The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McNally

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

I'd agree with you completely...if they had been caught videotaping people. Then it's second offense, obviously didn't learn, etc. Doesn't it matter that these, you know, aren't the same "crime"? You don't get 30 days in jail for jaywalking just because you had a speeding ticket a few years ago. How many years will Belichick get suspended now if the Pats get accused of tampering or something? Or is it a 3rd strike situation and he's banned for life?

Is it a factor, sure. But they are still both things involving the integrity of the game. If someone has a DUI and prior drunk in public convictions (or reckless driving convictions) or if someone has an Assault and Battery and prior Threatening Phone Calls or Destruction of Property convictions, that weighs more strongly (also, frankly, all convictions are generally considered in sentencing decisions, but I suppose I'm digressing).

And that the two "crimes" were 8 years apart should factor a little into your repeat offender narrative, no?

I do think that's worth pointing out. People still remember it as if it's recent (and eight years isn't that long of a time). If it was still the Patriots organization but Brady and Belichick were retired, that would be an entirely different conversation.

 

[Venardhi]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

A touch harsh but I can understand the motivation for wanting to nip these sorts of small offenses in the bud and make everyone from the management to the ball boys consider if even a sliver of an advantage is worth the potential cost to the organization.

Personally I don't see why ball pressure is so highly regulated anyways. Just let all teams inflate their balls as much or as little as they want. If everyone has the advantage, there is no advantage.

 

[Scout101]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

Pats have decided to hit back, and put out another take on the Wells report...

http://wellsreportcontext.com/

As usual, truth likely somewhere in the middle, but an interesting (if long) read. To be fair, though, it was in response to a 243-page document, so guess it's short by comparison...

 

[Timby]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

Pats have decided to hit back, and put out another take on the Wells report...

http://wellsreportcontext.com/

As usual, truth likely somewhere in the middle, but an interesting (if long) read. To be fair, though, it was in response to a 243-page document, so guess it's short by comparison...

That is the most goddamn hilarious thing.

Of all the excuses the Patriots could have used, they went with "McNally is fat." And despite claiming he did nothing wrong, the team -- not the league -- suspended him.

This is amazing.

Edit: Seriously, the excuse the Patriots gave for the "deflator" nickname is the most hilariously bad attempt at PR since Penn State circled the wagons around Joe Paterno.

Edit 2: Holy holy holy shit, the supposedly "independent" expert quoted in the so-called rebuttal is on the board of directors of a pharmaceutical firm that Robert Kraft is heavily invested in.

 

[Garak]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

I don't think this is such a big deal and doesn't really tarnish Brady's legacy as some people have suggested.

The Pats however, do look pretty foolish in how they've handled the situation.

 

[Scout101]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

Can't argue that.

All (IMO) because there are some people in the NFL front office that have a hard on against the Pats. If there hadn't been so many leaks, many of which weren't even true, but designed to escalate things, this probably would have been a different story. Nothing came out of the Chargers rubbing down balls with stickum, or whoever was involved in the 'balls under the heater, while on national tv' incidents. Seems a few people went out of their way to ensure this was a massive scandal instead.

Not that the Pats are blameless by any means, but why'd THIS minor infraction turn into the biggest penalties in NFL history?

 

[Timby]

Re: Decision on Deflategate

Not that the Pats are blameless by any means, but why'd THIS minor infraction turn into the biggest penalties in NFL history?

Sean Payton, Gregg Williams and Pacman Jones would like a word.

 

[Scout101]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

Of course, they actually DID something, as opposed to being generally aware of it being more probable than not that something might have happened, depending on which gauges the ref used before the game...

Plus a 1st rounder, 4th rounder, and a million bucks.

You'd think it would have slowed down the circus a little when the Colt's balls, which were much higher pre-game, were also under the legal limit at halftime, but it would have ruined the cheating Patriots narrative, so they went past that part. If the Pats' balls started lower, kinda makes sense that they'd be lower at the half, no?

Still think that Pats weren't clean here, but they want to pin this on Brady being a perfectionist, but also want to say the bad thing happened when an old guy took 90 seconds and tried to deflate 12 balls. Seems hard to do that and get a consistent result on each ball, which is what they are saying is the most important. You could probably let air out of every ball, but could you get them all the same? You'd think there'd be a bigger distribution to the numbers if an old guy tried to do this in a hurry...

I could ABSOLUTELY see them trying to inflate them to 12 PSI before the inspection and count on the refs to do a half-assed "inspection" of them, but the logistics of trying to do it later seem overly complicated. And even harder to do on the road, so Brady would be playing with way different balls week to week, which seems counter-productive to what they are claiming he wants. They don't care about doing it THAT way, though, because Aaron Rodgers admitted it on national TV and no one blinked...

