Every great story has heroes and villains. Deflategate is no exception.
From a Pats' perspective, here are the villains. Feel free to add to the list.
Goodell - Caught in lies and a massive power play. His rulings have been consistently overruled by independent arbiters and judges. Still reeling from the Ray Rice scandal where he was again caught in lies. Seeking to be the undisputed dictator of the NFL, and willing to throw the greatest player of all time under the bus in order to achieve this.
Vincent - Former player, turned traitor. Disingenuous. Goodell's lackey and right hand man.
Pash - Attorney for the NFL who edited the Wells Report.
Wells - Supposed "independent" investigator, he twisted the facts and ignored the evidence which exonerated the Pats and Brady.
Kensil - Former Jet employee, he has had an axe to grind against the Patriots for a long time. Having no clue about the Ideal Gas Law, when the Pats' football the Colts intercepted was measured (a violation of the rules, for which there was no penalty or investigation, btw), he approached the Patriots and told them they were in big F-ing trouble.
John Harbaugh - Suffered a bitter defeat to the Pats in the AFC Divisional round, he was humiliated by the Patriots' creative formations, and his ego was stung when Brady said that he needed to know the rulebook better. He communicated with former assistant and present Colts' HC Chuck Pagano, telling him about under inflated footballs by the Pats.
Walt Anderson - Referee in charge of the AFCCG. He did a terrible job, not recording the measurements, losing track of the footballs, and is totally skating in this whole episode.
Cris Carter - Hall of Famer, critical of Brady, saying Brady needed to accept responsibility for his actions. Turns out he told NFL rookies that they needed a "fall guy" to take the blame for when they break the law.
Jerry Rice - Hall of Famer, critical of Brady, saying that he cheated and that it's no excuse to say that "everybody does it". Turns out he used stickum as a player, which violated the rules, and when that came to light, he first defended himself saying, everyone did it.
Who else?
From a Pats' perspective, here are the villains. Feel free to add to the list.
Goodell - Caught in lies and a massive power play. His rulings have been consistently overruled by independent arbiters and judges. Still reeling from the Ray Rice scandal where he was again caught in lies. Seeking to be the undisputed dictator of the NFL, and willing to throw the greatest player of all time under the bus in order to achieve this.
Vincent - Former player, turned traitor. Disingenuous. Goodell's lackey and right hand man.
Pash - Attorney for the NFL who edited the Wells Report.
Wells - Supposed "independent" investigator, he twisted the facts and ignored the evidence which exonerated the Pats and Brady.
Kensil - Former Jet employee, he has had an axe to grind against the Patriots for a long time. Having no clue about the Ideal Gas Law, when the Pats' football the Colts intercepted was measured (a violation of the rules, for which there was no penalty or investigation, btw), he approached the Patriots and told them they were in big F-ing trouble.
John Harbaugh - Suffered a bitter defeat to the Pats in the AFC Divisional round, he was humiliated by the Patriots' creative formations, and his ego was stung when Brady said that he needed to know the rulebook better. He communicated with former assistant and present Colts' HC Chuck Pagano, telling him about under inflated footballs by the Pats.
Walt Anderson - Referee in charge of the AFCCG. He did a terrible job, not recording the measurements, losing track of the footballs, and is totally skating in this whole episode.
Cris Carter - Hall of Famer, critical of Brady, saying Brady needed to accept responsibility for his actions. Turns out he told NFL rookies that they needed a "fall guy" to take the blame for when they break the law.
Jerry Rice - Hall of Famer, critical of Brady, saying that he cheated and that it's no excuse to say that "everybody does it". Turns out he used stickum as a player, which violated the rules, and when that came to light, he first defended himself saying, everyone did it.
Who else?
