It’s easy to lose track of developments in all the daily drama that has become the NFL offseason.
There’s been the New Orleans Saints and bountygate, which led to the suspension of coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis, among others.
There’s been the salary cap battle between the league and the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, which pits two of the league’s owners, Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones, against the rest of their brethren.
Megastar Tim Tebow was traded to the back-page tabloid champions of New York, the Jets, because one of the greatest quarterbacks of his time, Peyton Manning, left the Indianapolis Colts to take Tebow’s job with the Denver Broncos.
Lost in all this, though, was one development that caused a hiccup along the way, but may prove to be the most dramatic and significant storyline of all.
Congress wants to talk bounties.
A little more than a week ago, Senator Dick Durbin declared he wants to hold a Senate hearing on bountygate and concussions. Reportedly, representatives from the NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA and Major League Baseball will all be called to testify.
But the stars of any such hearing would have to be two of the most important central figures to bountygate — Payton and former Saints and Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the bountygate mastermind.
There’s no hearing without those two.
Few will care if it is a dog and pony show featuring NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other league bosses testifying about steps they are taking to make sure the next generation of athletes are not having their brains cut open to study for damage at the age of 50.
No, the spotlight will have to be on the culprits who have the most to say — Payton and Williams — and be forced to say it under oath.
There was some eye-rolling when Durbin announced he would hold hearings on bountygate — doesn’t Congress have better things to do? But no institution or agency concentrates on just one issue or concern. And while there is grandstanding, the reality is that steroid abuse in baseball doesn’t change without hearings in Congress.
The image of Mark McGwire declining, nearly in tears, to answer questions about steroid use under oath shook the players and their union — the main roadblock to stricter testing.
Roger Clemens in 2008 fumbling through tough questions, declaring that his friend and former teammate, Andy Pettitte, “misremembered” about Clemens use of performance-enhancing substances still reverberates today (see, Clemens perjury trial scheduled to start on April 16).
Unless the NFL can get Durbin to limit the show to just Goodell and other corporate suits, Payton and Williams will have to appear before America and answer under oath for their role in the scandal that could shake the foundation of the NFL.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
