NBC broadcaster Bob Costas. Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

I’ve always been a big fan of Bob Costas. His coverage over the years has been right on target and this time around I have to say I can’t disagree with him.

Last night he presented his thoughts on the punishments meted out by Roger Goodell on the New Orleans Saints.

Below you will find his comments and here is a link to the video on profootballtalk.com His on-air presentation was a part of  NBC SportsTalk Wednesday night.

Take the time to read or listen to this. Even if you don’t totally agree with what he has to say, he says it well and the information is of importance to all NFL fans.

Here is the text of his presentation:

“I want to stand up and cheer for Roger Goodell.

“Now, the penalty to the players, which may be a little trickier because he may face some resistance from the Players Association; but the penalty for the players will be forthcoming, we are led to believe in about a week, and I think they will also be appropriately severe.

“He has made an important statement today. And anyone who thinks that the Saints are scapegoats because of the present atmosphere in the NFL, maybe their timing was off, but they deserve every bit of this. They are blatantly guilty of something that has no place whatsoever in sports.

“And it goes beyond the idea of bounties. If people interpret this as, ‘Well no one will ever have any bounties anymore’ at least not anything that can be traced, Roger Goodell is sending a message about the culture of the game, about the celebration of a kind of violence, a kind of brutality that goes above and beyond anything that reasonable people should accept.

“It’s understood within football, whether there are bounties or not, that many players, not all, maybe not most, that many players are either indifferent to whether or not they injure opponents or actually take pride and glee in injuring opponents.  There is no question about it.  This is not isolated to the New Orleans Saints.

“The NFL as it is presently constituted is a great, great game that’s exciting in many ways, interesting in many ways, and clearly is America’s most popular sport.  It also has a serious problem because it is fundamentally brutal in a way that reasonable people should no longer accept.

“And Roger Goodell is trying to deal with that, both (a) because it’s the right thing to do, and I believe he is a good man, but (b) because he’s also a businessman and he knows that with all this litigation out there, and more coming, he’s got to position the league as standing as reasonably as it can against excessive and gratuitous violence.”

If you missed Bob Costas’s rant about the TD celebrations that have gotten so out of control so as to become a mockery of the NFL, I beg you to take a look and relish in his brutally honest soliloquy.

By the way, for Packers fans, you will be pleased to know that Costas describes the Lambeau Leap as a spontaneous celebration worthy of an honest and genuine sharing of glory with the fans.

Like I said, you have to love Costas.

To read the essay … Go to the jump … And don’t forget to Like Lombardiave on Facebook

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