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I feel the same as the OP, but I'll reply based on my personal feelings.
I 'consume' the NFL as I consume any other type of entertainment : to get a momentary diversion from the 'real' world. Once I find that the entertainment does not provide that type of diversion anymore, I usually move away from it. Maybe not entirely or all-at-once, but I find myself consuming these things a lot less once I lose some interest.
Right now, I feel a lot less excited about the upcoming season as I usually would at this time of year. A certain indifference. I would count the number of days until the first preseason game, but this year, I don't even know when that is.
Being a Pats fans has provided tremendous highs over the past 15 years, even the last 20+, but if I can't enjoy the ultimate goal that is winning the Super Bowl without having some type of controversy that is taking most of the fun away, then why should I care ? I still care about the team, Belichick, Brady and the players, but the game itself has lost something.
I'm not just blaming deflategate for that; it's really the accumulation of things : cameragate and the ''story'' that broke the day before Super Bowl 42, the concussion lawsuit and seeing some of the players I have rooted for having hard times after their playing days are over (Kevin Turner and Ted Johnson, among others), the Ray Rice fiasco and now the the NFL trying their very best to tarnish the legacy of Tom Brady.
I'm sure I'll watch games this year...but will I watch them all ? I might find myself doing the same I do with hockey : I watch the box score the morning after, and that's good enough for me.
Not to say my opinion should have any impact on yours, but to me you let them win when you do that.
I get great enjoyment from the Patriots. I would never let politics and bs take that away from me.
Just 2 different outlooks, I suppose.