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Goodell’s wife has been secretly defending him, on Twitter

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Press Conference

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 05: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a press conference prior to Super Bowl 50 at the Moscone Center West on February 5, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

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They’ve apparently found the real PFT Commenter.

According to Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal, the wife of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been maintaining a Twitter account in an assumed name for the purposes of periodically defending her husband, primarily against reporters who would dare criticize the $40 million-per-year emperor of the sport.

“The most frequent sparring partner for @forargument is the nation’s sports media,” Beaton writes. “On Sept. 26, @ProFootballTalk, the Twitter account for the popular NBC Sports blog, tweeted that it was ‘on the commissioner’ to solve the anthem issues. In response, @forargument tweeted: ‘Please do better reporting. He is already doing this. You are behind.’”

Mrs. Goodell, also known as Jane Skinner, admitted to maintaining the account via written statement.

“It was a REALLY silly thing to do and done out of frustration -- and love.” she said. “As a former media member, I’m always bothered when the coverage doesn’t provide a complete and accurate picture of a story. I’m also a wife and a mom. I have always passionately defended the hard-working guy I love -- and I always will. I just may not use Twitter to do so in the future!”

She can change “may not” to “will not,” because the account already has been deleted.

Of course, that doesn’t mean another one won’t emerge in the future, with a better effort to cover her tracks. The fact that @forargument followed four accounts connected to the high school her daughters attend was the clue that the Wall Street Journal used to figure this one out.

The league has downplayed the tweeting, which seems a little like what we’ve been seeing for months from the league’s current chief antagonist. (But at least the President aggressively defends himself in his own name.)

“Sounds like what she did is what every spouse in America would want to do,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

Wanting to do it and actually doing it are two different things. Plenty of spouses of athletes, coaches, media members, etc. want to sound off in the face of criticism. Few actually do, for good reason. Most spouses realize that public criticism is a small price to pay for the job the spouse has and the lifestyle that flows from it. And few figures in sports have the income to support a better lifestyle than the Commissioner of the NFL.