It is no secret that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is not the most popular figure in sports. It has even become a tradition for fans to shower him with boos at the start of the NFL Draft each year. He has finally started to get used to this, in part thanks to advice given to him by NFL Network’s Adam Rank.
Rank appeared on a recent episode of the Short and to the Point podcast hosted by Jessica Kleinschmidt, where he shared a story of how he gave Goodell a bit of advice on how to deal with boos, a lesson he learned during his side gig of standup comedy.
“There is an art to it,” said Rank. “You don’t want to step over your laughs. You don’t want to talk when the audience is laughing, or doing anything. Just let it go, breathe, and then come with the next thing. I actually told that to Roger Goodell one time, the first draft in Chicago. I said you shouldn’t try to talk over the boos. Heat is heat, you still want a response. It’s a passion for the sport. Let them boo, don’t try to talk over them because that will only make it worse.”
When you watch the NFL Draft in recent years, you can actually tell that this is something that Goodell has improved greatly on over time. He even played into it in last year’s draft, egging on the crowd to boo even louder.
Everyone's favorite NFL Draft tradition: Roger Goodell getting booed. 🏈📺 pic.twitter.com/VQr3IrhWvU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 28, 2023
It’s a pretty great piece of advice from Rank. In a way, any response at all should be seen as a good one, especially since it is a built-in response year in and year out at this point for Goodell.
In wrestling terms, Goodell is playing the heel for NFL fans in attendance at the draft each year. And thanks to this advice from Rank, he is playing quite a good heel at that.
Short and to the Point with Jessica Kleinschmidt is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
