No NFL fan should be ok with this…

Unless your a Jets, Colts, Ravens, or Steelers fan that is.

It's a good thought, but I suspect most fans cannot look past this season. If you cannot win your way to the top, then strike down the teams ahead of you. At some point, your team is in first place. Bad for others is good for you. Decry cheating, but accept a legal form of cheating (eliminating key components of other teams) in order to advance your team's interests while claiming your team did it the right way.

The intelligent NFL commentary (players and media) understand that arbitrary actions can turn on anyone at some point. While I believe Goody is utterly useless, underhanded and deceptive, you have to credit him with selecting a target against whom virtually any irrational action is largely celebrated. To me, he is much like the character Commodus in Gladiator. He apparently lacks any semblance of character, but he understands the moronic mob and how to placate it.

This is what I try and tell all the haters. Like, what if this was happening to your team? How would you feel then?
like us, you'd be outraged by Goodell's abuse of power.

I doubt he would try something this big again. I'm under the impression that this thing blew up right in his sorry face. I imagine Goodell is one of the most stressed out employees in the NFL. You see, covering up one lie is one thing. But covering up many lies is another. I'd be willing to bet he doesn't sleep very well lying there at night wondering what would happen if one of his employees betrayed him.

I'm sure he worries if all the texts and documents are destroyed and prays this thing doesn't go to court. he must make sure that everyone is on board. He fears Kessler like superman fears kryptonite. That boogeyman is probably the last image he see's when he closes his eyes before bed.

I'd like to think he wishes he never would of listened to any of his advisors and not hired the likes of Kensil to begin with. I'm sure they are all still whispering in his ear "it's ok Roger, stay the course, we got this." I hope there is lingering doubt gnawing at this guys soul.

He is not sending an innocent man to death, but he sure is trying to betray and destroy one of the good guys on the account of his own failed image. What kind of slime does such a thing? Sure, it's ok Roger, it's just Tom Brady and the Patriots. Everybody hates them already, they are always winning and everyone thinks they cheat anyway. It was supposed to be easy, a slam dunk like spygate where his league approval soared among the masses. Must be wondering to himself "why is it not working as well this time? "I really need this."

I'll tell you why you big stupid idiot. You tried to convict an innocent man who stands for everything you want in a franchise Qb. A man who would never accept defeat and certainly would not sit idle while you call him a cheat and a liar. You walked right into a bees nest, the taznanium devil.

The fans. We know. We pay attention. We are not the sheep you think we are. Yes we are the loudest defenders and many think it's sour grapes, blind homers, whatever you want to call it. We didn't stop reading at the highlighted quotes of the wells report. We didn't believe the 2nd it hit the Espn ticker and a couple of smearing headlines which were more probable than not put out by the NFL. We fought and now we see between the lines, you alienated us with an image as well. The hate for you is at an all time high. You also in your hunt for a more competent image turned many a fan against the Patriots owner. Yes it was his decision to buddy up for you but if you would of handled this right and not lied Kraft would still be well liked and admired in these parts.

Your in too deep Roger. He gave you a way out and you still can't see the truth behind your own lies. The right thing to do would be to drop the suspension. You already unjustly won in some fashion. Taking away valued draft picks, yet you still want to smear an innocent man in the name of your own image.

Brady6 said:

if Goodell died tomorrow (wishful thinking) there would not be any on field impact to the NFL, nothing would change, nothing, he is absolutely meaningless to the game.

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I think it could only get better, but totally agree with your assessment of Goodell. Imagine an alternative It's a Wonderful Life, Roger Goodell is shown how life would be without him as he's considering jumping off the bridge. Seriously, I think Paul Taglibue might be interim commish - a good thing.

Brady6 said:

I have heard radio shows and other news outlets suggest that outside of NE fans are happy about the Brady suspension. I find that to be both shocking, and ignorant. If Goodell is willing to do what he is doing to Brady, he certainly would be willing to do the same thing to any of those teams players.

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I've told other fans online after BountyGate, DeflateGate, the next one could be to their team, and the response from allegedly grown men is violently hostile - it will NEVER happen here. R I G H T. They get angrier when I point out things about Greg Hardy's conduct....you know damn well they would go from willful ignorance to crucifying Hardy if he were a Patriot!

