Chris Kluwe: "The real 'Deflategate' Scandal is that anyone cares"

http://time.com/3679079/patriots-under-inflated-balls-deflategate-nfl-scandal/

Wow, this is pretty damn amazing.

Excellent ... Classic diversion.. Its genius really..

Again, like Don Banks I'm not impressed by this "I'm above it all" journalism. He still has no issue condemning a team and flat out stating nationally he thinks they cheated. He's merely disagrees on punishment.

Anyone who condemns someone else without a lick of evidence and further thinks it's okay to run that slander in a national newspaper like it's the gods honest truth despite good evidence it isn't, is either incompetent or malicious.

I'm not conceding one inch to these muckrakers. Now that they've found nothing in their witch hunt they want to cut a plea bargain and say "let's agree we both made mistakes." No, Kluwe- you and your ilk made mistakes and I'm not letting you off the hook. Just because it sounds better to be jailed than hung does not mean we need to accept either when there was no crime. Don't let this slime ball slither away mumbling under his breath now that his BS has been called.

I don't want Kluwe's sympathy, or arbitration, he has no integrity and can go **** himself like the rest of the parasites.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Again, like Don Banks I'm not impressed by this "I'm above it all" journalism. He still has no issue condemning a team and flat out stating nationally he thinks they cheated. He's merely disagrees on punishment.

Anyone who condemns someone else without a lick of evidence and further thinks it's okay to run that slander in a national newspaper like it's the gods honest truth despite good evidence it isn't, is either incompetent or malicious.

I'm not conceding one inch to these muckrakers. Now that they've found nothing in their witch hunt they want to cut a plea bargain and say "let's agree we both made mistakes." No, Kluwe- you and your ilk made mistakes and I'm not letting you off the hook. Just because it sounds better to be jailed than hung does not mean we need to accept either when there was no crime. Don't let this slime ball slither away mumbling under his breath now that his BS has been called.

I don't want Kluwe's sympathy, or arbitration, he has no integrity and can go **** himself like the rest of the parasites.

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What the hell are you talking? Sit down, breath in and out and then try to read his column again.

It has essentially nothing to do with the entire ball debacle but with systemic issues and how we as a society dont give a ****.

I think it's hilariuos that the NFL talks about the integrity of the game. If they were so concerned, they would test for PED's a few days before the Super Bowl. They'll never do that though because about 80% of the players from both teams would test positive.

Kluwe nails it. The whole thing is total bs.

luuked said:

What the hell are you talking? Sit down, breath in and out and then try to read his column again.

It has essentially nothing to do with the entire ball debacle but with systemic issues and how we as a society dont give a ****.

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I agree.

I don't think Bobsyouruncle understood one damn thing about that column by Kluwe. It sounded like he had something against Kluwe to begin with. That was epic.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Again, like Don Banks I'm not impressed by this "I'm above it all" journalism. He still has no issue condemning a team and flat out stating nationally he thinks they cheated. He's merely disagrees on punishment.

Anyone who condemns someone else without a lick of evidence and further thinks it's okay to run that slander in a national newspaper like it's the gods honest truth despite good evidence it isn't, is either incompetent or malicious.

I'm not conceding one inch to these muckrakers. Now that they've found nothing in their witch hunt they want to cut a plea bargain and say "let's agree we both made mistakes." No, Kluwe- you and your ilk made mistakes and I'm not letting you off the hook. Just because it sounds better to be jailed than hung does not mean we need to accept either when there was no crime. Don't let this slime ball slither away mumbling under his breath now that his BS has been called.

I don't want Kluwe's sympathy, or arbitration, he has no integrity and can go **** himself like the rest of the parasites.

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Sorry, but if you got that from the article posted, you're winding yourself way too tightly over this. Not once in that article was Brady or the Pats "condemned" of anything. Kluwe called it what it was - NOTHING.

luuked said:

What the hell are you talking? Sit down, breath in and out and then try to read his column again.

It has essentially nothing to do with the entire ball debacle but with systemic issues and how we as a society dont give a ****.

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Which part do you agree with? This one-

"Grown men (presumably) are earnestly debating what punishments should be levied on a team that tried to eke out a miniscule advantage over an opponent"

Yup, they definitely cheated, it's just not a big deal. That's his take.

If you think this diversion into political diatribes is profound then I have to disagree. It sounds like something an 8th grader would ramble while passing the J to the left. Whats next, can we hear about how there wouldn't be war if everyone just loved each other.

