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sj-roc wrote:The New Yorker had a couple of light-hearted takes today. This article:

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz ... h-the-jets

N.F.L. Sentences Brady to a Year with the Jets
By Andy Borowitz

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (The Borowitz Report) – In what football insiders are calling an unexpectedly severe punishment, the National Football League has sentenced the New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady to a year with the New York Jets for his role in the so-called Deflategate scandal.

The punishment drew howls of protest from Patriots fans and management, with many calling it the harshest in league history, but N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the decision as “a necessary deterrent.”

“We need to send the message that this league has zero tolerance for cheating,” Goodell said. “We believe that a year of playing quarterback for the Jets sends that message loud and clear.”

Brady was reportedly in a state of shock when he heard the news of his punishment. He later met with reporters in a hastily called press conference during which he frequently seemed on the verge of tears.

“I am going to fight this decision with every fibre of my being,” Brady said. “This is America. You can’t force a person to play for the Jets.”

At a sports bar in Manhattan, the reaction to the impending arrival of the Jets’ longtime nemesis was muted. One Jets fan observed, “Look, Brady’s a dick, but even he didn’t deserve this.”

... and this cartoon, which is too large to embed here:

http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/upl ... l-1200.jpg

The NFL has imposed their punishment to Brady and the Patriots:

The league announced Monday that quarterback Tom Brady was suspended four games, the team was fined $1 million and will lose its 2016 first-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick in 2017. The league has been considering punishment since the release of investigator Ted Wells' report on Thursday.

At least the NFL did not do what certain international organizations such as the International Olympic Committee and the Tour de France by changing the results long after the event by disqualifying the offending party and upgrading the runner-up to the new winner.

Makes you wonder though. Suppose the Pats had only won by a point or two in that playoff game. What if the league had imposed punishment immediately rather than 6 months after the fact. What would the Superbowl have looked like sans Brady? There is a point where you get that says whether deliberate or accidental, the team has to take responsibility for the equipment that they (Mr. Brady in particular) lobbied to have control of. I think what I am arguing for is absolute responsibility, guilt not withstanding. They wanted to control their own game balls and therefore it shouldn't matter. If they don't want to run the risk, they shouldn't take it on, wouldn't take it on if the punishments were swift and immediate. It was/is a dumb idea that any team would be in control of something like the game ball in the same way it would be ridiculous for a team to have it's own set of yard markers that they use only when they are on offense. It invites doubts and provides temptation to try and fiddle. Funny thing is, I was a big Pats fan way back when they won their first Superbowl. But their franchise has had 1 too many "cheating" moments and that is what they are "cheating" moments that I can't root for them any longer. I can only surmise that if they did this for the playoffs, they did it during the regular season and just didn't get caught. Kind of hard to look at such a team as a "Champion".

Reacting to the news of his four-game suspension, Brady told reporters that he felt rather deflated.

sj-roc wrote:Reacting to the news of his four-game suspension, Brady told reporters that he felt rather deflated.

They should have kept this to - okay we have a problem - We'll fix this with a permanent solution. - take a few draft picks - fine the team and move on.

I think 4 games will have to be appealed. I can't see this as proportionate to the allegation. This hurts fans and sponsors and fans pay good money to see top teams.
NFL is not smart on this either as it does what you don't to achieve in issues management - it keeps the story going or in PR "gives legs to the story."

Question:

Did they pump the balls up after this was reported as they knew at the half????

If they did pump up the balls, then how do you explain 21 Patriot points in the 3rd Q? (did I recall that correctly?)

Toppy Vann wrote:

sj-roc wrote:Reacting to the news of his four-game suspension, Brady told reporters that he felt rather deflated.

They should have kept this to - okay we have a problem - We'll fix this with a permanent solution. - take a few draft picks - fine the team and move on.

I think 4 games will have to be appealed. I can't see this as proportionate to the allegation. This hurts fans and sponsors and fans pay good money to see top teams.
NFL is not smart on this either as it does what you don't to achieve in issues management - it keeps the story going or in PR "gives legs to the story."

Question:

Did they pump the balls up after this was reported as they knew at the half????

If they did pump up the balls, then how do you explain 21 Patriot points in the 3rd Q? (did I recall that correctly?)

if there was intent to cheat by deflating the balls, and if Brady was in on it, then it is irrelevant if it actually made a difference.

I agree with the punishment. The integrity of the game must be maintained.

Disappointed for Brady, and disappointed with Brady.

People do not expect to get caught.

They take a huge risk for small gain.

Competitive juices get flowing, and we have seen all manner of cheating in sports.

Busted. All American boy legacy tarnished big time.

Part of this must be the environment also. Belichick has skirted/broken the rules of fair play. This fits in with that culture.

Time was when this kind of disgrace would have been so very painful for fans. Nowadays I expect it will cause hardly a ripple of discontent. Some/many/most fans do not care what criminal behaviour is in the past for a player. Can he play? Can he help us win? Bring him in.

Cheating happens even in high school and community sports. Ineligible players. Fair play? Out the window.
............

Did the low level employees know of Brady's preference? Ummmm ... Yeah. Now how would they know that? Would they have acted as they did in an organization that is squeaky clean, from the top? Not a chance.

