Just when I thought I'd heard it all...

PonyExpress said:

Whitlock is correct. President Obama has taken a particular interest in the NFL and its attitude toward race, both regarding the Redskins name and the NFL's pattern of punishment focused on the misdeeds of African American players. His concerns were made clear to Goodell last year. Josh Earnest, the President's press secretary, mocked Brady from the beginning of DFG, exposing the political underpinnings of this scandal. Brady is being sacrificed on a political altar. Wells wielded the knife. Note also that Brady has political aspirations and Kraft is a supporter of Netanyahu. Whitlock is very astute in these matters.

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All of us, including me because I used to do it, need to stop speculating about Brady's political aspirations unless we're referring to local possibilities. Outside of the 5 actual NE states (CT doesn't count), he's largely reviled. He'd lose to an ISIS candidate.

So the white guy is in jail cuz maybe he let some air out of a football?

Did Whitlock make any references to the wire?

betterthanthealternative said:

Made the mistake of channel flipping past Pardon The Interruption today. Their take on Brady suspension was up next so I listened. Kornheiser was animated about how this whole thing was bad science being used by the NFL to attack the Patriots. Jason Whitlock countered that it isn't about the NFL attacking the Pats, because the Pats make lots of money for the NFL and the NFL is pro-Pats. Instead, he says it is Goodell's attempt to placate the black players in the League who feel victimized by his punishments, by going after a white star. This is the entire motivation for all of it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2406595

Really, he made this about race.

There's a lot that goes on in this country that's driven or influenced by race, and I'm blind to a lot of it, but in this case? Really?!

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I wondered about this angle at the very beginning of the saga, but stopped thinking about it because it made my head hurt and nobody else seemed to be talking about it.

Now that it's out in the open all I can say is that Race plays into a lot of issues in this country. Rice and Petersen were both black. Their situations were very different but widely viewed as mangled by Goodell, whatever the merits of their discontent with how they were handled. Wells and Vincent are both black. Wells is a democrat with deep ties to tri-state political figures. Obama's Press Secretary made snide remarks about Brady early in the mess. Presidential Press Secretaries don't say things that they think their boss will not like.

So, has race been part of Goodell's calculation from the beginning? I sure can't say that it has been...but I can't say it hasn't either.

PonyExpress said:

Whitlock is correct. President Obama has taken a particular interest in the NFL and its attitude toward race, both regarding the Redskins name and the NFL's pattern of punishment focused on the misdeeds of African American players. His concerns were made clear to Goodell last year. Josh Earnest, the President's press secretary, mocked Brady from the beginning of DFG, exposing the political underpinnings of this scandal. Brady is being sacrificed on a political altar. Wells wielded the knife. Note also that Brady has political aspirations and Kraft is a supporter of Netanyahu. Whitlock is very astute in these matters.

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I think Brady's "political aspirations" exist primarily in the minds of his fans, but the rest of what you say is plausible. I hadn't thought about the Bob and Bibi angle. That might be a stretch.

Jackson 2 said:

All of us, including me because I used to do it, need to stop speculating about Brady's political aspirations unless we're referring to local possibilities. Outside of the 5 actual NE states (CT doesn't count), he's largely reviled. He'd lose to an ISIS candidate.

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Exactly.

Galeb said:

Link? I remember Brady joking about it afterwards, but never heard a whisper of an apology. Without a credible link, I don't buy it.

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I'm going from memory, so maybe you are right, let's check. You are right. In the post-game comments Brady did not apologize.

robertweathers said:

I don't remember TB12 apologizing for not sliding. He needed to make the 1st down the juking Urlacher was absolutely necessary.

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I was going off of memory, apparently Geno put that memory in my head or something. Brady did not apologize post-game.

lurker1965 said:

I was going off of memory, apparently Geno put that memory in my head or something. Brady did not apologize post-game.

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Yea I don't remember him apologizing one way or the other. Maybe he did. Sometimes the elite players will "cover up" for a play that other elite players fail to make. I could have envisioned TB12 saying,"I'm sure Brian thought I was sliding so maybe I caught him off guard...." . Totally understandable.

