Where did you get your assertion? The same place that says no other team ever played with its balls?
There’s a strong following for #NoBradyNoBanner, making the case that the Pats should not unfurl the Super Bowl banner unless the *entire *team is there to enjoy it. If that makes Opening Night (against the Steelers, whose QB will be on the field for some reason we will no doubt be given the explanation to any day now, right?) something other than ESPN planned for, well, then they’d have a more interesting story to broadcast.
Figure on Goodell getting fired well before then anyway.
Uh, why would someone even think of using that word for weight loss in the first place? Maybe it was put into his mind by a preexisting activity that involved deflating…?
My bad. I misunderstood which of the multiple lawyers for the Patriots did what.
He wasn’t charged. It’s that simple. Had he been you might have an argument, but he wasn’t. Still, he was suspended for 6 initially, reduced to 4, and that was for off-the-field stuff, not actively cheating on the field.
I’m no fan of Roethlisberger, but an 81+ game suspension seems over the top for almost anything.
I know, and you know the standards that apply. Now compare that to Brady’s situation.
Or do you think Ben really didn’t do it (Steelers!) ?
It doesn’t matter whether or not he did it. Brady did do it, and that’s what we’re talking about. No amount of deflection or misdirection will change that.
God forgive me for what I’m about to do.
Elvis. Could you tell us what you think happened? Do you honestly believe that the balls were never tampered with by any members of the Patriots organization? Do you think the entire thing was fabricated and the investigation was the result of jealousy or hatred by the NFL of the Patriots? Do you think the balls were improperly gauged and were, in fact, within the legal limits? Do you think the balls the Patriots used were subject to the Ideal Gas Law, but the Colts’ weren’t? Do you think there is an active conspiracy to make the Pats look bad?
And, of course, Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers likes his footballs overinflated - NBC Sports
Right? Why hasn’t inflategate become a thing?
Maybe because Rodgers never had the Packers staff re-inflate the balls after they were checked by officials? Maybe, just maybe, it’s because the Patriots deliberately violated the rules and the Packers didn’t. Could that be the difference?
I eagerly await the NFL’s response to the Patriots’ response to the NFL’s report. With any luck, the Patriots will respond to the NFL’s response to the Patriots’ response to the NFL’s report. We can just spiral on down the rabbit hole of recursion.
At any rate, y’all can’t deny it’s at least been entertaining. Which is arguably the entire point of professional sports. Go Pats!
Of course you wish it to be only that, and it’s no secret why, is it?
It’s called “context”. Hypocrisy and selectivity are part of that. So is proportion. If those are difficult concepts to accept and address, well, too bad.
Hentor, if you’re going to continue to claim superior knowledge of facts, you have to be able to start to demonstrate it, hmm? Google is your friend.
I don’t wish it to be that, it IS that. Ben had his turn on the hot seat, now it’s Brady’s turn. Anything else is nothing more than a deflection on your part.
My first post about this issue was this: “Sure, the Patriots, as is their wont, may have broken the rules and may be punished by the NFL, but trying to pretend this is some kind of major story that is anything more than a minor distraction is silly.” Even now, I think I was right. The ball inflation had little to nothing to do with the outcome of games, and a simple investigation, fine, and taking a draft pick would have been a fine outcome for a repeat offender over a relatively minor violation.
But watching some Pats fans, and their ownership, dig in their heels, make stuff up out of whole cloth (how’s that “they’re going to punish the Colts” thing going for you Elvis?), and get a bout of consumption, thus fainting on the couch for such a blaspheme of their reputation, has been amusing. A simple side note has turned into an entire drama, and the hysterical, delusional Pats fans are the ones who really look silly.
The Patriots step on their own dick again. They initially touted their rebuttal scientist as independent. Oops.
I find the wagon circling very strange.
Does it have to do with a regional inferiority complex? A massive jealousy of NYC? They were the butt of jokes for a century because Ruth was sold to the hated Yankees, and the Sox were basically irrelevant for a century. The Patriots were just as irrlevent for their entire history until Drew Bledsoe got hurt, and Brady was moved into the starting role.
Now that their teams have had success in the past decade and a half, the fans as a group (and I realize it isn’t 100%, but sometimes it seems like it) cannot come to grips with the idea that the championships, especially the Super Bowls, are tainted forever… and they are.
