Nice piece from Wetzel on NFL malfeasance and overall DFG absurdity

[QuantumMechanic]

Except the entire ESPN story was wrong. No Patriots football came in that low. None. Most weren't even close. And the few Colts footballs anyone bothered to measure suffered deflation also. The entire framing of the story was completely inaccurate.

If it was originally sold to the public as "some Patriots footballs were a little low, but others weren't and we used two different gauges to check so the numbers varied and we aren't sure what's normal to begin with and no one wrote down the original measurements and we ran out of time to do the Colts' conclusively so who knows about that and it was cold out and ... " this meeting isn't happening.

The league office is guilty of either leaking the fake story in the first place or, at the very least, not coming out to refute it with the actual measurement it had in its possession. Instead the NFL let Brady and the Patriots get crushed. What turned out minor was major. What was confusing was painted as clear. What begged for context was instead stamped as concrete.

The actions of the NFL are far more troublesome than whatever some New England lackey did in the bathroom, with or without Tom Brady's knowledge.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/in-def...ikely-can-t-be-fully-recovered-033901829.html

 

[BradyFTW!]

The part about Brady's reputation being permanently damaged sucks, but it is the truth. Even if Brady is exonerated, a ton of people won't ever stop believing that he cheated. I've pretty much moved past caring, though. Can't waste your life caring about the opinions of stupid, bitter people who are really juts angry about their own shortcomings.

 

[farn]

Why are all these national media members coming out with reasonable thoughts now ? Where were the NYT/AEI - Washington Post - Yahoo Sports when all this info was clear months ago ?

You'd think they'd have loved the clicks and the publicity. But instead, no one but Curran and a few local guys........ the whole thing stinks.

 

[Kontradiction]

The part about Brady's reputation being permanently damaged sucks, but it is the truth. Even if Brady is exonerated, a ton of people won't ever stop believing that he cheated. I've pretty much moved past caring, though. Can't waste your life caring about the opinions of stupid, bitter people who are really juts angry about their own shortcomings.

Who cares? A ton of people were going to believe he and the Pats cheated whether or not Deflategate happened. Brady still has four rings.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Why are all these national media members coming out with reasonable thoughts now ? Where were the NYT/AEI - Washington Post - Yahoo Sports when all this info was clear months ago ?

You'd think they'd have loved the clicks and the publicity. But instead, no one but Curran and a few local guys........ the whole thing stinks.

Herd mentality. Nobody wanted to be the first in case it didn't catch on. Now that AEI and Sally Jenkins have done the heavy lifting, it's safe for the rest to come out with some anti-Goodell spin now that the anti-Pats spin has gotten old.

 

[JDot]

Honestly I think it is kinda foolish to be definitive in how this will effect Brady's legacy in the long run. Who the hell 20 years ago would believe that in 2015 Mike tyson would be a media darling and brought on radio shows to speak about domestic violence issue with regards to Mayweather?

I use to hate the 90's Cowboys now look back and chuckle. Really really hard to say what someone's legacy will be.

Obviously in the near term nothing will change. The same people who hated brady before this, will still hate Brady. The same people who liked Brady will still like brady.

Great article as usual by Wetzel tho.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

with reasonable thoughts now ? Where were (they) when all this info was clear months ago ?

But the Mort lie "11 of 12" wasn't clearly a lie until the Wells report was released. The science was very clear before that, on how you can get 1.0-1.3 psi of deflation, but explaining science doesn't get the clicks that exposing lies does, which now is an option.

And, back then, there was still the problem that 1.0-1.3 ain't 2. But now we know that 2 ain't 2 either. It's more like 1.0-1.3!

 

[farn]

I suppose so, Palm B... But aren't you at least as disappointed as I that science was completely misunderstood ? And the assumption of guilt ?

 

[Oswlek]

Why are all these national media members coming out with reasonable thoughts now ? Where were the NYT/AEI - Washington Post - Yahoo Sports when all this info was clear months ago ?

You'd think they'd have loved the clicks and the publicity. But instead, no one but Curran and a few local guys........ the whole thing stinks.

The NFL did a good job of hiding just how flimsy their case really was. Initially it was only Pats fans that bothered to investigate and we have a well earned rep for being outraged at pretty much everything. Everyone else felt justified in saying, "yeah, there are holes, but they must have done something." Truth be told, I was in that camp very early on but, paradoxically, the Wells report convinced me of the Patriots' innocence.

Kraft didn't help things by acquiescing so quickly, either.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

The NFL did a good job of hiding just how flimsy their case really was. Initially it was only Pats fans that bothered to investigate and we have a well earned rep for being outraged at pretty much everything. Everyone else felt justified in saying, "yeah, there are holes, but they must have done something." Truth be told, I was in that camp very early on but, paradoxically, the Wells report convinced me of the Patriots' innocence.

