Deflategate was top billing for the entire week after the AFCCG and again after the Wells report was released. It was the main piece on ESPN.com, with numerous side-bars accompanying it.
Now it's a footnote. It's like when a newspaper story has a glaring error that changes the entire tone of a piece, it gets buried in the back pages. Nothing on the front page of ESPN.com, the story's over until the appeal.
I had the misfortune of switching on the Sports Hub while WEEI was in commercial--I'm a recent convert back to EEI because of this deflate gate nonsense--and caught the lead-in to Adam Jones' show, which started shortly after this report was published. His comments (not verbatim obviously): "I'm tired of this story, I'm sick of it. But we're going to talk about it. I haven't read the full report but the conclusion is that the science in the Wells report was wrong, and the numbers imply no deflation. OK, let's play that game, let's say that's true...then what about the 'deflator' text message, because I'm not buying the weight loss excuse. What about sneaking off to a bathroom with the footballs?" -that's when I yelled at my radio and clicked it off.
And this is where we are...the ****ing idiots who report on these things are tired of it. And they've been pumping the 'deflator' text and the bathroom visit since day one, ignoring the science, ignoring the plausible explanations by the Patriots. The NFL has painted themselves in a corner, by now they must know nothing happened but 31 fan bases and owners don't care about the truth, and the one owner who counts chose money over loyalty and honor and respect and legacy.
All comes down to Brady and the NFLPA. I hope they fight this so, so bad. Only way this gets cleared is if Brady's willing to go the distance, hopefully he's like his dad and is sick and tired of his name getting dragged through the mud because the NFL is too ****ing stupid and too inept to realize and admit when they dun F'd up.