Not only did they lose a perfect season and two Super Bowls to the one city they seem to view as the big brother who always wins, and controls the media, they cannot seem to rise above, they now have a string of success that will have an asterisk next to it in most all non-Patriots fans minds.
I know the response that is coming (well maybe not now, since I am writing it first):
“Haters gonna hate”.
Swear to god, he sounds like a 12 year old girl arguing over Justin Beiber vs. One Direction. It is important to him at a level that most rational adults cannot understand because, well we are all adults and have lives.
He seems to have invested a large part of his identity in the success of the Patriots. To admit they cheated is impossible for him, because not only does he know it’s true, but somehow he believes it invalidates him.
This is the very same reaction that Giants fans have WRT Barry Bonds. A man so universally hated in MLB, EXCEPT in SF. Because he set many hallowed records in a Giants uniform.
HGH AND steroid use? “Not Barry! It was a witch hunt! Haters gonna hate!”
Oh wait. His head DID grow a couple of sizes in his 30’s? So did his feet? Yea, that’s normal. It’s not? Well, then EVERYONE did it! So did the pitchers! Barry was a victim! Baseball made him do it! They hate him because he’s black! We need more spaghetti to throw at the wall! Something has to stick! Why won’t anyone listen to us?
Because anyone not attached emotionally to the Giants can read. And they can make logical deductions based on the record and their own observations.
OK, Barry owns the records. I guess. But very few believe he did not cheat to get those records, and more relevant to this discussion, he lied about it. Denied it to the end, even when the evidence against him was so damning…
Sound familiar?
Brady would have looked so much better if he would have said “yeah, I did it. Didn’t think it was a big deal, because I thought we could handle footballs and make them more to our liking based on the 2006 rule change. I guess I went too far. I don’t think it gave me much of a competitive advantage, but I do like the ball a bit softer, so for me, it worked. I never realized how big this would have blown up into. I am sorry.”
No, he can’t do that. And the reason is simple. He knows an admission of cheating (no matter how big or small of an issue it was) will absolutely taint his legacy. Both he and Belichick will forever have that same asterisk connected to their accomplishments.
Why lawyer up? What do they have to hide? The public opinion battle is over. The NFL won, the Patriots, Brady and Belichick lost. Every fan base, team, owner, and the NFL has made up their minds. They’ve made a judgement. Brady lied, and cheated. Except in Boston. I’m shocked!
No… They are fighting this because they know how this looks, and how it changes their perceptions with other teams, other players in the league, the NFL itself, and most importantly, history.
The Steelers won 4 rings in 6 years. The Cowboys, 3 in 4. The Patriots? 4 in 15. That is a great run, but it will never be looked at the same way because Belichick, Brady, and Kraft have created a culture of cheating. “We are smarter than you. You won’t catch us. You are just jealous… Haters gonna hate.”
Now, the proof comes out, and they can’t read the texts as every other person can because they are being picked on…now it was a “sting”. How unfair!
Bad news, Patriot apologists… Don’t be shocked if Brady and Belichick don’t get into the HOF on the first ballot. Or the second. Their smugness, the organizational arrogance is pissing off the wrong people. Those people vote for the HOF. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, Clemens. Which one of them SHOULD be in the hall? Which one ever will be?
It has haunted Pete Rose, and I don’t think he will ever get in while he’s alive because he was arrogant, lied, refused to cooperate, and by the time he realized he wasn’t bigger than the game, he sort of came clean. But it was too late.
Imagine the howling from these same lunatic fringe people if/when Brady and Belichick don’t get in on that first ballot. What will they do when they realize they cannot sue the voters? Is their official, lawyered-drafted statement “haters gonna hate.” going to help them? Or is it going to piss off the voters for a second year?
This made me laugh out loud. You’ve done a lot of “figuring” on this event. So far you are zero-for-the entire thing.
When will this happen? Give us a month. Please. Enlighten us. Better yet, enrich yourself by placing bets in Vegas.
<YAWN>
Keep trying, maybe you’ll convince yourself someday.
#rapeisbad
This whole “Goodell is going to get fired” stuff is probably the most hilarious thing ever. Oh, you silly Pats fans.