It's a diversion, but not from the NFL's office of bafoons. Kluwe wants to divert attention to his pet political cause, and he wants to do so by offering up some middle ground that doesn't exist. If you happen to agree with the sentiment that we should focus on bigger issues than those cheatriots then that's fine. But it does nothing to change the fact that he has no evidence they cheated to begin with. His silly point could have been made with a thousand different examples- real examples.

It's pretty convenient that now that the medias entire witch hunt hasn't turned up a lick of evidence he wants to extend an invitation to break bread and focus on more important things. Focus on, well anything but the jackassery We've seen.

I don't need him to tell me balls aren't important, I already knew that. I need him tell journalists that slinging mud with no evidence is malicious. And he can start by checking his own story.

shmessy said:

I agree.

I don't think Bobsyouruncle understood one damn thing about that column by Kluwe. It sounded like he had something against Kluwe to begin with. That was epic.

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I understood, I have nothing against Kluwe, I just am not as impressed by adolescent philosophizing about the "big picture" as you are.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Again, like Don Banks I'm not impressed by this "I'm above it all" journalism. He still has no issue condemning a team and flat out stating nationally he thinks they cheated. He's merely disagrees on punishment.

Anyone who condemns someone else without a lick of evidence and further thinks it's okay to run that slander in a national newspaper like it's the gods honest truth despite good evidence it isn't, is either incompetent or malicious.

I'm not conceding one inch to these muckrakers. Now that they've found nothing in their witch hunt they want to cut a plea bargain and say "let's agree we both made mistakes." No, Kluwe- you and your ilk made mistakes and I'm not letting you off the hook. Just because it sounds better to be jailed than hung does not mean we need to accept either when there was no crime. Don't let this slime ball slither away mumbling under his breath now that his BS has been called.

I don't want Kluwe's sympathy, or arbitration, he has no integrity and can go **** himself like the rest of the parasites.

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Kluwe isn't a journalist so much as a former NFL player. He was the punter for the Vikings before they got Adrian Peterson, so he got some game experience. Kluwe is less sympathetic and more outraged. He's spoken out on his unrightful termination, dealing with football politics, and player safety. He is legitimately upset that this story gains more traction than concussions and brain injuries. Aikman saying this is worse than Bounty Gate outraged a lot of people, former players like Kluwe and probably the Player's Association being some of them.

Kluwe is also an out and out nerd. He slips a Star Wars reference into the Op Ed.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Again, like Don Banks I'm not impressed by this "I'm above it all" journalism. He still has no issue condemning a team and flat out stating nationally he thinks they cheated. He's merely disagrees on punishment.

Anyone who condemns someone else without a lick of evidence and further thinks it's okay to run that slander in a national newspaper like it's the gods honest truth despite good evidence it isn't, is either incompetent or malicious.

I'm not conceding one inch to these muckrakers. Now that they've found nothing in their witch hunt they want to cut a plea bargain and say "let's agree we both made mistakes." No, Kluwe- you and your ilk made mistakes and I'm not letting you off the hook. Just because it sounds better to be jailed than hung does not mean we need to accept either when there was no crime. Don't let this slime ball slither away mumbling under his breath now that his BS has been called.

I don't want Kluwe's sympathy, or arbitration, he has no integrity and can go **** himself like the rest of the parasites.

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If that's your takeaway, I'd suggest reading it again because you missed the main point.

Oswlek said:

If that's your takeaway, I'd suggest reading it again because you missed the main point.

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I didn't miss his point. I got it, and he built it off from a pillar that starts with the Patriots cheating. He then moves into how it's not a big deal because of more important things. Got it, I knew there were more important things, so did the rest of the world, we didn't need Kluwe to tell us that.

Bobsyouruncle said:

I didn't miss his point. I got it, and he built it off from a pillar that starts with the Patriots cheating. He then moves into how it's not a big deal because of more important things. Got it, I knew there were more important things, so did the rest of the world, we didn't need Kluwe to tell us that.

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He doesn't build his point "off from a pillar that starts with the Patriots cheating" he says pretty much the opposite. His point is far more nuanced that simply saying, "there are more important things" but even if it were how does that deserve the vitriol in your earlier post?

Sorry Bob, you're off base here.

A couple of great articles there by Time. A voice of reason amidst the witch-hunt that is deflate-gate.
I recommend that you read ****ey's article in addition to Kluwe's, it follows just after.

Here are the lines that I liked.

Kluwe:
See, the NFL would rather you care about the minor thing they can pretend to fix, rather than the major thing they can’t — that their product is built on breaking people, some of whom never get put back together again. The NFL would much rather you invest your time and energy into calculating the atmospheric pressure as it relates to temperature differentials, and how many draft picks this could possibly cost, and what an appropriate fine amount would be, instead of thinking about retired players committing suicide due to brain damage, or medical scandals where physicians put a corporation’s interests before their patients’, or just how much money the owners make each year."

