Leaving politics out of Super Bowl week not a cop out for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

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This is complicated, if only because it is not difficult to take either side of the argument with some measure of honest conviction.
 
Earlier Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell joined players, coaches and others in his sport in staying the interview course around, not into, the growing morass of our American political situation, “morass” seeming to be an apt term for things regardless of which side of any current issue you find yourself. 
 
Goodell, as Tom Brady, Mohamed Sanu and others intoned this week when queried about something Donald Trump, passed. “I’m singularly focused on the Super Bowl right now,” Goodell said. Saying that the game “will bring the world together” may have been a spot of hyperbole, but not quite the way some have construed it.
 
Don’t know about you, but this Child of the ‘60’s was OK with that.
 
The Super Bowl is nothing less than perhaps the pinnacle pulpit from which to spread the word, any word. Maybe World Cup finals, but in this country, this is it.
 
And frankly, right now, we need a timeout.

[SHOP: Gear up Bears fans!]
 
People yelling at each other is not the same thing as meaningful conversation or dialogue, and right now it’s all yelling. Anybody else need a couple hours’ respite this Sunday?
 
Sports, celebrity in general, can provide a pulpit. Muhammad Ali, John Wayne, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kid Rock, and a very, very long list of prominent figures have used their stature to speak on things that matter more than their normal venue, agree with them or not.
 
It can also be neutral ground, with nothing more acrimonious between two folks than whether Brady or Joe Montana is the greatest single quarterback in history. 
 
This isn’t about avoiding issues, and I don’t know Goodell’s mindset or true level of belief that a football game will bring two sides — Democrats/Republicans, Falcons/Patriots fans, name it — together, let alone the world. Putting venom and vitriol on “Pause” is not the same as hitting “Stop.” Call it a cease-fire, if you need a more universal handle for it.
 
One casualty of runaway invective is that before long it feels as though there is absolutely nothing in common to be had between sides. A classic Super Bowl commercial — I’m still going with “Mean Joe Greene” and the kid — isn’t exactly a bridge-builder but sometimes sports actually can be what it really in fact is: a diversion.
 
My sister once was heading out on a Monday morning for a major job situation in Kansas City. I got a frantic call the Sunday night before she was leaving: “Quick, tell me all you can about the Chiefs!” Turns out the group she was meeting were KC fans. The Chiefs were a great icebreaker.
 
Goodell hasn’t always done even a passable job of handling delicate situations. This time, with Las Vegas, Deflategate, San Diego and other mines in NFLWorld, leaving an already overheated political climate on the sidelines for a day or two works for me.

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