The Chancellor suspended Johnathan Joseph one game.
Traditionally a first offense of the substance abuse policy had meant a fine and no suspension. But Goodell is going right to the suspension even though it appears to be Joseph's only brush with the law and the case has been resolved.
The Chancellor gets what he wants. A completely confusing interpretation of one's personal beliefs of "conduct", the unstable course of punishment and the document of conducting personal conduct on a dangerously lucid scale. Hey, it could be worse. Joseph could be suspended next season too for a punishment served twice (Chris Henry) or just avoid the character all-together with very KGB-mystery like-minded reasoning (Odell Thurman). So much for punishing the worst cases. Punish them all. Let God sort'em out. So much for a team's sovereignty. The Chancellor rules all. Including whether teams lose a home game because the international demand to watch a live NFL game is, somewhat, there. What is it with commissioners fulfilling the idiocracy of culture control? What is it with commissioners feeling like they have to respond to everything? What is it with commissioners that they feel like they have to make progression for the sake of progression? Isn't that the prime path towards degradation?
Ah, I'm just being bitter. I'm very confused with his reasoning. This, Johnathan Joseph's case, shouldn't be on the desk of the commissioner. It wasn't that big of a deal. JJ poses no disruption towards the trend of hell-raisers. He's a one-time offender. I would think the Chancellor would have something more important to do. Like deal away more home games over the Atlantic. Giving another preseason game to mega-human rights violators in China. Or simply standing around like your stuff don't stink.
Again, I'm probably just being bitter. I just don't understand. And fairly, I'm not meant to understand. This sport isn't about the fans as much as it is about the sponsors and the big money. It is what it is. You have to do what you have to do to make a buck -- including over-reactionary penalties, dress code policies and the de-Americanization of another major sport. Wow, that was a tangent.