From the first pages of the Wells Report, it's clear that Tom Brady was in the NFL's crosshairs. It took a logical stretch, but Mr. Wells was sure to hang that "more probably than not... generally aware" label on old number twelve, opening the door for Troy Vincent and Roger Goodell to slap him across the teeth with a good, hard punishment.
The suspension itself proves that Brady must be guilty, some people say. Why would Roger Goodell go after Tom Brady, maybe the most recognizable face in the NFL, a man who has done nothing but promote good sportsmanship and class for the past decade and a half? Why would he punish him so severely, unless he had no choice?
The answer is deceptively simple, and you're on the right track with the "no choice" bit.
The outcome of this case was determined at 1:15am on the morning of January 19, 2015, just a few hours after the AFC championship game ended, and it was no more in doubt than the 45-7 final score. The Patriots were being investigated for tampering with their footballs, Bob Kravitz wrote, and just like that, an entire nation made up its mind. The Patriots were cheating. Again.
It's pretty funny how we Pats fans talk about "evidence" and "due process", as if this were America or something. Most of us fail to realize the condition the rest of the football world is in when it comes to our Patriots.
Here in New England, the Patriots deserve to be innocent until proven guilty. They deserve to have a neutral party carefully study the facts and draw reasoned conclusions.
Here in New England.
In anyplace but New England, it's no longer the United States. It's not even the Wild West. In the Wild West, at least you could carry a gun, and if you went down in a hail of bullets, you could take a few of the bad guys with you. We're way past that.
Non-New England football fans live in an alternate universe. Patriot haters have undergone more systematic abuse than Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. Brady has a winning record against every single team in the NFL. He collects AFC East titles the way the rest of us collect 5-cent deposit cans. He seems to be in the Super Bowl every couple of years, and has already tied Joe Montana for the most championships by a QB, ever. And, most horrifyingly of all, he seems not to have gotten the memo that he's supposed to be in wind-down mode.
In short, Tom Brady simply refuses to stop winning.
There's no weakness, no chink in the armor, nothing for a spiteful adversary to sink his teeth into. He's got the chiseled features of a Hollywood actor, and his wife, the woman he falls asleep next to every night, has appeared about 10,000 times in the Victoria's Secret catalogs that every high school boy hides under his mattress.
So no, when it comes to Tom Brady, there will be no due process. There will be no reasoned conclusions. There will be no logic. Now that they finally smell blood, there will only be Hell to pay.
The facts are irrelevant. The evidence was gathered in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2014. The irrefutable proof lies in Brady's four "rings", which look more like WWE championship belts. Unless you're a Patriots fan, January 19th felt like Christmas morning to you--and when you rip that package open, you're not going to settle for an argyle sweater from grandma.
This presents a problem for our pal Roger, who's got all the swagger of a substitute teacher. He couldn't persuade you to jump in a pool if your socks were on fire. He's not an innovative thinker or an engaging speaker. About all he can do is find out which way the wind is blowing and point his sails accordingly.
After the January 19 story, Goodell had to find the Patriots guilty. If he looked into it for three days or a week, then said,"Everything's fine--nothing to see here!" there would've been a tsunami of criticism:
"Goodell went easy on Ray Rice--now he's doing it again with the Patriots. He's gone soft on us!"
"Roger's burying another scandal for his BFF, Bob Kraft!"
...and so on.
He had to put the wood to the Patriots to satisfy the masses, and once he committed to that, he had to do the same to Tom Brady. How would it sound if he said, "Well, the Patriots were tampering, but Brady, the guy who handled the footballs on every play, knew nothing about it"? Again, the angry mob would never go for it.
Goodell's smear campaign against Brady was really just typical NFL media relations at work: Nothing is more important than getting the first headline. Striking first in the media allows you to set the narrative, to control the storyline. Maybe he didn't intend to harm Brady, but that was most definitely the result.
Anyone who questions this only needs to look at the comments on any deflategate story; the same people who would have been bashing Goodell mercilessly over Ray Rice or some other thing are now holding him up as this paragon of justice, bringing the hammer down on those rotten stinking Cheatriots!
ReplyDeleteWhy would the NFL attack one of their most visible and popular players? There's plenty of possible reasons starting with the links in the NFL front office back to Jet's front office when BB had an acrimonious parting. With each passing year, as the Pats achieve ever higher heights, thoughts of what could have been, if only Bill had stayed with the Jets must magnify the burn in their bellies. It is sure a bitter pill to swallow. Unfortunately, unless someone in the NFL front office someday decides to clear their conscience and come clean, no one may ever know for sure what drives their vengeance. As far as deflategate goes, the reason is irrelevant. What is clear, beyond the shadow of any doubt, is the NFL has undeniably shown a clear pattern of extreme prejudice against the Patriots from the very beginning starting with Mike Kensil on the Patriots sideline in the 2nd half of the AFCCG taunting the Patriots equipment manager with the F word. From there, the NFL immediately went on the attack initiating a smear campaign against the Patriots leaking information that has been proven as blatantly false by their own paid for Wells Report.
