THE FIRST ESPN DAY OF ROGER GOODELL — HE SPOKE BY VIDEO AS CAREERS TEETERED

Anyone who remains at the network, while the NFL takes over 10 percent, should ask why powerful investigations and columns about the league happened in the very distant past — as journalism crumbles

The least Roger Goodell could have done Wednesday? Show up in person, bro. When he spoke to ESPN employees in a recorded video address — only listen to the commissioner, and do not speak — what if they had serious questions about careers? What if reporters wondered if they’d be shut down by bosses if they pursued stunning NFL deep dives?

What if a reporter, an editor, a producer — TV, radio, website — asked if a dismissal or suspension might happen when the NFL owns a 10 percent equity stake in the network? With Goodell only on video, he basically hid from staffers who might have been thinking about their lives. All he said, on cue, is that the league wouldn’t be involved in ESPN journalism, according to Front Office Sports.

Oh, really? Under the leadership of Jimmy Pitaro, the network will continue to tip-toe in coverage as it has tip-toed for years. There is no need for Goodell to raise red flags if Pitaro doesn’t produce hard-hitting investigations and column-writing that turned the NFL into a problematic operation, way back in the 2010s. I want forceful columns about Goodell and the 32 owners. I want powerful probes into the league, such as what Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada — “League of Denial” — tried to produce about the concussion crisis. And what Seth Wickersham reported about the internal divide of the six-time-champion New England Patriots. And what Don Van Natta Jr. wrote about disturbing politics behind email leaks and Jon Gruden’s eventual ouster as a coach. And what “Outside the Lines” offered journalistically before the show was canceled two years ago.

When The Shield owns a healthy piece of a media operation, you won’t see thunderous commentary that threatens jobs and makes Goodell sweat at night. Shame on Van Natta for calling out national radio host Dan Patrick, who left ESPN for laudable reasons, after he suggested the network has no shame after the NFL deal. When a Nevada court sided with Gruden this week — and knocked down Goodell’s attempt to control arbitration in a lawsuit against him — Van Natta reported the outcome. So did the Associated Press, The Athletic, FOS and other news agencies. Everyone reported the outcome, as necessary.

But where is the thrust of the criticism? Didn’t Goodell try to ruin Gruden for life? When a judge rules against the NFL, where is the almighty sports columnist? Hmmm. ESPN does not have a sports columnist. Veteran Dan Wetzel is a senior writer “focused on investigative reporting, news analysis and feature storytelling” — and he did a fine investigation of young male athletes subjected to sextortion. But ripping apart Goodell, which is what he did at Yahoo Sports, won’t happen at ESPN. Pitaro hired him.

I speak from too much experience. I was fired by a Chicago radio station, despite great ratings, when a program director asked me to stop criticizing the White Sox and Bulls — whose games were on our station. I refused, because I wrote a column in town, and was fired the morning after Christmas. I thrived in that city 17 years, though sports owners tried to have me fired at the paper and on the radio … and on ESPN’s “Around The Horn.” One editor was in my wedding and, to this day, still works for Jerry Reinsdorf. Why is the owner of an esteemed soccer team in my weird history? Why was I muted on TV by a host every time I talked about a commissioner?

I should write a book. I know about journalistic mistreatment.

Sports columnists tend not to exist these days, when they are needed more than ever, given the scummery involved in ownership and networks and gambling. Sally Jenkins, the best, left the Washington Post and joined The Atlantic as a staff writer. ESPN requires a great one to improve credibility. My old paper in Chicago, the Sun-Times, has no regular columnist when some of us built daily circulation to 350,000 — they sell few papers today and shout for lean website money.

Publishers are cowards. Editors are protecting jobs. At ESPN, Gruden’s future should be chronicled extensively by opinion writers. Brian Flores, a wonderful defensive coordinator in Minnesota, should be covered in depth as he takes the NFL to trial for discrimination. Why is Kansas City’s Rashee Rice expected to play the first four weeks after injuring people in a multi-car crash?

So, sure, Roger Goodell should show up for hours or days and take questions at town halls. What if someone asked why Jim Trotter left the league in 2023? He wanted a more balanced representation inside the NFL newsroom. His contract wasn’t renewed. He sued the league.

Who is the next Jim Trotter in Bristol?

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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.