As a Patriots fan, my main problem with DeflateGate is not that Tom Brady could miss the first four games of the season. Sure, I would love for the Patriots to have the easiest road back to the Super Bowl and that would include having as much of Brady in the line-up as possible. However, when New England won their fourth championship of the Brady-Belichick era in February, I was just happy to witness and be able to remember a Pats championship well for the rest of my life (I was six when the Pats repeated in 2005). I wouldn't be angry if the Patriots never won another championship with Brady. What infuriates me so much about the way Goodell has handled and rationalized his decision making during this entire ordeal is the way it will affect how people see Brady's career well after it ends.
I've always been particularly interested in the careers of the greatest players of all time, in all sports. That's why I try to find the greatest games of Jordan, Bird, Russell and Magic on Youtube, and it's why I'm constantly checking NFL Network for Super Bowls from the Montana and Bradshaw eras. It's why I might prefer watching a game whose ending I already know to one I could be watching unfold. I love observing the greatest ever to play and find out for myself what made them the greatest ever. And it's the same for a lot of people who love sports. There's a reason all the names above are revered by sports historians and fans alike, even today, years after their final games. As kids we aspire to be them and as we get older (and realize those aspirations are probably not going to come true) we come to respect and marvel at them.
Tom Brady deserves to be included on that list. He is undoubtedly one of the three best quarterbacks of all time and, in my opinion, the greatest to ever do it. All of his teammates and peers list him as one of the smartest, most fearless players they've been around. His energy and work ethic are legendary and he used them to overcome certain physical disadvantages. He has four Super Bowl rings, two MVP's, multiple career records, and two of the most astounding statistical seasons for a quarterback in league history (2007, 2011). He won a Super Bowl basically as a rookie against a seemingly unbeatable team with a final drive in which he displayed the poise of an all-time great who had already won three Super Bowls. Fast forward 13 years, and nothing had changed. This time he was leading a drive against another seemingly unbeatable team with possibly the greatest secondary ever. Brady went 8/8 on that final drive against the Seahawks, culminating with a touchdown to Julian Edelman. Three times he has led game winning drives in the big game, and it would have been four if that Hail Mary had been a few inches closer to Gronkowski's fingers in 2012. Brady had to overcome a torn ACL, a constant revolving door of throwing targets, and two of the most heartbreaking losses ever; he came out the other side to win his fourth chip. This is the greatness of Tom Brady, the indisputable greatness.
But now, Brady is seen by many as a lying, whining cheater. And it's because of the complete ineptitude of the commissioner.
Here's a rundown of some of Goodell's worst acts as commissioner, in no particular order:
Let's go back to the very beginning. The day after the Patriots' 45-7 shellacking of the Colts, reports came in from ESPN's Chris Mortensen that 11 of the 12 balls used by the Patriots offense (before the referees switched them out) were underinflated significantly. That report has since been found to be erroneous: it was a much lower number of balls that were below the legal limit. But here's the thing; the NFL and ESPN knew that the report was wrong in the days afterward and didn't put out a correction. That was what got the alleged scandal off the ground and gave the Brady-Haters more ammo to lob at him, and the Goodell knew it was wrong and didn't say anything!
On to the Wells Report. The scientific findings of this supposed "independent" investigation were completely undermined by truly independent parties. All the scientific evidence pointed toward a different conclusion. Brady likes his footballs' PSI at the lowest legal limit. Due to the chilly weather and driving rain, it was more likely that those few balls which were underinflated became so naturally by the conditions and not by any sinister action on the part of Brady or the New England Patriots. However, based on the Wells Report, Goodell decides on an obscene punishment: a $1 million fine, loss of first and fourth round picks this year, and a four game suspension for Tom Brady. This is the same guy who initially gave Ray Rice a two game suspension for beating his wife! Now you say "Well he did end up changing his decision, even if it was for the wrong reasons."
