Roger Goodell's wife had a secret Twitter account to defend him against criticism
The reaction to a Wall Street Journal story on Roger Goodell’s wife having a secret Twitter account to defend him anonymously will probably be another way for folks to pick at the NFL commissioner.
Really, it humanizes Goodell a bit more. We probably all have parents, spouses, siblings or friends who would come to our defense on social media if they were ripped as often as Goodell. It just happens that in this case, Jane Skinner Goodell is married to one of the more famous and powerful people in sports. The Goodells, they’re just like us!
Also: The story is pretty funny and harmless. Her @forargument account, with the name “Jones smith,” has been deleted.
“It was a REALLY silly thing to do and done out of frustration—and love.” Jane Skinner Goodell said in a written statement to the WSJ, via Business Insider. “As a former media member, I’m always bothered when the coverage doesn’t provide a complete and accurate picture of a story. I’m also a wife and a mom. I have always passionately defended the hard-working guy I love—and I always will. I just may not use Twitter to do so in the future!”
The examples of Jane Skinner Goodell’s tweets provided by the Wall Street Journal are fairly innocuous. A sampling, from the WSJ:
In response to a WSJ article about NFL owners disagreeing on the handling of anthem demonstrations, “Jones smith” wrote: ““The premise of your article is silly. What board of directors in this country would all agree on this issue?”
A joke by Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal to a photo showing Goodell with New England Patriots fans got an admonishment “Why is everyone so immature? (including you?). Let’s celebrate the new season.”
The last tweet from the account, the Wall Street Journal said, was in response to NBC News’ presidential historian who tweeted a picture of a 1970 newspaper article about then-Vice President Spiro Agnew attacking U.S. Senator Charles Goodell, Roger’s father: “Goodell courageous & was right in the end. Leadership is hard. Commish is doing same. Give him credit.”
It’s not like Jane was giving away NFL secrets. She was defending her husband. Any of us should be able to understand that.
However, the whole story is pretty hilarious. Just know that when you get into a fight with someone on social media, you never quite know who is arguing with you. It might even be Roger Goodell’s family.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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