting on the myth of the power of television ads (as well as this myth being pushed by consultants on both sides of the aisle), the state by state results show that advertising effects are minimal at best. I have addressed this one with much more detail in a previous column.

Many of us have also bought into myths in our personal relationships. I like to call one of these the Jerry Maguire myth because it comes from the movie line of Tom Cruise's character who says to his love interest "You complete me." While seemingly romantic, it perpetuates the myth that somehow someone else will make us whole, or complete us in way that fills a void we carry and will make us happy. Having gone through marriage and divorce very young, and then remarriage and divorce again, I finally figured out some truth of successful relationships. It is that it is only when we fill the void in ourselves outside of another and that we no longer need a relationship for happiness, that we are then finally ready for a healthy relationship.

And finally we arrive at a current myth related to the NFL and Roger Goodell. In the midst of the domestic abuse scandals, the myth has been repeated by nearly everyone that the owners won't fire Goodell because he has done an outstanding job and brought all NFL teams a tremendous increase in financial value. That Goodell has been such an outstanding executive as represented by growth in value that the owners won't do the right thing and fire him.