Power without Accountability, or “I’m Sorry–isn’t that enough?”

Steve Brady December 3, 2013July 15, 2014 1 Comment

There are issues of accountability with those in power. And for a change I am not talking about Congress and the President (although I think the lesson applies here as well.)

This weekend was quite an interesting one for football. The head coach for the Steelers was in the way of play, with one foot on the field, and thus he is facing penalties including a (possibly 6 figure) fine and possible loss of a draft pick.

Okay, so there are penalties associated with bad decisions, right? This doesn’t help the Ravens, but then again, they didn’t need theÂ help. Right?

So let’s move on to the other big controversy of the weekend–the “what down is it?” controversy with the Redskins and the Giants. In this case, the chains were moved, the down boxes were changed to read first down, and the ‘Skins behaved accordingly. THEN, the officials back-tracked, set everything to 4th down, and shook up the Redskins on the field. Right?

Unlike the Steelers-Ravens game this one may well have shaped the final outcome of the game.

So here’s my beef–what are the penalties associated with the officials making a mistake? Do they get fined? Do they (in classic NCAA fashion) ‘vacate’ the win from the Giants’ W column? Of course we all know the anwer: NO.As the story below shows, the NFL has admitted the mistake, and now the ‘Skins must, as their Head Coach Shanahan says “…live with it.”

That’s right. When those in a position of power make a mistake, they issue an apology. “Sorry–we will try not to make that mistake again… hope you don’t mind…” But they pay no real price for their failure–while at the same time (and in the same weekend) exacting a price from those in their control.

Hypocrisy? Hubris? Â Share your thoughts.