Brady6 said:

Roger Goodell’s handling of this entire situation is grounds for immediate termination in my opinion.

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The paperwork against him would be volumes. Going nuclear on BountyGate. Going yo-yo on Ray Rice.....

Brady6 said:

I have heard radio shows and other news outlets suggest that outside of NE fans are happy about the Brady suspension. I find that to be both shocking, and ignorant. If Goodell is willing to do what he is doing to Brady, he certainly would be willing to do the same thing to any of those teams players.

Roger Goodell’s handling of this entire situation is grounds for immediate termination in my opinion. He has proven to be malicious and vindictive, abusing his power and ignoring the bylaws that he is employed to enforce. Roger Goodell is a corporate bully who only has a job because of the players, men such as Tom Brady have made it possible for Goodell to be commissioner, if Goodell died tomorrow (wishful thinking) there would not be any on field impact to the NFL, nothing would change, nothing, he is absolutely meaningless to the game. Tom Brady is one of the faces of the face of the NFL, without him in the league what happens on the field changes dramatically.

Goodell is a petty man, and petty men cannot lead and they are liabilities to anything they are involved in, what matters to him is that everyone fears him, he does not give a rats ass about the game, he only cares about his own power. Supporting that is pure stupidity.

I do not understand how anyone can be OK with a man who does nothing to actually impact the game on the field being allowed to run amuck. NFL fans should be appalled across the country, and they are not, and that scares the **** out of me, because if Goodell gets away with this act against Brady there is no telling what he will do next, JJ Watt, Aaron Rodgers, will all be players that Goodell will attempt to mow down as he builds his own ego. Goodell is the cop who was picked on in high school and now is out for vengeance and using his power to achieve that.

Whether you are a Patriots fan or not, be smart look past the fact that this help weaken a rival, and remember if it could happen to Brady it could happen to anyone on your team too.

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Of course the bulk of them are fine with it. They aren't thinking long term, besides "everyone knows the Pats are dirty cheaters and my team doesn't cheat so it won't happen to us!"

Sticking it to the Pats and The Golden Boy trumps any vague long term concerns everytime.

Also, too: Since when is there any consistency from the league? Do you really think if it had been the Pats caught tampering with Revis (assuming he was a Jet) that the penalty would be only a 100k fine??

More and more, I'm convinced that my original prediction will hold true: Goodell will fold like a lawn chair on the Brady suspension but will uphold the loss of draft picks despite no longer having any grounds for that penalty.

As stupid as Goodell is, I don't thing he's stupid enough to risk litigation in a MA court involving the character assassination of an iconic Boston sports figure.

I actually hope I'm wrong about that. I pray that Goodell is stupid enough to let this go to court where he and the NYFL* are going to have their lunch eaten and the whole sh*tshow gets exposed for what it is.

I live in North Carolina, and I "hate" Duke University.

A few years ago, some players on the Duke Lacrosse Team got into trouble for hosting a party where an "exotic dancer" claimed she got raped. There was an e-mail from one of the players saying that they were going to have some strippers over, and he was going to kill them and cut their skins off.

It looked bad.

The players got expelled from Duke, and charged with rape and other assorted offenses.

As the months passed, the state's case against the players fell apart. Now, as someone who is perfectly well prepared to think ill of Duke, and certainly of the rich ***holes who go there, I should have been rooting for these frat boys to be put away.

I didn't feel that way. I was horrified by how the process was a complete shambles from the very start. I was aghast at how prosecutor Mike Nifong (who reminds me a lot of Goodell) was more concerned with his image than with pursuing justice. He preened in front of the camera, held press conferences and lied his ass off.

As one who despises Duke, I should have been happy.

But, when the players were exonerated and Nifong got disbarred, I was nothing but relieved. I was (and still am) angry at how the system was abused.

I would hope that NFL fans would feel the same way about Deflategate. But, I'm not holding my breath.

Goodell is just a puppet for the owners to use as shield. Its Kraft and the rest of the owners who are laughing all the way to the bank while the masses queue up to see their circus. Goodell will not do anything that the owners wouldnt approve of, he is an employee.