 

[Garak]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

What's interesting when you compare this to other leagues, you just don't see the same sort of punishment doled out for doing basically the same thing. A hockey player has an illegal curve on his stick? 2 minute penalty. And I can't really think of any major suspensions or fines for corked bats or pitchers doctoring baseballs in the MLB, suspensions of 9 or 10 games max which isn't that much when you look at the 162 game season. Brady got 1/4 of the season, which would be 40 games in MLB.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

What's interesting when you compare this to other leagues, you just don't see the same sort of punishment doled out for doing basically the same thing. A hockey player has an illegal curve on his stick? 2 minute penalty. And I can't really think of any major suspensions or fines for corked bats or pitchers doctoring baseballs in the MLB, suspensions of 9 or 10 games max which isn't that much when you look at the 162 game season. Brady got 1/4 of the season, which would be 40 games in MLB.

The perception that the Pats are "cheaters" contributed a lot to the punishment, although Brady may be able to reduce his end through the appeal process.

 

[Timby]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

The perception that the Pats are "cheaters" contributed a lot to the punishment, although Brady may be able to reduce his end through the appeal process.

Under the rules of the CBA, the appeal will be heard directly by Goodell (in a hilarious bit of irony, Brady was the named plaintiff in the lawsuit which created the CBA that will now bone him), so I don't expect that to go too well for him.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

I would think the Patriots would be angrier about the loss of draft picks, than the suspension. Brady missing four games will hurt, but the meat of their Eastern Division schedule takes place after the suspension is completed. Plus they play the Jaguars in week 3 so their record won't be any worse than 1-3 by time Brady gets back.

Amusingly enough, Brady's first game back (if the penalty is upheld) will be against Indy on Sunday night IN Indianapolis. Coincidence?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

What's interesting when you compare this to other leagues, you just don't see the same sort of punishment doled out for doing basically the same thing. A hockey player has an illegal curve on his stick? 2 minute penalty. And I can't really think of any major suspensions or fines for corked bats or pitchers doctoring baseballs in the MLB, suspensions of 9 or 10 games max which isn't that much when you look at the 162 game season. Brady got 1/4 of the season, which would be 40 games in MLB.

FWIW, bat corking, to me, is the closest analogy. Sammy Sosa got eight games and some players have gotten ten.

Because of Football's short season, it's hard to directly analogize number of games. An eight game suspension in Baseball would be equivalent to less than one full Football game. But a punishment would seem meaningless if they ban a player from the first three quarters of a game. Plus, Football is a more punitive sport anyway.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

If he were truly innocent he shouldn't have lied, but they have a past history.
they're lucky the NFL doesn't have the balls to go NCAA on them.

 

[Memory Alpha]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

I think the penalties given to the Pats should have been doubled. Eight games for Brady, no question, but of course they weren't going to do that. This is just another item in the list of things that this organization has done to give themselves an invisible, unfair edge. And now Kraft is the one who owes the apology, but of course fat chance of getting one. The ends justify the means, I suppose.

 

[Tom Servo]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

If he were truly innocent he shouldn't have lied, but they have a past history.
they're lucky the NFL doesn't have the balls to go NCAA on them.

Well seeing as how nothing in the Wells report proved he lied, or has been lying, please tell me where you are getting your information from?

I think the penalties given to the Pats should have been doubled. Eight games for Brady, no question, but of course they weren't going to do that. This is just another item in the list of things that this organization has done to give themselves an invisible, unfair edge. And now Kraft is the one who owes the apology, but of course fat chance of getting one. The ends justify the means, I suppose.

HAHAHAHA. Please, tell me all the unfair things that they have done that other organizations haven't done, or are not currently doing. Tell me, what is more of a benefit in a game, a ball that is slightly under in air pressure, or Mike Tomlin purposely tripping an opposing player running down the sideline?

You know why they win, why they have blown up the concept of league parity? It's because they are smarter then you, their players are better then yours, and their team is internally held to a higher standard then yours.

The absolute jealousy of the Patriots around the country is just hilarious. This whole scandal just proves it. If this was the Jaguars, no one would give a shit, because they can't win dick. Yet because it's Tom Brady, he should get 8 games for something THEY CAN'T EVEN PROVE HE DID.

 

[Memory Alpha]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

Tom, Mike Tomlin intentionally or unintentionally putting part of his foot into the field of play in some regular season game does not compare with this history of spying (which went way beyond what other teams did in the past), illegally substituting players in games, and deflating footballs to accommodate the QB.

If you actually read this report from an unbiased perspective, you can't deny that they did the wrong thing, because they fear they're not as good as the opposition. So, they skirted the rules.