The NFL wants you to keep buying what it sells, and the easiest way to do that is to have a “controversy” that’s not really controversial at all. Instead of asking how many needles went into game balls, ask how many Toradol shots went into bodies before the game, and what price an extra two games a year would add.

The NFL prefers a made-up controversy to one that's serious, like Ray Rice, like Bounty-gate, etc. Because it can drag its feet all it wants and it involves one of the more hated franchises across the NFL. People aren't interested in discussing real issues like how bad 18 games would be to the health of the players, they want to go crazy over air pressure because it gives them an excuse to act self-righteous.

****ey:
It’s thrilling and fun to watch the tarring of an evil empire—Belichick and Brady have been so good and so ruthless for so long—but it’s toxic when it happens like this. What do the chattering classes want? Should the NFL conduct yet another dawdling investigation to exonerate and venerate itself, when its own bad governance is to blame? Sounds like that’s the plan. All the while, we’re stripped slowly of our sense of proportion. I’ve seen the needle and the damage done, a little part of it in everyone.

There is no sense of proportion here. It's just a feeding frenzy, fed in large part by the media to cater to patriots haters who are just feasting on this stuff.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Again, like Don Banks I'm not impressed by this "I'm above it all" journalism. He still has no issue condemning a team and flat out stating nationally he thinks they cheated. He's merely disagrees on punishment.

Anyone who condemns someone else without a lick of evidence and further thinks it's okay to run that slander in a national newspaper like it's the gods honest truth despite good evidence it isn't, is either incompetent or malicious.

I'm not conceding one inch to these muckrakers. Now that they've found nothing in their witch hunt they want to cut a plea bargain and say "let's agree we both made mistakes." No, Kluwe- you and your ilk made mistakes and I'm not letting you off the hook. Just because it sounds better to be jailed than hung does not mean we need to accept either when there was no crime. Don't let this slime ball slither away mumbling under his breath now that his BS has been called.

I don't want Kluwe's sympathy, or arbitration, he has no integrity and can go **** himself like the rest of the parasites.

Click to expand...

Kluwe isn't remotely a journalist and doesn't pretend to be one. He's a writer (now), and he's pretty much right on point. The NFL is making this an enormous deal because it deflects attention from all the real issues they have.

Oswlek said:

He doesn't build his point "off from a pillar that starts with the Patriots cheating" he says pretty much the opposite. His point is far more nuanced that simply saying, "there are more important things" but even if it were how those that deserve the vitriol in your earlier post?

Sorry Bob, you're off base here.

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Fair enough, maybe I'm too harsh. This is one of several articles I've seen on a similar subject now and I guess I'm seeing the backpedal as a bit convenient. But you're right, Kluwe probably isn't trying to do much but make his point about concussions and what-not.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Fair enough, maybe I'm too harsh. This is one of several articles I've seen on a similar subject now and I guess I'm seeing the backpedal as a bit convenient. But you're right, Kluwe probably isn't trying to do much but make his point about concussions and what-not.

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If it came from Peter King or Mark Brunell, I'd be there right with you. But this is the first I've heard from Kluwe, so I give him the benefit of the doubt that it's been his opinion all along.

rochrist said:

Kluwe isn't remotely a journalist and doesn't pretend to be one. He's a writer (now), and he's pretty much right on point. The NFL is making this an enormous deal because it deflects attention from all the real issues they have.

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I highly doubt the NFL is creating the distraction intentionally. People don't care, which I think is part of his criticism. And the NFL really can't make people care- not that they want to. But you're right, I was probably too harsh on him.

Bobsyouruncle said:

If you think this diversion into political diatribes is profound then I have to disagree. It sounds like something an 8th grader would ramble while passing the J to the left. Whats next, can we hear about how there wouldn't be war if everyone just loved each other.

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You're kidding, right?

It's an honest evaluation of perspective.

Nowhere in it does Kluwe say the Patriots did it. This statement:
See, the NFL would rather you care about the minor thing they can pretend to fix, rather than the major thing they can’t —


is DECIDEDLY NOT what you claim: an indictment of the Patriots. It's about the NFL. It's about blowing a possible infraction (which is nothing EVEN IF true) into the story/scandal of the century, in order to bury the lede, or what should be the lede.

As for your "8th grader" and "adolescent" comments, no. Not remotely true. it's a well-written, honest evaluation, and a much-needed breath of fresh air from the sewer that has been the media of the last five days.