Kraft didn't help things by acquiescing so quickly, either.

Exactly. This was a setup (sting) from the beginning. They thought they had a (gotcha!). Then they ran with it, grabbing anything they could to prove it. Totally ignoring anything to clear the Pats. And everyone, rival fans, columnists. ..etc salivated at the thought of the mighty Pats being brought down. It's just so, so overblown and childish. To think an organization as big as the NFL could stoop so low. What a joke. F em' all. I hope this goes to court and exposes the NFL for what it is and somehow they lose a lot of revenue

 

[lurker1965]

Why are all these national media members coming out with reasonable thoughts now ? Where were the NYT/AEI - Washington Post - Yahoo Sports when all this info was clear months ago ?

You'd think they'd have loved the clicks and the publicity. But instead, no one but Curran and a few local guys........ the whole thing stinks.

My theory, and I may be wrong, is 98% of "media" saw, what 246 page Wells report (?) and just read the summary. Then, if they had not entrenched themselves, they read parts of it that made no sense. Then they read more and said, "Huh?"
That is the reasonable ones. There are the "CHEATRIOTS!!!" people who will never read it.

 

[farn]

It's just sad. This whole thing. Football fandom is supposed to be more fun - especially in a year your team wins it all.

 

[upstater1]

The part about Brady's reputation being permanently damaged sucks, but it is the truth. Even if Brady is exonerated, a ton of people won't ever stop believing that he cheated. I've pretty much moved past caring, though. Can't waste your life caring about the opinions of stupid, bitter people who are really juts angry about their own shortcomings.

If Brady is exonerated, you have the luxury of ridiculing those people, the same way people ridicule Pats fans over Spygate ("then why'd they lose 1st rounder, etc.").

This is how I'd handle it:

Idiots: "Brady cheated. Deflategate."
Me: "What's deflategate?"
Idiots: "He deflated the ball and the NFL suspended him for 4 games."
Me: "I don't remember Brady ever missing any games except when he was hurt in 2008."
Idiots: "Well, um, errr....."

 

[PlainOldEd]

I just read the quoted text and of course I love most of it, but I don't like that last paragraph. It still implies that someone from the Pats did something wrong, and we now know that to be false.

 

[Ivan]

I just read the quoted text and of course I love most of it, but I don't like that last paragraph. It still implies that someone from the Pats did something wrong, and we now know that to be false.

It was cold and we for that game, Everyone knows Belichick is a control freak, that had to be his doing.


Weathergate anyone?

I'll start......


Brady had to be generally aware v that it was cold and we put. Cheater!

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Remember what Mark Cuban said about the NFL a while back, Cubans a brilliant business mind and the minds running the NFL right now not so much, wouldn't surprise me if what he said comes to pass. As much as I love the NFL there would be a certain satisfaction if this came to pass on Goodells watch.

"I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion," Cuban said Sunday evening when his pregame conversation with reporters, which covered a broad range of topics, swayed toward football. "I'm just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they're getting hoggy.

"Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I'm just telling you, when you've got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That's rule No. 1 of business."

 

[DarrylS]

I still await the national article about the fraudulent behavior of the NFL that connects all of the dots at 345 Madison Ave., "guerilla attacks" are fine.. but need a credible investigative journalistic to put all of this together...

Who leaked the info and who knew about it??

It is so obvious to this viewer that this was a plan to discredit the Pats which completely got out of hand, and the Commish had to reluctantly deal with all of the fallout.. to protect the "shield"...

 

[lurker1965]

I just read the quoted text and of course I love most of it, but I don't like that last paragraph. It still implies that someone from the Pats did something wrong, and we now know that to be false.

Fearing Bill Belichick Only Makes Him Stronger | Bleacher Report

 

[Froob]

The part about Brady's reputation being permanently damaged sucks, but it is the truth. Even if Brady is exonerated, a ton of people won't ever stop believing that he cheated. I've pretty much moved past caring, though. Can't waste your life caring about the opinions of stupid, bitter people who are really juts angry about their own shortcomings.

I just had a Saints fan make fun of the Patriots for cheating yesterday lol. Oh the irony.

 

[RayClay]

Remember what Mark Cuban said about the NFL a while back, Cubans a brilliant business mind and the minds running the NFL right now not so much, wouldn't surprise me if what he said comes to pass. As much as I love the NFL there would be a certain satisfaction if this came to pass on Goodells watch.

"I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion," Cuban said Sunday evening when his pregame conversation with reporters, which covered a broad range of topics, swayed toward football. "I'm just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they're getting hoggy.

"Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I'm just telling you, when you've got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That's rule No. 1 of business."

Great point. Goodell couldn't care less if players play twice a week, in foreign countries or play more games with less practice. Whatever brings short term money.