Roger Goodell Clown Towels: 70,000 Brought To Patriots Home Opener

FOXBOROUGH, MA — It's the stuff of nightmares, really. Roger Goodell's mug, complete with clown nose, adorning countless blue shirts, 70,000 blue towels, and a giant Route 1 billboard. That was the scene leading up to and during Thursday night's NFL season opener between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium.

Goodell, the NFL commissioner who suspended Patriots quarterback four games last season for the latter's role in the Deflategate scandal, made his first visit to Gillette since 2015 for New England's banner-raising ceremony. The festivities celebrate the team's fifth Super Bowl championship since Brady became quarterback — and the most recent title was won in spite of Goodell flexing his authoritative muscle in the lengthy Deflategate saga that ended in the federal appellate court system.

So what's the deal with the clown shenanigans?

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The infamous photo is part of a Barstool Sports campaign to give the commissioner a message that Patriots Nation is still not fond of him for suspending Brady for his alleged role in the controversy where the Patriots were accused of intentionally deflating footballs prior to the AFC Championship game in 2015. The investigation, known as the Wells Report, determined that it was "more probable than not" Brady was aware of a scheme to deflate game balls to under the legal minimum air pressure.

"The clown towel is like the three-finger symbol in "Hunger Games," said Barstool Sports Patriots blogger and comedian Jerry Thornton. Standing outside the Barstool tailgate outside Rodman Ford, he smiled with glee at the idea 70,000 light blue towels taunting Goodell.

"This is all of us, as the Katniss Everdeen, standing up against President Snow. This is a sign of revolution. This is people dumping tea into the harbor to stick it to King George. Not enough bad things can happen to Roger Goodell. If it has to be 70,000 turquoise towels, so be it," Thornton said.

Barstool, a sports/humor site formerly of Boston and now located in New York City, has printed and distributed 70,000 Goodell clown rally towels, more than enough for the 65,000-seat capacity at Gillette Stadium. Fans who volunteered to distribute the towels gathered at a location in Walpole to pick up the goods, which are being given away in the parking lots for free by the website's fans known as 'Stoolies.'

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Walking around Gillette Stadium hours before the game, one would find it a challenge to not find the turquoise symbol of anger and revenge. For almost everyone in Gillette Thursday night, it will be as close as they will ever get to Goodell and their best chance to voice their disapproval of his job as the league's top officer.

"We had to get our towels. We've been very loyal fans and we know the controversy going on and we needed to support our team," Patriots fan Freddy Mello said outside the stadium.

Across the street, Barstool Sports gave out the remaining towels they had left. By 5:40 p.m., about 3 hours before gametime, they were all out.

In an effort to play down the towels, Goodell's pregame responsibilities on the field will wrap up prior to when the majority of fans will be in the stadium, he will not appear on the video screens, and he will not be in team owner Robert Kraft's suite, SI's MMQB reports.

At about 7:30 p.m., the boos in the not yet full stadium began to erupt as a large entourage began to walk out of visitor's entrance tunnel. In the middle of that group was Goodell himself. As fast as he appeared in sight, the towels came up and a group of fans wearing the t-shirt edition in the nearby first-row area known as "Brady's Corner" did everything they could to stand out.

By 7:50 p.m., Goodell was gone and his pregame obligations to be seen were fulfilled. He was never announced nor did he appear on the video screen, as was part of the reported plan.

The towels came out for one moment prior to Thursday's came. Just after the coin toss, jeers of "Roger, Roger" broke out as a sea of blue towels began to rise en mass. They were not a factor for the rest of the game, likely because there was little to cheer about in the Patriots 42-27 loss to the Chiefs.

While some may think of this as closure or the last chapter of revenge for Brady's suspension and the Deflategate controversy, it's not over yet, according to Thornton.

"This is just the beginning, this is not an end, Theses towels, t-shirts, billboards are going to come at him until we break his will," Thornton said.

Breaking his will would be quiet a feat. Goodell recently signed a 5-year deal to remain the commissioner, making sure that one of New England's top foes is around for the foreseeable future.

Image Credit: Dan Libon