Brady6 said:

I have heard radio shows and other news outlets suggest that outside of NE fans are happy about the Brady suspension. I find that to be both shocking, and ignorant. If Goodell is willing to do what he is doing to Brady, he certainly would be willing to do the same thing to any of those teams players.

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I respectfully disagree that he would come down this hard on another team that hasn't had the success of the Patriots. The punishments he hands out are all over the place (IE, Bounty gate, Ray Rice original 2 games suspension etc). I also find it hard to believe teams like the raiders, jaguars or bills would have been fined the same amount for footballs not being inflated with enough air. Unfortunately fans of the Saints are the only people that may feel some empathy towards our situation. Hopefully justice will be served and Pats & Brady will be exonerated. Highly unlikely but I can dream.

Self-interest rules the day. How many of us were rushing to defend the Saints? I know there were some but it was hardly a minority.

Mr. Plow said:

I live in North Carolina, and I "hate" Duke University.

A few years ago, some players on the Duke Lacrosse Team got into trouble for hosting a party where an "exotic dancer" claimed she got raped. There was an e-mail from one of the players saying that they were going to have some strippers over, and he was going to kill them and cut their skins off.

It looked bad.

The players got expelled from Duke, and charged with rape and other assorted offenses.

As the months passed, the state's case against the players fell apart. Now, as someone who is perfectly well prepared to think ill of Duke, and certainly of the rich ***holes who go there, I should have been rooting for these frat boys to be put away.

I didn't feel that way. I was horrified by how the process was a complete shambles from the very start. I was aghast at how prosecutor Mike Nifong (who reminds me a lot of Goodell) was more concerned with his image than with pursuing justice. He preened in front of the camera, held press conferences and lied his ass off.

As one who despises Duke, I should have been happy.

But, when the players were exonerated and Nifong got disbarred, I was nothing but relieved. I was (and still am) angry at how the system was abused.

I would hope that NFL fans would feel the same way about Deflategate. But, I'm not holding my breath.

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Unfortunately, the intelligence and maturity that you displayed when a rival team was under the gun just isn't the norm. It's actually quite the opposite, and that's what's wrong with the entire situation--and possibly society in general. How many people do you think really care about any of it? They just like to be able to make up excuses and jump on whatever popular trend bandwagon that's out there.

fnordcircle said:

Self-interest rules the day. How many of us were rushing to defend the Saints? I know there were some but it was hardly a minority.

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I thought the Saints were guilty because I didn't care enough to actually look into anything except the headlines.

Multiply that for 50 million people and that's how most of the country feels about Brady.

VectorPrime said:

I thought the Saints were guilty because I didn't care enough to actually look into anything except the headlines.

Multiply that for 50 million people and that's how most of the country feels about Brady.

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Weren't they though? I thought it was just that Goodell didn't have the evidence to deal the punishments he did. And punishing the players was over the top for what the coaches told them to do.

I thought the BountyGate punishments were ridiculous, but I had a hard time getting all upset about it because of what happened to us during CameraGate. My bad - the general lack of outrage outside NO was interpreted by the NFL as tacit approval of its actions..

Fans of other teams will never care that a hated enemy gets unjustly smacked down until it happens to them. That's just human nature, and Goodell is exploiting that group psychosis.

fnordcircle said:

Self-interest rules the day. How many of us were rushing to defend the Saints? I know there were some but it was hardly a minority.

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There's a big difference. Money paid for injuring players and circumventing the salary cap are serious issues if true. Probably generally aware of an unlikely slight deflation of footballs from an obscure rule based on a Wilson recommendation 40 years ago is beyond absurd. To add ridiculousness to absurdity, the team penalty for the unlikely deflation was an order of magnitude greater than the punishment the Saints received.

This whole thing has made me wonder about Bountygate as well as the Dolphins and the bullying. After the Ted Wells report came out, a fired Dolphins coach came out and said...

“Wells is not a good human being. When I did not give him the story he wanted, he targeted me as a part of a problem in Miami. He’s not an independent investigator. He’s not looking at both sides of the situation."

Looks more and more like we aren't the only victims of the corrupt NFL. I've always thought Bountygate was way overblown but I didn't really defend the Saints because of Spygate.

It also makes me wonder about who else the NFL has screwed. Players not nearly as rich as Brady who are unable to defend themselves. Nobody is safe under Goodell's regime.