Yeah I wouldn't read too much into the 'I not going to watch anymore' type comments as everything is still raw and people are pissed as am I. My hope lies with Brady. I hope he can fight this thing until he gets his suspension reduced to 0 games. I hope that during the process of fighting the NFL, Goodell or any of his crew get hit with embarrassing moments or leaks. I hope when the season starts that Brady is so amped and has a redwood sized chip on his shoulder that he plays like every game is the super bowl. That would fire people up and Brady's Legacy if this was at all possible will have grown even larger that it was before. Kraft will have to live with his decision and that decision will tarnish his legacy for a long time. After a few years people will remember what he did for the Patriots organization but he will always have to live with that spineless announcement.
On the Kraft side, this should be studied in college communications programs, just as BB's "philosophy" and/or the Patriots model, from the top down, are supposedly studied in business schools. This is a case study in what happens if you over-promise or are
perceived as over-promising. If you come out looking tough, however tough is defined,
this group of people -- fans -- will expect you to follow through (actually, demand it). This is a bad PR strategy if there ever was a strategy at all. The simple read was that he went from POd to "aware of consequences." Every one of us wonders what the supposed consequences were that he's "considering" and since we will not know and we can't "get at" Goodell, we assume the worst (if we're thinking beyond the "spineless" talking point, which by comparison is kind).
I did notice there was a charge of anti-semitism in the anti-Kraft cavalcade on one of these threads, and I was about to pipe in and say I haven't seen any here at least... then somebody posted some derogatory "matza-eating" slur and I thought, huh, wonder what this is like up in Boston.
On the Brady side, I can see NFL Holograms telling the story about how he was a born fighter, kept fighting his way to the top, fought back to shut up the doubters X times (I kind of like 7 myself) to win the Super Bowl every time he was doubted... "and yet for some, doubts will always remain..." You know someone will throw shade forever at this period, and we'll have things to argue about in bars until we die. That's probably actually "good for the league" in the money sense. Brady becomes this Shakespearean character, sort of like Belichick already is...
On that count I do understand the people saying they're done with the league, in a way... but I guess I long ago figured out that we're the guys at the base of the pyramid, the players are at the top, and owners are the capstone. Pull away the curtain and we're all idiots. But the structure (with curtain intact) serves a huge purpose in a lot of people's lives (me included). I think they're playing with fire... a little WWE stuff is probably good for gate but the further it goes, the closer you are to the sport being unwatchable. Or maybe we'll just watch it a different way, and if the dollars flow, that's okay (by the NFL's lights.) That would suck for actual fans... but in 20 years, what is the "model fanbase" they're looking for? They claim it's people who care about neatness and non-thug players and heads-up football blah blah blah... but in the bowels of some headquarters building, have they also figured out that they're people who don't mind if the game's moneyed interests are more clearly exposed, or actually enjoy it in a Kabuki way?
What do we see in the news biz? The essence of drama is conflict. Let's show that. It's infotainment, and face it, for 7 months a year, that's the field the NFL has to play on.
Meh - this is probably just a Pats fan's concern. Everybody else thinks either (1) Cheatriots heh heh or (2) yeah this punishment was idiotic an inexplicable, but ehhhhh, Pats cheat anyway, and what's a couple of draft picks
really.
Just morning rambling
