Brady Fought Goodell...and We All Won
"I'm suspended? Yeah...why don't you go over there and shut up. I'm busy throwing touchdowns."
If you're a listener of our podcasts, you'll already know how I feel about this whole Deflategate nonsense. If you aren't a listener, why not? They're terrific! Listen for yourself by clicking the link!
At any rate, and please don't think my love of the Patriots influences the following statement, I've thought this whole Deflategate thing was a sham from the jump. There was very little proof that Brady had anything to do with it. The equipment they used to gauge the PSI of the footballs in question were not calibrated with each other, with a sizable variance for example. The investigation by Ted Wells, who was supposed to be unbiased, was being paid for by the NFL. The NFL Players Association never approved of the investigation which is why Brady never agreed to being interviewed or submitted his phone. This seemed more like a witch hunt coming from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to "make an example of Brady" for not submitting to every whim and request he had all under the guise of "protecting the integrity of the game."
This ruling may have many NFL fans rolling their eyes. "Here we go again, the Patriots cheat and get away with it." I understand that logic and line of thinking, I really do but open your eyes sports fans. Don't let your bias or jealousy of a team who is consistently successful cloud what is really going on. Wanting the Patriots to fail is fine, but letting a power mad commissioner punish them without being proven guilty set's a nasty precedent. This is way bigger than a ball that may or may not have been deflated. This has way more to do with a man who rules the NFL with an iron fist and doesn't have to answer to anyone for his decisions on disciplinary matters. The two cases that come to mind where Goodell overstepped his bounds for punishment affect my two favorite teams: Washington and New England.
Washington fined 36 million dollars in salary cap penalties
In 2010, the NFL had an uncapped year as far as salary was concerned. That is exactly as it sounds, teams could do whatever they wanted with their salary concerns. Apparently, the NFL owners had a "gentleman's agreement" that they wouldn't alter contracts to benefit their teams in future years where there was a salary cap. Example: You change the contract so that you pay a player a ton of their money in the uncapped year so the following years give you more room to sign other players. Gentleman's agreements don't mean squat when it comes to actual rules and procedure. When 2012 rolled around, the NFL levied a $36 million salary cap penalty for altering contracts during the uncapped year. The problem with this: the NFL approved EVERY SINGLE contract that was altered that year. I'm going to give you a definition to a word.
col·lu·sion
kəˈlo͞oZHən/
noun
secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.
The NFL levied these fines unfairly. They conspired with owners who wanted to penalize Washington and fined them. Dan Snyder, the Washington owner, had a HUGE opportunity to take this to court, but he knew that if he did, there would be consequences. The other owners would make him pay down the road. They would do everything they could to make things difficult.
Snyder: "Of all the dirtbag things I've done to my team and this league, you punish me for one of the things that wasn't horrible?? Even I don't get it, Roger."
Deflategate
Finally, someone stood up to Goodell and said "I don't care about the boy's club, I don't care about the politics, this is unfair and I won't stand for it." Some people hate Tom Brady, again I think for the wrong reasons. In my eyes, this makes him even more of a hero. Not only does he lead his team to victories on the field, he fights for what is right off the field.
I know there are those of you who are shaking your head and thinking, "but he cheated. How is he a hero?" Brady is a hero because he's forcing Goodell and the NFL to prove someone is guilty before they can levy fines or suspensions. Love him or hate him, Goodell is going to think twice now before he suspends someone without having real proof. He's going to have to be transparent now. He's not going to be able to get away again with claiming he never saw the Ray Rice video when it was in his possession for months. There's a lot of talk that this will force the NFL to have a solid disciplinary policy and not Goodell randomly picking the number of games.
"Brady might have done something wrong but we have no concrete evidence? 4 GAMES! Ray Rice beat his wife and we have video evidence that he did it? Hang on, let me spin the "Goodell Suspension Wheel..."
CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLAAAAACK
"Oh...2 games and a trip to Hawaii! Johnny Gilbert, tell him what he won!"
When all this Deflategate mess started, Roger Goodell put out a press release after suspending Brady that said that he "should be held accountable." Now that the dust has settled, Goodell has to be accountable for his decisions and it's about damn time.
Mike gives a history lesson on the tragedy of the Baltimore Colts and the details of their relocation