That brings me to Brady's appeal. Goodell decided that he would be the one to hear Brady's appeal, even though he was the one who made the decision and that would appear to be a major conflict of interest (admittedly there is a provision in the CBA for the commissioner to hear his own appeals, but then I have to question why he chose to hear Brady's appeal and not Ray Rice's. More on this in a bit.) Goodell decided to uphold the four game suspension, with the main reason being that Brady destroyed his cell phone shortly before the appeal, thereby destroying messages that could be used as evidence. But here's another case of Roger the Dodger leaving out important information.
During Wells' investigation, Wells never asked Brady for his phone, telling him his investigation was thorough enough without it. And of Brady's testimony, Wells said the star quarterback was "totally cooperative." Somehow, Goodell found Brady guilty of lack of cooperation and willful destruction of evidence, even though Wells specifically told Brady he would not need his phone!
On February 28, Wells sent Brady's agent, Don Yee, an e-mail requesting Brady's cellphone records, to which Yee responded that because Wells and his team already had possession of five phones of Patriots employees and examined their communications with Brady, Brady's cellphone records weren't necessary. Wells wasn't happy, but accepted it. So how can Goodell possibly justify upholding Brady's suspension almost purely on the basis of Brady destroying his phone? You may say that it would be easier for Goodell to see all the messages that Brady sent that could have anything to do with illegal procedures with footballs, but he could just ask Wells if he found anything sinister on those five phones of Patriots employees! Because you can assume Wells investigated the five phones of the Patriots employees that could have anything to do ball inflation. It wouldn't have been a problem to just go to Wells, and beyond that, how could he possibly claim that it would be too long of an inconvenience to search other phones and piece together Brady's conversations when he took a month to make the decision?
All the evidence presented should lead to Goodell overturning his initial decision after Brady's appeal, or at the very least reducing it to a fine or one-game suspension. After all, history says that when NFL players appeal, Goodell almost always reduces the suspension. To be fair, the NFL did offer a reduction down to one or two games if Brady admitted guilt (Brady declined, and if that doesn't prove to the outside observer that he's innocent, he or she has some sort of bias against Brady). But admitting guilt wasn't necessary to reduce other suspensions on appeal, so why should it be for Brady? Once the Wells Report had been proven unreliable, why not just make the rational decision and overturn his prior misinformed punishment?
Read over that list of Goodell's failures again. At this point, if he were forced to admit that he had made another mistake, that could very well mean the end of his time in office, especially after the media flak he took following the Ray Rice fiasco. He is immorally refusing to overturn a wrong decision in an effort to keep his credibility, using Tom Brady to attempt to reinforce his decision-making power. His stated goal as commissioner has always been to uphold the integrity of the league, but he is stripping away any semblance of integrity by making decisions that are only made to save his own neck.
I just want to be able to talk about the greatness of Tom Brady years from now without having to be serenaded by jeers of how I'm a fan of cheaters. The facts are that Brady had nothing to do with SpyGate, and none of the evidence truly suggests that he knew about illegal deflation of footballs. I, like many others, want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren what it was like to watch one of the greatest of all time play quarterback, without any shroud hanging over his career. Roger Goodell is seriously jeopardizing that because he is unwilling to admit to yet another decision-making mishap in his disgrace of a career.
Seriously, would you give that guy your phone?
I've always been particularly interested in the careers of the greatest players of all time, in all sports. That's why I try to find the greatest games of Jordan, Bird, Russell and Magic on Youtube, and it's why I'm constantly checking NFL Network for Super Bowls from the Montana and Bradshaw eras. It's why I might prefer watching a game whose ending I already know to one I could be watching unfold. I love observing the greatest ever to play and find out for myself what made them the greatest ever. And it's the same for a lot of people who love sports. There's a reason all the names above are revered by sports historians and fans alike, even today, years after their final games. As kids we aspire to be them and as we get older (and realize those aspirations are probably not going to come true) we come to respect and marvel at them.
