Ginsberg with Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan

I was able to hear the interview live. I was grinning from ear to ear. FINALLY, there is someone saying it just didn't happen, and the radio personalities are agreeing. One thing that interested me was that he said when all the rumors started flying that Vilma was offering $10K for taking Warner and Favre out of the game, he and Vilma contacted the NFL to ask to be heard. Goodell refused to release to them any information, which pretty well prevented them from any rebuttal. I mean, how can you rebut what you don't even know about? I got the sense from Ginsberg that Goodell didn't want to talk to them at all.

I don't know where this will lead, but because Goodell is preventing Vilma from earning his living, it could very well end up in court. Ginsberg made some very strong comments about how the commissioner is backed into a corner and the only reason he isn't releasing information is that he knows it is weak. Consider how "powerful" the statement from Hargrove was supposed to be. The "independent" counsel implied that it pretty well tied up the entire case for her. Then it comes out, dated in mid-April, and there's no admission he took part in the so-called bounties, no mention of players at all, only two coaches who have since denied they ever said what they are purported to have said. The statement only says the coaches told him what to say and doesn't even say outright that what they told him to say was a lie. That's not exactly proof to me that the named players were part of it. This is something that can keep a player out of consideration for the HOF. While I don't see Vilma as HOF material exactly, he at least should be mentioned as a candidate. This nixes that entirely because it is a large blemish on his career.

Goodell is between a rock and a hard place--unless he is able to present some rock solid evidence that these players were a part of it.