Bob Kraft’s rationale for not challenging the heavy-handed punishment for Footballs Obeying the Laws of Physics-Gate misses the point by a mile. Kraft reasons that the interests of the 32 owners would not be served by a protracted, expensive and messy public spectacle that the challenge and potential subsequent lawsuit would entail.
The bigger point is that the hopelessly flawed system employed by the NFL where players, coaches and teams can be convicted of wrongdoing without a critical evaluation of the evidence against them will continue unchanged. How can a system that is so haphazard and inherently unfair be in the best interests of the 32 owners?
I have no idea whether Messrs. Brady, Jastremski or McNally did anything untoward on January 18. The sad fact of the matter is that no one else does either. Ted Wells was supposed to administer a fair and objective fact finding process. He did not.
Wells abandoned any pretense of impartiality, becoming a prosecutor and advocate. He based his findings on highly subjective and questionable interpretations of events, flimsy circumstantial evidence and innuendo that he and his legal team manufactured out of thin air. His conclusions are not sufficiently supported by the evidence and those accused were not afforded the opportunity to defend themselves prior to a verdict being rendered. And yet, Goodell, Vincent and the rest of the NFL gleefully piled on, leveling unprecedented penalties.
All of us – fans, players and coaches - were heartened by Kraft’s initial defiant attitude toward this obvious injustice. However, to be realistic, the fix was in and the deck was stacked against Brady and the Patriots from the outset. Such is life in Roger Goodell’s NFL. While I had little expectation that the penalties would change in any meaningful way, I clung to the hope that the appeal process would lead to an open and honest airing of the facts. That would have been in the best interests of the people who stand accused and convicted of wrongdoing, the 32 owners and the fans of the NFL. At a minimum, as fans, we deserve better.
Bob Kraft’s actions deprived us of the opportunity to find the whole truth. We will never really know with any degree of confidence what actually happened. And suspicions will linger that the NFL office, under Goodell’s so-called leadership, is indeed a corrupt hellbroth of incompetence, dishonesty, greed and ego.
Kraft believes he acted in the best interests of the league and that the other 31 owners will view him as a statesman for putting his own interests aside for the greater good. The reality is that many if not all of the other owners are laughing their asses off at Kraft for being a sucker and a fool. In the cutthroat NFL, being a nice guy is an open invitation for further abuse. Kraft might as well be wearing a “Kick Me!” sign.
The Patriot owner often talks about the times he and his sons spent at the old stadium, reminding us that he was and is, first and foremost, a fan. He can no longer make that claim. The fan has been replaced by the owner. His loyalties lie no longer with the paying customers, but with The Billionaire Boys Club, a sad but inevitable outcome. He has forfeited his birthright as one of us. Ironically, like his team and his quarterback, his reputation has been irreparably sullied and for no good reason.
The second area in which Kraft has failed football fans everywhere is his complicity in the hiring, care and feeding of the world’s highest paid imbecile. Is it a lack of business judgment or is Bob no longer able to keep track of all of his marbles? Or just maybe Roger has pictures of a Viagra-crazed “Mr. Kraft” cavorting with lingerie-clad barnyard animals on the lawn in front of the State House.
Any clear thinking person can draw only one conclusion from Goodell’s hideously obscene compensation package: namely, that in the judgment of Bob Kraft and the NFL owners, Roger Goodell is the single most important and valuable person in NFL history. Wow.
It is a crime that the fans are footing the bill to the tune of tens of million for this fraud, this incompetent nitwit. The fact that Roger’s spectacularly inept attempts to safeguard the ”integrity of the game” do not include any consequences for his own colossal failures makes him a hypocrite as well as a dunce. Sorry, Bob Kraft – that’s on you. Will you be the last person in the world to figure this out or do you like being Roger’s whipping boy?
Kraft stated that he hopes the fans will understand. I do not. We do not. I can only imagine that his coach and quarterback do not. When all is said and done, Bob Kraft will no longer be sitting with us fans at the stadium anymore, either literally or figuratively. I guess he doesn't care because he has new friends now.