Tom Brady deserves to be included on that list. He is undoubtedly one of the three best quarterbacks of all time and, in my opinion, the greatest to ever do it. All of his teammates and peers list him as one of the smartest, most fearless players they've been around. His energy and work ethic are legendary and he used them to overcome certain physical disadvantages. He has four Super Bowl rings, two MVP's, multiple career records, and two of the most astounding statistical seasons for a quarterback in league history (2007, 2011). He won a Super Bowl basically as a rookie against a seemingly unbeatable team with a final drive in which he displayed the poise of an all-time great who had already won three Super Bowls. Fast forward 13 years, and nothing had changed. This time he was leading a drive against another seemingly unbeatable team with possibly the greatest secondary ever. Brady went 8/8 on that final drive against the Seahawks, culminating with a touchdown to Julian Edelman. Three times he has led game winning drives in the big game, and it would have been four if that Hail Mary had been a few inches closer to Gronkowski's fingers in 2012. Brady had to overcome a torn ACL, a constant revolving door of throwing targets, and two of the most heartbreaking losses ever; he came out the other side to win his fourth chip. This is the greatness of Tom Brady, the indisputable greatness.
But now, Brady is seen by many as a lying, whining cheater. And it's because of the complete ineptitude of the commissioner.
Here's a rundown of some of Goodell's worst acts as commissioner, in no particular order:
- His decision, despite lacking evidence against certain players, to hand down significant suspensions to Saints players for BountyGate in 2012, decisions so unbearably unfounded that they had to be repealed by former comissioner Paul Tagliabue.
- The incredibly harsh one-year, no team contact suspension for Saints coach Sean Payton for his alleged role in BountyGate.
- His choice not to temporarily extend the NFL Referees Association contract in 2012, instead opting to use replacement officials from high school and lower college leagues, subsequently ruining the level of play and integrity and leading to a scathing letter to owners and Goodell himself by the NFLPA and the "Fail Mary" play which ended up forcing Goodell to bring back the real officials. (http://fansided.com/2014/09/16/5-worst-decisions-roger-goodell-made-nfl-commissioner/5/)
- Last summer, security tapes from an Atlantic City Casino elevator revealed former Ravens running back Ray Rice dragging his unconscious fiancee out of the elevator. After Rice admitted to Goodell that he had hit her, Goodell handed down an appropriate suspension of... two games. Wait, what? Rice gets two games for knocking a woman out, after Goodell had been giving suspensions twice that length to players who failed to show up for drug tests. Once he faced media scrutiny for his awful decision, Goodell tried to backpedal and make it seem as though he cared about women's rights by calling for new league rules on domestic violence. Basically, Goodell was trying to remove the shadow his decision had casted over the league, while simultaneously trying to save his own neck by blaming his horrible judgment on the rules and standards in place at the time. But that's not all! A second video of Rice's assault, which showed more clearly the seriousness and violence of the event, was released by TMZ. According to TMZ, Goodell had seen this tape before he handed down Rice's two-game suspension! Goodell obviously denied the report, but soon afterward changed Rice's suspension to "indefinite," which begged the question: why change the decision now? None of the facts had really changed, because Rice admitted to him that he had hit her! The video showing the assault itself should not have changed his decision.This was Goodell's worst screw-up and is an ongoing representation of his complete ineptitude as a commissioner.
Let's go back to the very beginning. The day after the Patriots' 45-7 shellacking of the Colts, reports came in from ESPN's Chris Mortensen that 11 of the 12 balls used by the Patriots offense (before the referees switched them out) were underinflated significantly. That report has since been found to be erroneous: it was a much lower number of balls that were below the legal limit. But here's the thing; the NFL and ESPN knew that the report was wrong in the days afterward and didn't put out a correction. That was what got the alleged scandal off the ground and gave the Brady-Haters more ammo to lob at him, and the Goodell knew it was wrong and didn't say anything!
