Deflategate has turned into Scapegate, the scapegoating of the league’s most successful QB.
The NFL’s investigator concludes that Brady “more probably than not” knew that the ball handler guys did what they did. “More probably than not”–so what’s that, 55-45? 65-35? That’s not a standard of proof that would hold up in any other arena, such as the real world.
More probably than not most of this big deal is a result of widespread envy of the team that has become over the past 15 years the NFL version of the “damn Yankees.”
At least one QB—retired of course—said, a few months back, of course I tried to get the balls to feel comfortable, implying that it was a natural and widespread phenomenon. Did the league in looking at this try to find out if that is true? Does anybody get fined or have license suspended for going a few miles over the speed limit, when that is the de facto speed limit in most places?
Is the psi number a rule honored mostly in the breaking of it? Is Brady being singled out and made an example of here?
More probably than not the Ted Wells report was issued not to get to the whole truth of the matter, but to try to handle the situation, address that widespread jealousy, and try to make itself come out looking good.
Adam Kilgore opined in a piece that ran on the front page of this paper’s May 12th sports section that the Pats’ real crime was in behaving too “arrogantly.” If only the Patriots had shown more humility. If only Brady had confessed to a peccadillo. The Pats “needed a charm offensive to satisfy the league and public.” In other words, the Pats deserve this unprecedented punishment on style points.
For Kilgore, it seems to be more about image than the truth of the matter.
I hope the appeal process or investigative journalism can shine some real-world light on the cloying little world of this sport by telling the wider, deeper story and invoking some real-world standards.
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