Joe Posnanski weighs in with some common sense

We tend to make threads when mediots say something obscenely stupid (and reward their stupidity by giving them hits). Well here is something obscenely intelligent for us to digest and enjoy. I am not saying I agree with everything he says, but I certainly agree with the logic and reasoning about his Brady comments. I just wish there was more of this 18 months ago.

Tom Brady is innocent

I think Tom Brady is unequivocally, unambiguously, thoroughly and 100-percent innocent of any and all charges of deflating footballs in a cheating capacity. I don’t think he ever asked anyone to illegally deflate footballs. I don’t think he wanted footballs inflated below NFL standards. I think the whole thing — every last page of the testimony, every last leak to the media, every text made public, every curious statistic like the one showing the Patriots fumbled less than other teams and every blunder Brady made along the way, like his awkward press conference and the destruction of his phone — was a bunch of phony-baloney nonsense that was either directly or indirectly inspired by a made-up NFL witch hunt. I think he’s entirely innocent.

SVN said:

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He forgot that teams can still tape the opposing sidelines.

Sloppy.

Nice piece, thanks Joe. Too little too late. I keep writing this ad nauseum, but no one's mind will ever be changed about Brady's guilt or innocence. Dead issue.

robertweathers said:

He forgot that teams can still tape the opposing sidelines.

Sloppy.

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Yes most people, including the press, are sloppy and poorly informed. One can easily imagine how deflategate will be remembered by the masses. Of course we all know Brady was railroaded by a corrupt commissioner supported by a corrupt NFL. The owners who hired and support Goodell are culpable. Every one of them--including our own--failed to lift a finger to stop it or prevent it from happening again. And this is my criticism of Kraft. It is all well and good to state that Brady was railroaded. But as Jimmmy Malone said, what are you prepared to do? For Kraft, it is hug and schmooze and continue to support the status quo. Unforgivable.

Mack Herron said:

Yes most people, including the press, are sloppy and poorly informed. One can easily imagine how deflategate will be remembered by the masses.

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This this this. The general public is a ridiculously pathetic combination of (1) biased against the Patriots, (2)ignorant of the facts here and (3) just flat out stupid people.

I argued this subject in another forum and one complete moron was arguing, quite vehemently, that Brady should face Obstruction of Justice charges for destroying his phone. And yes, I am talking *Federal* Obstruction of Justice Charges. The guy honestly thought Brady should have been arrested for destroying the phone.

I just don't understand how people can talk about Spygate like they've never heard of such a thing when John Madden said it was a common practice to tape signals in 1992.

XLIX said:

This this this. The general public is a ridiculously pathetic combination of (1) biased against the Patriots, (2)ignorant of the facts here and (3) just flat out stupid people.

I argued this subject in another forum and one complete moron was arguing, quite vehemently, that Brady should face Obstruction of Justice charges for destroying his phone. And yes, I am talking *Federal* Obstruction of Justice Charges. The guy honestly thought Brady should have been arrested for destroying the phone.

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So many millions of phones people have gotten rid of, but only Brady DESTROYED his. Ugh, sick of this, bring on football.

PatsSox363804 said:

I just don't understand how people can talk about Spygate like they've never heard of such a thing when John Madden said it was a common practice to tape signals in 1992.

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Well, when the NFL pulls that 42 second clip from Youtube within 6 months of it being published (while allowing complete games to remain out there), it limits the number of people who could have seen it.

I know it's totally unrealistic to expect this, but I wish someone like Posnanski, who believes spygate was much, much worse based on nothing, would take a step back and think for a minute. He believes that deflategate "was a bunch of phony-baloney nonsense." Since the league blew this issue out of proportion (if it even did happen) and over-punished the team, isn't it entirely reasonable to consider that the league did the same thing in 2007?

As people have stated, no one's mind will be changed by this article. I'll even go one step further and say that only people (basically just pats fans) who already think Brady is innocent, will even take the time to read it. The title alone will dissuade those that think Brady is guilty from reading the whole thing, if they even get past the title.

This is why I pray for a defamation suit (yeah yeah I know, never happen) or for some smart hacker to get Goodell's texts and emails from the deflategate time period.

GrogansArmy said:

This is why I pray for a defamation suit (yeah yeah I know, never happen) or for some smart hacker to get Goodell's texts and emails from the deflategate time period.

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That would be my dream come true.

Nice article. My prediction is that this will be the prevailing view in the sports media after Brady retires.

Koma said:

Well, when the NFL pulls that 42 second clip from Youtube within 6 months of it being published (while allowing complete games to remain out there), it limits the number of people who could have seen it.

I know it's totally unrealistic to expect this, but I wish someone like Posnanski, who believes spygate was much, much worse based on nothing, would take a step back and think for a minute. He believes that deflategate "was a bunch of phony-baloney nonsense." Since the league blew this issue out of proportion (if it even did happen) and over-punished the team, isn't it entirely reasonable to consider that the league did the same thing in 2007?

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That's my response to people in all of this...

"So Roger Goodell has been a moron when it comes to handling everything.. concussions, Ray Rice, Peterson, Hardy etc etc etc...Pretty much everyone agrees about that.. but when it comes to Deflategate he's 100% on? So he's managed to screw up everything under the sun, but he's totally right about deflategate and Brady being a cheater?"

I've had most people respond with "yea, actually that's a pretty good point..."

Some people just need common sense shoved down their throat to get it..