It has not been a great three weeks to be the commissioner of an American sports league. Between the player lockout in the NHL and the officials’ lockout in football, a lot of blood is being boiled by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Bettman has been M.I.A since the owners locked out their own players. Goodell is in a similar situation with the referees in the NFL. For the last three weeks, he has weathered the brunt of the fan and media pressure to end the lockout. But things went from bad to obnoxious for Goodell on Monday night when his replacement officials blew a game-deciding call in the Green Bay/Seattle game.
With fans doing their best French Revolution impressions, the media attempted to contact Goodell for some answers. Unfortunately, he could not be reached by phone, text, or email, and not even his assistant could track him down. It became clear that Goodell had gone into hiding.
With the help of the FBI, Goodell’s cellphone was tracked to a remote field in Wyoming. Authorities searched the area for several hours before finding a welcome mat in the middle of the field. When the entrance was breached, authorities found both Goodell and Bettman hiding in what was called a “spider hole.” Luckily for the two commissioners, Packer and Canuck fans were not the first to the scene.
Early word from their hiding place suggested that lockout-ending, signed contacts were thought to be on the commissioners at the time of their discovery. There is no word on whether Goodell and Bettman were able to destroy the documents before being taken into custody