On to the Wells Report. The scientific findings of this supposed "independent" investigation were completely undermined by truly independent parties. All the scientific evidence pointed toward a different conclusion. Brady likes his footballs' PSI at the lowest legal limit. Due to the chilly weather and driving rain, it was more likely that those few balls which were underinflated became so naturally by the conditions and not by any sinister action on the part of Brady or the New England Patriots. However, based on the Wells Report, Goodell decides on an obscene punishment: a $1 million fine, loss of first and fourth round picks this year, and a four game suspension for Tom Brady. This is the same guy who initially gave Ray Rice a two game suspension for beating his wife! Now you say "Well he did end up changing his decision, even if it was for the wrong reasons."
That brings me to Brady's appeal. Goodell decided that he would be the one to hear Brady's appeal, even though he was the one who made the decision and that would appear to be a major conflict of interest (admittedly there is a provision in the CBA for the commissioner to hear his own appeals, but then I have to question why he chose to hear Brady's appeal and not Ray Rice's. More on this in a bit.) Goodell decided to uphold the four game suspension, with the main reason being that Brady destroyed his cell phone shortly before the appeal, thereby destroying messages that could be used as evidence. But here's another case of Roger the Dodger leaving out important information.
During Wells' investigation, Wells never asked Brady for his phone, telling him his investigation was thorough enough without it. And of Brady's testimony, Wells said the star quarterback was "totally cooperative." Somehow, Goodell found Brady guilty of lack of cooperation and willful destruction of evidence, even though Wells specifically told Brady he would not need his phone!
On February 28, Wells sent Brady's agent, Don Yee, an e-mail requesting Brady's cellphone records, to which Yee responded that because Wells and his team already had possession of five phones of Patriots employees and examined their communications with Brady, Brady's cellphone records weren't necessary. Wells wasn't happy, but accepted it. So how can Goodell possibly justify upholding Brady's suspension almost purely on the basis of Brady destroying his phone? You may say that it would be easier for Goodell to see all the messages that Brady sent that could have anything to do with illegal procedures with footballs, but he could just ask Wells if he found anything sinister on those five phones of Patriots employees! Because you can assume Wells investigated the five phones of the Patriots employees that could have anything to do ball inflation. It wouldn't have been a problem to just go to Wells, and beyond that, how could he possibly claim that it would be too long of an inconvenience to search other phones and piece together Brady's conversations when he took a month to make the decision?
All the evidence presented should lead to Goodell overturning his initial decision after Brady's appeal, or at the very least reducing it to a fine or one-game suspension. After all, history says that when NFL players appeal, Goodell almost always reduces the suspension. To be fair, the NFL did offer a reduction down to one or two games if Brady admitted guilt (Brady declined, and if that doesn't prove to the outside observer that he's innocent, he or she has some sort of bias against Brady). But admitting guilt wasn't necessary to reduce other suspensions on appeal, so why should it be for Brady? Once the Wells Report had been proven unreliable, why not just make the rational decision and overturn his prior misinformed punishment?
Read over that list of Goodell's failures again. At this point, if he were forced to admit that he had made another mistake, that could very well mean the end of his time in office, especially after the media flak he took following the Ray Rice fiasco. He is immorally refusing to overturn a wrong decision in an effort to keep his credibility, using Tom Brady to attempt to reinforce his decision-making power. His stated goal as commissioner has always been to uphold the integrity of the league, but he is stripping away any semblance of integrity by making decisions that are only made to save his own neck.
I just want to be able to talk about the greatness of Tom Brady years from now without having to be serenaded by jeers of how I'm a fan of cheaters. The facts are that Brady had nothing to do with SpyGate, and none of the evidence truly suggests that he knew about illegal deflation of footballs. I, like many others, want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren what it was like to watch one of the greatest of all time play quarterback, without any shroud hanging over his career. Roger Goodell is seriously jeopardizing that because he is unwilling to admit to yet another decision-making mishap in his disgrace of a career.
Seriously, would you give that guy your phone?
