NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Laughs at Concussion Joke Made by Roger Staubach

The National Football Foundation had a dinner this week. It's called the National Football Foundation dinner. It was held in New York and lots of big names were there, like legendary quarterback, Roger Staubach, and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell. The former gave a speech. Not surprisingly, he not opened with a joke. However, the joke was aimed at the topic of concussions, a hot topic in the NFL right now. Goodell, who has been the subject of heavy criticism for the way he has handled such injuries, can be seen laughing at the joke.

"I had the chance to sit next to the commissioner of football, Pete Rozelle, tonight" Staubach began. Rozelle was commissioner of the league when Staubach played--setting the stage for the rest of the joke. A man then tapped Staubach on the shoulder to inform him of the error. "Excuse me--Roger Goodell. I apologize, I had six concussions in the NFL, so..."

The room filled with laughter. Among those laughing, NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell.

To be fair to Goodell though, it's an uncomfortable joke that puts him in an awkward situation. He almost laughs in self defense. However, what makes Goodell look even worse is that he supposedly approved the joke before Staubach even took to the stage.

"I told Roger I was going to tell that corny joke, and he approved it," Staubach said. Making it, at the very least, a poor decision in judgement.

Concussions are an ever present topic in the NFL. However, they are particularly at the forefront of conversation with recent incidents, as well as the upcoming release of the movie Concussion, starring Will Smith, set to come out Christmas Day.

The movie depicts the NFL's resistance to the findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) by forensic pathologist, Bennet Omalu (played by Smith). David Haugh, reporter for the Chicago Tribune, writes that the movie "is a horror film disguised as a drama, 2 hours and 2 minutes of entertainment as haunting to a football audience as it is powerful. Sorry, entertainment is the wrong word. Enlightenment is more like it."