Warning: Do Not Read This If You Are a Patriots Fan
4 games suspension, 1st round draft pick next year, 4th round the year afterwards, and the biggest fine in the history of the sport. Honestly, it could have been harsher.
It seems rather evident that this punishment was in tandem with all the rules the Patriots have broken, meddled with, or pushed to the limit in their storied recent past. “There was a feeling, especially in Pittsburgh, that the New England Patriots will bend the rules, they will try to find ways to win games that may tinker on cheating.” said former Steelers defensive star Ryan Clark.
Those factors being taken into account, the punishment was a pretty fair one. Ben Roethlisberger got his 6-game suspension decreased to 4, and Ray Rice only got 2 himself (initially), but if you think those punishments are the same, you’re kidding yourself. Yes, what Rice and Big Ben did was much worse on a humanity scale, but looking at it from afar, it had nothing to do with the outcome of the game.
What Tom Brady did not only effected his job directly, but he did it on the job. This is a serious issue for the integrity of the game because you can argue it changes the way the game is played. Nobody knows how long the deflation of footballs was going on, but its safe to say that Brady’s skills have been on the decline (playoff heroics aside). Perhaps he wasn’t doing this his whole career, but he saw an advantage when his own physical skills were slipping. That’s not how things are supposed to work. Here was a real issue that Goodell could stand behind and influence immediately, and he did just that.
The Wells Report didn’t have to have conclusive evidence in order to have Brady suspended. This isn’t the court of law, and the act committed isn’t a matter of the jury either. Goodell is the judge here, and the league is his courtroom. There is no “due dilligence”, no “innocent until proven guilty” here. Goodell gets to make the rules, because that’s what commissioners do.
Revenue Roger put his NFL-Money-Making Ego aside for once and decided to suspend one of the league’s most marketable players in order to set a precedent about how his game is played.
Warning: Do Not Read if You Hate the Patriots
If you think this is over, you’re wrong. Tommy T is one of the richest, most well-connected people in the sport of American Football. If you think Brady isn’t going to lawyer up and fight this suspension, and possibly get it lowered to 2 games, then you don’t understand how this country works. Roger Goodell is many things, and one of them is soft. He won’t be able to sustain the pressure of the Brady 6 (that’s what I’m calling his swag team of lawyers now) from now until September (and it’s only May!). We haven’t heard the last from Bob Kraft, either.
If you are a true Patriots fan, you shouldn’t be too worried about anything involving the upcoming season. 5 times, the Patriots have gone 2-2 to start their first 4 games. 3 of those times, they won the Super Bowl.
The suspension also provides further motivation to the greatest coach of our generation. Belichick now has 5 months to prepare his hand-selected back-up QB to tread water for 1 month of September football. Sounds to me like the 2817th hardest thing Bill Belichick has ever had to do.
All of New England is in “fuck you” mode, now, again. You remember what happened last time we went into that mode? That’s right, the Patriots won the freaking Super Bowl.
Brady is going to come back in week 6, the Patriots are going to play the Indianapolis Colts, and he is going to destroy them. It will be a Tom Brady of the likes we’ve never seen before. The trash-talking and TD celebrations are going to be off the charts. Off the charts.
And let’s get to the idea of “legacy” while we’re at it. I’ve thought about this a lot, but here is the conclusion I’ve come to. People that honestly think Tom Brady’s reputation as an all-time great is tarnished are one of two things: spiteful or uninformed. Don’t come to me and say that deflated footballs had any effect on Tom Brady’s ability to be the best. I know what I saw.
You want to talk about ‘legacy’? Let’s talk about those two drives against the greatest defense of our generation. Let’s talk about 199th overall. Let’s talk about 3 in 4 years. Let’s talk about Moss.
You know who’s never accused Tom Brady of cheating? The Mannings. Because they’ve beaten him, and they ain’t bitter.
The Patriots are going to win the AFC East again next year, just like they always do. Tom Brady is going to throw bullets to Gronk and Edelman, and he’s going to headbutt their helmets like it’s his rookie season again. 20 years from now, people are going to remember the greatness of Tom Brady, I promise that. Because while the media may be all over him right now, there’s always the Next Story. If your worried about Brady’s legacy as the Greatest of All Time, talk to me in 20 years. The good times outweigh the bad, and history will reflect that.
. . .
He did it; he didn’t do it.
The suspension was egregious; it should have been for the year.
He should be banned from the Hall of Fame; He’s the GOAT.
He’s human.
Diamond Bags 