ReplyDeleteBefore the superbowl, the NFL leaked what has been proven by the Wells Report to be blatantly false information that 11 of 12 Pats balls were 2 psi under (none were even close to that), that all the Colts balls were measured and were within range (only 4 were measured and 3 were out of range on one gauge), and that McNally had handed an unofficial kicking ball to the ref (when it was an NFL "official" who was stealing balls who had handed that ball to McNally). Then the NFLs Dave Giardi sent an official NFL letter to the Patriots saying that one ball was at 10.1 psi (none were close to that) and repeated the lie that was leaked to the media that all Colts footballs were measured and within range (again, only 4 were measured and 3 of those were outside the range on one guage) in what was most likely a bid to diminish the Patriots will to fight. The NFL then refused repeated requests by the Patriots to set the record striaght which is proven beyond the shadow of any doubt by the emails released by the Pats between the Pats and NFL lawyers. Why would the NFL want to dispell the rumors they had put out to the media? The smear campaign was working flawlessly.
Why would the NFL do that to one of the shining icons of the league? Who knows? That question is pretty much irrelevant given they did it.
With a such a prepondurance of evidence of prejudice it is clear that nothing was ever going to be independent. The NFLs own actions against the Pats from the get go makes it clear that It is far far more likely than not, to the point of near certainty, that Wells was given the task by the NFL of proving guilt. That would explain how Wells could come out with such a shoddy report that was so easily shredded by a number of intelligent and qualified people. The cherry picking of supportive evidence, advantageous assumptions that support the predetermined outcome, the sensationalizing of nonevents and the complete lack of consideration of alternative possibilities leave the Wells Report open for others to pick apart and point out it's obvious and well discussed failings and shortcomings.
Why those in the NFL front office would personally want to do it is unknown but irrelevant. The extreme prejudice by the NFL against the Pats prior to the Wells Report being published is undeniable and their motive was clear, to shape public opinion against the the Patriots from the get go. Those actions alone cast a shadow of doubt on any statements or conclusions the NFL has to offer on deflategate.
Why would the NFL attack one of their most visible and popular players? There's plenty of possible reasons starting with the links in the NFL front office back to Jet's front office when BB had an acrimonious parting. With each passing year, as the Pats achieve ever higher heights, thoughts of what could have been, if only Bill had stayed with the Jets must magnify the burn in their bellies. It is sure a bitter pill to swallow. Unfortunately, unless someone in the NFL front office someday decides to clear their conscience and come clean, no one may ever know for sure what drives their vengeance. As far as deflategate goes, the reason is irrelevant. What is clear, beyond the shadow of any doubt, is the NFL has undeniably shown a clear pattern of extreme prejudice against the Patriots from the very beginning starting with Mike Kensil on the Patriots sideline in the 2nd half of the AFCCG taunting the Patriots equipment manager with the F word. From there, the NFL immediately went on the attack initiating a smear campaign against the Patriots leaking information that has been proven as blatantly false by their own paid for Wells Report.
ReplyDeleteBefore the superbowl, the NFL leaked what has been proven by the Wells Report to be blatantly false information that 11 of 12 Pats balls were 2 psi under (none were even close to that), that all the Colts balls were measured and were within range (only 4 were measured and 3 were out of range on one guage), and that McNally had handed an unofficial kicking ball to the ref (when it was an NFL "official" who was stealing balls who had handed that ball to McNally). Then the NFLs Dave Giardi sent an official NFL letter to the Patriots saying that one ball was at 10.1 psi (none were close to that) and repeated the lie that was leaked to the media that all Colts footballs were measured and within range (again, only 4 were measured and 3 of those were outside the range on one gauge) in what was most likely a bid to diminish the Patriots will to fight. The NFL then refused repeated requests by the Patriots to set the record straight which is proven beyond the shadow of any doubt by the emails released by the Pats between the Pats and NFL lawyers. Why would the NFL want to dispel the rumors they had put out to the media? The smear campaign was working flawlessly.
Why would the NFL do that to one of the shining icons of the league? Who knows? That question is pretty much irrelevant given they did it.
With a such a prepondurance of evidence of prejudice it is clear that nothing was ever going to be independent. The NFLs own actions against the Pats from the get go makes it clear that It is far far more likely than not, to the point of near certainty, that Wells was given the task by the NFL of proving guilt. That would explain how Wells could come out with such a shoddy report that was so easily shredded by a number of intelligent and qualified people. The cherry picking of supportive evidence, advantageous assumptions that support the predetermined outcome, the sensationalizing of nonevents and the complete lack of consideration of alternative possibilities leave the Wells Report open for others to pick apart and point out it's obvious and well discussed failings and shortcomings.
Why those in the NFL front office would personally want to do it is unknown but irrelevant. The extreme prejudice by the NFL against the Pats prior to the Wells Report being published is undeniable and their motive was clear, to shape public opinion against the the Patriots from the get go. Those actions alone cast a shadow of doubt on any statements or conclusions the NFL has to offer on deflategate.
The NFL are going after Brady because he was the lead plaintiff in the 2011 court case titled BRADY vs the NFL. Remember when the NFL owners locked out the players and threatened the fans with cancellation of the 2011-2012 season. The union then voted to decertify and then brought and anti-trust case against the owners. That case was called BRADY vs the NFL!
ReplyDeleteThis is not only revenge by the NFL but also a warning to others that may try to stand against unjust actions of an organization controlled by a greedy and corrupt organization. That's right.. The NFL cares nothing about Brady, nothing about integrity, and NOTHING ABOUT THE FANS!!!