My point was that he NEEDED to make that 1st down and as @AndyJohnson pointed out, Urlacher wasn't thinking that TB12 was sliding. With that said, I think maybe because it was TB12 or thinking he'd be easy pickings, Urlacher might have gone less than 100% and wasn't going to crush TB12 and risk a penalty. Brady just made a move and beat him. It happens- even to 4 time All-Pro LBs.

PatsFanSince74 said:

Rice and Petersen were both black.

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Wait - they're not black anymore? Is there some kind of operation for this now, like Bruce Jenner?

You know what? I am just happy to see anyone on ESPN actually call out Goodell for his witch hunt against Brady and the Patriots that I will take any ridiculous reasoning they come up with. If Whitlock wants to go on ESPN and say that aliens have taken over Goodell's body and forced him to railroad Brady in the Pats so they can invade Earth, I am 100% behind that theory.

Zeus said:

Wait - they're not black anymore? Is there some kind of operation for this now, like Bruce Jenner?

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Maybe they had Vitiligo AKA "Michael Jackson Disease"

For the record I have it on my hands...its weird.

50-yard-line said:

Ritchie Incognito says hi.

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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

AndyJohnson said:

I'm not sure that taking every event that ever occurs and claiming it is about race can be considered astute.

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That doesn't mean it isn't true this time. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if I found out this was about politics and race and went as high as Obama, as the poster claimed. It also puts a different light on why Incognito was so severely punished for a minor infraction. Do you really think it's that far fetched?

Jackson 2 said:

All of us, including me because I used to do it, need to stop speculating about Brady's political aspirations unless we're referring to local possibilities. Outside of the 5 actual NE states (CT doesn't count), he's largely reviled. He'd lose to an ISIS candidate.

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You don't know Jack about Brady and you're speculating on his chances in an election. If an Obama/Biden combo can do it, I'm sure Brady and anyone can. Maybe what's scaring the dems is that Brady might be playing for the other team.

1960Pats said:

You don't know Jack about Brady and you're speculating on his chances in an election. If an Obama/Biden combo can do it, I'm sure Brady and anyone can. Maybe what's scaring the dems is that Brady might be playing for the other team.

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Hey! No more mixing politics and football!

Rob0729 said:

You know what? I am just happy to see anyone on ESPN actually call out Goodell for his witch hunt against Brady and the Patriots that I will take any ridiculous reasoning they come up with. If Whitlock wants to go on ESPN and say that aliens have taken over Goodell's body and forced him to railroad Brady in the Pats so they can invade Earth, I am 100% behind that theory.

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You think that saying race is behind this is ridiculous reasoning and somehow equates with aliens? You can do better than that.

Why does it seem that far-fetched to you anyway? I'm pretty sure that post 38 explains it all pretty clearly and leaves some serious questions about what's behind this attack on Brady. When you add up all that has happened it does seem worth a closer look.

Tunescribe said:

Hey! No more mixing politics and football!

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Sorry Tunes, but I just couldn't clutter up the Jets suckage thread and lose it for the next season. I enjoy it too much. Same goes for the new Indy suckage thread.

This time we're in a thread that is actually about the mixing of politics and football. Is it not? Have you read post 38? It's a pretty good one.

1960Pats said:

You don't know Jack about Brady and you're speculating on his chances in an election. If an Obama/Biden combo can do it, I'm sure Brady and anyone can. Maybe what's scaring the dems is that Brady might be playing for the other team.

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Brady has made it pretty clear that he's neither a Republican not a Democrat.

1960Pats said:

You think that saying race is behind this is ridiculous reasoning and somehow equates with aliens? You can do better than that.

Why does it seem that far-fetched to you anyway? I'm pretty sure that post 38 explains it all pretty clearly and leaves some serious questions about what's behind this attack on Brady. When you add up all that has happened it does seem worth a closer look.

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1960Pats said:

You think that saying race is behind this is ridiculous reasoning and somehow equates with aliens? You can do better than that.

Why does it seem that far-fetched to you anyway? I'm pretty sure that post 38 explains it all pretty clearly and leaves some serious questions about what's behind this attack on Brady. When you add up all that has happened it does seem worth a closer look.

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You're a freaking crackpot, LOL...

Zeus said:

Wait - they're not black anymore? Is there some kind of operation for this now, like Bruce Jenner?

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Rachel Dolezal is way ahead of you.