The punishment? Suspension and missed draft picks. Sure.

Just IMO, as a fan of football. I love the way the Patriots play football. This stuff? Stupid and unnecessary.

No question this will be appealed. Brady's suspension will be reduced to a couple of games.

TheLionKing wrote:http://www.tsn.ca/patriots-qb-brady-has ... s-1.337315

His legal team saying the NFL ignored the electronic evidence yet the NFL says Brady destroyed his phone - well that pretty much is your smoking gun.

I can't see a court of law intervening in the NFL process of discipline unless they find a Brady fan out there.

4 games is harsh and will hurt but if he tries to force the Commissioner to back down - what does he expect. Strange to me that this is not a delegated function with the final review his.

Toppy Vann wrote:

TheLionKing wrote:http://www.tsn.ca/patriots-qb-brady-has ... s-1.337315

His legal team saying the NFL ignored the electronic evidence yet the NFL says Brady destroyed his phone - well that pretty much is your smoking gun.

I can't see a court of law intervening in the NFL process of discipline unless they find a Brady fan out there.

4 games is harsh and will hurt but if he tries to force the Commissioner to back down - what does he expect. Strange to me that this is not a delegated function with the final review his.

Yup.

I have always admired his play. But he has been caught out in this stupidity. Somewhere he became insecure about the ball pressure, wanted them at a specific weight, and then cheated. Very disappointing. He gets 4 games. The equipment guys get fired.

The pressure to win in pro sports. And the things guys do to get there.

Owner Robert Kraft sounds off

http://www.tsn.ca/kraft-i-was-wrong-to- ... l-1.337843

Brady destroying his phone - what does that tell the NFL- what was he hiding

But if Brady wanted to clear his name - and all texts are innocent - he should have (if he didn't) let them review only texts to affected folks versus anything to non football people like family, friends, etc.

His lawyers are likely tops in their field but it is hard to get a court to overturn a league's decisions when it has followed its own rules and not failed procedurally or broken the laws of the land getting their information.

No doubt a lot of this is also show as Brady's folks know tarnishing his brand is bad for business (endorsements, etc) but maybe this is not the right way as it is getting more out there on the destroyed phone. If he was questioned for shooting someone with a gun he'd only toss the gun if he used it - not if it proved his innocence = how else was Goodell to think.

4 games is silly as there were in game remedies to fix the issue during the game the moment it was brought to the officials attention.

EDIT: Just saw this on daily Linkedin update by John C Abell:

Technical Foul: The NFL upheld a four-game suspension of New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady over Deflategate (I prefer Ballghazi). But the big news was “a nice little bombshell,” as USA Today’s Nancy Armour put it: Brady destroyed his cell phone just as investigators were asking for it. "Some 10,000 text messages, including an inordinately high amount of exchanges with equipment assistant John Jastremski in the days after Deflategate was uncovered, were now conveniently gone," Armour reports.

The NFL made it clear it was not amused. "Brady's deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation,” the NFL said, “and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.”

Brady could take the league to court to fight the penalty, which sidelines him for one-quarter of the 2016 season. But he should probably try to lay low and let this fade from memory. Some selfless volunteer work, perhaps. Whatever gets people to dwell on this new development as little as possible.

#Quote
“As everyone from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton can tell you, it's not the crime that kills you. It's the cover-up.”

— USA Today Sports columnist Nancy Armour, on Tom Brady

This is part of why I wouldn't want to get caught up in the debate of guilt or innocence. If a team wants to have their own footballs fine but they should be responsible for those balls being within specification regardless of intent. Out of whack, forfeit the game. Would have radically changed this years Superbowl. It is my belief that few teams would take the chance if this were the structure. They would defer to the league and that would be that. The whole idea that the ball is somehow be magically better if it was a "team" ball is patently whack. They should do away with this practice. It was fine for the first 75 years or so why change it now? How many years has this in been in play and look already at how much stupidity it has caused.

Sir Purrcival wrote:This is part of why I wouldn't want to get caught up in the debate of guilt or innocence. If a team wants to have their own footballs fine but they should be responsible for those balls being within specification regardless of intent. Out of whack, forfeit the game. Would have radically changed this years Superbowl. It is my belief that few teams would take the chance if this were the structure. They would defer to the league and that would be that. The whole idea that the ball is somehow be magically better if it was a "team" ball is patently whack. They should do away with this practice. It was fine for the first 75 years or so why change it now? How many years has this in been in play and look already at how much stupidity it has caused.

Minimal difference in the ball at the lower pressure.

Nit picky rule.

Brady insecure enough to flout the rule.

Opponent snarky enough to turn you in.

Busted.

A reputation damaged.

A team's poor reputation somewhat confirmed.

Much negative publicity for the NFL.

A big mess over a tiny technicality.

This is what happens when the league becomes a huge financial concern.

Back in the days of Red Grange, I am sure the balls had great variances. Plus wet, greasy, slippery, worn, scuffed, ragged, et cetera.

Rules are rules, however. Don't break them. Don't try to subvert them. Do so, at your peril.