One thing is for sure, we’ll be hearing about Deflategate for quite a while.
Here’s what 7News Political Editor Andy Hiller thinks about the punishment handed down to Tom Brady and the Patriots.
What I’m about to say may not be true, and it may not even be provable, but don’t worry: because I’m pretty sure it’s “more probable than not” and if that’s a good enough standard for the NFL, then it’s good enough for me.
So please follow me here:
The NFL has some very big problems, including brain concussions and domestic violence, but for a business the biggest problem is continued growth – how do you keep making it bigger and (of course) more profitable.
For the NFL, the answer has been parity. As in: on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other.
But that wasn’t the Patriots way – their way was winning.
I’m certain the NFL, to use its own words, was “at least generally aware” of that.
So the NFL (again, I can’t prove this) made a “more probable than not” decision: weaken the Patriots, and strengthen everybody else, including the person who picked the penalties for the Patriots: Commissioner Roger Goodell, who’s been seen as weak and ineffective.
But now he’s strong and tough to which I’d say to the NFL “not for long.”
To me, Goodell is guilty of roughing the passer, and a personal foul on Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
How is it that Kraft is fined $1-million, and the team loses two draft choices, after the NFL report stated “in particular, we do not believe there was any wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing by Patriots ownership, Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick or any other Patriots coach in the matters investigated.”
I’m not a Patriots apologist; I don’t bleed blue and silver.
And let’s admit it: there are a lot of people who don’t like the Patriots, and life isn’t fair.
But spare me all the talk about the integrity of the game.
Unless you define integrity as a kangaroo court that’s more interested in settling scores than determining truth.