Beats me why. As I said at the time and since, this is one of those scandals, much like investigating voter fraud in past elections, where getting to the bottom of things, its impact and determining how differently things would have turned out in the absence of the wrongdoing, is impossible, and the best that can be done as to determining guilt is to judge what evidence is available and scrutinize the conduct of those persons under suspicion.
The NFL's investigation of Deflate-gate cleared New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Head Coach Bill Belichick but concluded that it was inconceivable that quarterback Tom Brady couldn't have known about the ongoing football tampering, and suspended him without pay for the first four games of this season. Now, with apologies to Lady Michelle, I have to ask: If you're Tom Brady, why do you care if you've got to sit for the asterisk-champs' first five weeks (they've got an early bye week)? Nobody will ever know (besides Brady) how long and/or often you were cheating by breaking the rules to make the ball easier to grip and throw, but it had to have gotten you additional results - completions, fewer turnovers, first downs, touchdowns, wins - that you wouldn't have attained otherwise, or logically you wouldn't have kept cheating and running the risk of getting caught. Given what the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts reported - the Pats' two AFC playoff opponents - NE might not have even gotten to the AFC Championship Game without the squishy spheroids. So if I'm Brady, I'm shrugging and figuring, "Oh, well, that's the cost of doing business. And it got me that fourth ring. I'd call that a helluva bargain."
But it would seem that there's an almost....Clintonoid quality to the ersatz Super Bowl MVP:
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday upheld a four-game suspension of Tom Brady for his role in deflating footballs used in the game that put the New England Patriots in the 2015 Super Bowl, saying for the first time that the star quarterback had his phone destroyed to keep it out of hands of investigators.
In the latest turn in the scandal, known as "Deflategate," Goodell said he affirmed the suspension in part because of the new revelation that Brady made "a deliberate effort" to keep investigators from reading text messages stored on the device.
The four-time Super Bowl champion directed an assistant to destroy the cell phone on March 6. That was the same day he was due to meet with Ted Wells, an investigator hired by the league to examine allegations that Brady was complicit in a plan to tamper with the balls. The new information emerged during Brady's ten-hour appeal hearing at the NFL's New York headquarters on June 23rd.
"Rather than simply failing to cooperate, Mr. Brady made a deliberate effort to ensure that investigators would never have access to information that he had been asked to produce," Goodell wrote in his twenty-page ruling.
Brady's willful obstruction was more evidence in support of the investigation's finding that Brady participated in a scheme, Goodell said, adding that the episode had compromised public confidence in professional football.
Brady's cell phone, Hillary's email server. My my. The difference being that Mrs. Clinton at least had her server wiped months before her illegal use of it in her former official capacity as Commissar of State came under public scrutiny. Why Brady didn't get rid of his phone the week after the AFC Championship Game when the Deflategate story first emerged is anybody's guess. Ditching it the day he was meeting with NFL investigators was incriminating, and therefore stupid, as hell.
Tom, you did it. You're guilty. They caught you and nailed you. Take your punishment and move on. Look at it as Russell Wilson would: a challenge. Which is an accurate description of overcoming a 1-3 start.
Is he going to take that advice? I did say he was a Clinton apprentice, did I not?:
I am very disappointed by the NFL's decision to uphold the four-game suspension against me. I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either.
He said while balling his fists and stamping his feet.
Despite submitting to hours of testimony over the past six months, it is disappointing that the Commissioner upheld my suspension based upon a standard that it was "probable" that I was "generally aware" of misconduct. The fact is that neither I, nor any equipment person, did anything of which we have been accused. He dismissed my hours of testimony and it is disappointing that he found it unreliable.
Not disappointing, Tom; inevitable. And hilariously so.
I also disagree with yesterday's narrative surrounding my cellphone. I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells' investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline.
You had your shysters try to bullyingly bluff the league and, secure in the false confidence that they would succeed, did something really, really stupid. And now it's blown up in your pretty-boy face. Deal with it. Heck, it's not like they're going to extend your suspension.
Most importantly, I have never written, texted, emailed to anybody at anytime, anything related to football air pressure before this issue was raised at the AFC Championship game in January. To suggest that I destroyed a phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong.
I'd flat-out call Brady a liar at this point - a thoroughly self-righteous one at that - but it's so obvious that I don't feel the need to pile on.
So next, in classic Clintonoid fashion, the bluff ante gets raised:
I authorized the NFLPA to make a settlement offer to the NFL so that we could avoid going to court and put this inconsequential issue behind us as we move forward into this season. The discipline was upheld without any counter offer. I respect the Commissioners authority, but he also has to respect the CBA and my rights as a private citizen. I will not allow my unfair discipline to become a precedent for other NFL players without a fight.
Instead of, say, the precedent being set that cheaters still don't prosper (at least in the NFL) and no other quarterback should follow your dishonest example.
The NFL didn't make a "counteroffer" because they have the upper hand and Brady dead to rights. But threatening to go over Roger Goodell's coifed head is actually a smart move. All Brady has to do is shop for the right federal judge and get an injunction against the suspension and the can gets kicked down the road, the league eventually tires of the chase and the legal fees and whatnot, the charges get dropped (or "settled"), and....well, the cheaters prosper. Maybe even reach Super Bowl L in Santa Clara six months from now.
Where they just might find a very focused, motivated, and angry Seattle Seahawks team waiting for the rematch.
Sure you don't want to just sit out September, Tom?
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