 

[Timby]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

If he were truly innocent he shouldn't have lied, but they have a past history.
they're lucky the NFL doesn't have the balls to go NCAA on them.

Well seeing as how nothing in the Wells report proved he lied, or has been lying, please tell me where you are getting your information from?

I think the penalties given to the Pats should have been doubled. Eight games for Brady, no question, but of course they weren't going to do that. This is just another item in the list of things that this organization has done to give themselves an invisible, unfair edge. And now Kraft is the one who owes the apology, but of course fat chance of getting one. The ends justify the means, I suppose.

HAHAHAHA. Please, tell me all the unfair things that they have done that other organizations haven't done, or are not currently doing. Tell me, what is more of a benefit in a game, a ball that is slightly under in air pressure, or Mike Tomlin purposely tripping an opposing player running down the sideline?

You know why they win, why they have blown up the concept of league parity? It's because they are smarter then you, their players are better then yours, and their team is internally held to a higher standard then yours.

The absolute jealousy of the Patriots around the country is just hilarious. This whole scandal just proves it. If this was the Jaguars, no one would give a shit, because they can't win dick. Yet because it's Tom Brady, he should get 8 games for something THEY CAN'T EVEN PROVE HE DID.

This? This right here? This is why a lot of people can't stand a lot of Pats fans. The combination of both superiority and persecution complexes is astounding.

 

[Tom Servo]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

If he were truly innocent he shouldn't have lied, but they have a past history.
they're lucky the NFL doesn't have the balls to go NCAA on them.

Well seeing as how nothing in the Wells report proved he lied, or has been lying, please tell me where you are getting your information from?

I think the penalties given to the Pats should have been doubled. Eight games for Brady, no question, but of course they weren't going to do that. This is just another item in the list of things that this organization has done to give themselves an invisible, unfair edge. And now Kraft is the one who owes the apology, but of course fat chance of getting one. The ends justify the means, I suppose.

HAHAHAHA. Please, tell me all the unfair things that they have done that other organizations haven't done, or are not currently doing. Tell me, what is more of a benefit in a game, a ball that is slightly under in air pressure, or Mike Tomlin purposely tripping an opposing player running down the sideline?

You know why they win, why they have blown up the concept of league parity? It's because they are smarter then you, their players are better then yours, and their team is internally held to a higher standard then yours.

The absolute jealousy of the Patriots around the country is just hilarious. This whole scandal just proves it. If this was the Jaguars, no one would give a shit, because they can't win dick. Yet because it's Tom Brady, he should get 8 games for something THEY CAN'T EVEN PROVE HE DID.

This? This right here? This is why a lot of people can't stand a lot of Pats fans. The combination of both superiority and persecution complexes is astounding.

Tell me what I said in that statement that is wrong. They have not only the best coach in the league, one of the best staffs in the league, one of the best QBs in the league, and some of the best offensive players in the league. They have dominated a league where parity reigns. Thats not acting superior, those are facts, and that is more then I can say for some of the people who have been spouting crap for the last 4 months.

Excuse me Timby, but why the hell shouldn't we have a persecution complex? It seems that everyone eviscerated them before we had any facts on hand, and now that we have the leagues report, its full of holes, contradictions and errors. Yet the rest of the football world goes SEE SEE, you cheated, when they cannot even find ANY sort of proven evidence that they did. And even when their own report says that the organization and coach, did nothing wrong, the team loses a first, and fourth and a million dollars. HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? Seriously, I know you usually respond with snark, but come on, nowhere in that report are their FACTS that prove wrongdoing. There just aren't.

If this was the Bears, and you had to put up with this shit year in an year out wouldn't it start to piss you off too?

 

[Timby]

Re: The Assassination of Brady's Legacy By the Fat Coward Deflator McN

we have the leagues report, its full of holes, contradictions and errors.

Cite them.

Edit: And don't cite the Patriots' response to the Wells Report, which was so hilarious and wonderful as to say that McNally used the term "deflator" to refer to his weight loss and then went into equally hilarious detail as to how much time it takes to take a piss in a locker room which means that the team couldn't have done anything wrong.

Dude, own it. I agree that the penalties are arbitrary to a degree, but just own it. Like I said earlier, Tom Brady has made more money for the NFL than probably any player ever in the league's history; Roger Goodell of all people is not on a crusade to destroy him. I mean, a decade ago the NFL was investigating the Pats for using illegal radio frequencies to circumvent the 15-second play clock cutoff and were radioing the calls in until at least the snap, and Doug Flutie flat-out said it.

Y'all did and have done some semi-shady shit, stop pointing fingers and saying "BUT THIS OTHER GUY DID THIS!!!!!!!!!!

" and just own it.