Roger Goodell can be a hero ... if he wants to ... but he probably won't

It's safe to say Roger Goodell's reputation isn't the greatest.

However, I have an idea for him that will instantly raise his standing among football fans, even here in New England, where he's the devil incarnate if he doesn't rescind Tom Brady's Deflategate suspension yesterday and grovel for forgiveness for daring inconvenience him in any way.

He can ask the Pro Football Hall of Fame to let Sydney Seau speak.

We learned today that no one will be allowed to speak on Junior Seau's behalf during the Hall's induction ceremony, not even his daughter Sydney, who was listed as his presenter. According to the Hall, it's their call, not the NFL's, and it's simply a fairly new policy that deceased honorees get a longer-than-normal highlight video, but no speakers.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt ... really, let's swallow hard and do it ... and assume there was no pressure at all from the NFL to sweep aside the whole "unpleasantness" of how and why Seau died and that it's just policy.

There's no way they wouldn't let Sydney speak if Goodell asked them to, policy or not.

But we all know that's not very likely.

It's not even as simple as whether Sydney would have called out the NFL about its concussion problem, and the fact that its players are destroying their bodies and their brains. She has said that wasn't her plan.

No, it's that every second spent on Junior Seau is a reminder that he's not there, and why he's not there, no matter the content.

So it's in the interest of both the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- which is, after all, an institution that primarily honors the greats of the NFL and therefore has something to lose if the league's reputation is sullied -- to make sure that time is as short as humanly possible.