Now it was the commissioner’s custom at the game to release a player chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Ben Roethlisberger. So when the crowd had gathered, Goodell asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Ben Roethlisberger, or Richard Seymour?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Seymour over to him.
While Goodell was sitting on the commissioner’s seat, his networks sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for our ratings have leaped a great deal today because of him.”
But the referees and the Steeler homers persuaded the crowd to ask for Roethlisberger and to have Seymour ejected.
“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the commissioner.
“Roethlisberger,” they answered.
“What shall I do, then, with Richard Seymour?” Goodell asked.
They all answered, “Penalize him!”
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Goodell.
But they shouted all the louder, “Penalize him!”
When Goodell saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s yardage,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
All the people answered, “His yardage is on us and on our children!”
Then he released Roethlisberger to them. But he had Seymour fined $25,000 and 15 yards, and handed him over to be ejected.
Al Davis 27:15-26