Oh the Deflated Fumbles!
In King Lear, Edgar, son of Gloucester, had a mental breakdown and became Crazy Tom. Needless to say, I do not believe the recent misfortunes of Tom Brady will lead him to run around naked but it has created its share of gibberish from all sides. After 1000 kms of sports talk radio this week, I have come to the conclusion that this has become the worst fumble of the year.
How the Patriots Fumbled
They cheated and lied… again… and are still denying it. It is painful to listen to Robert Kraft preach innocence with arguments that resemble a seven year old tantrum. Send him to his room with no milk and cookies. Bill continues to be the Darth Vader of the NFL and Tom is Luke of he had chose the dark side. They will sort of win their appeal on legalese and conjectures but they are as guilty as OJ.
How the League Fumbled
I believe this one is a double whammy:
1. They should have come up with an outside the box type punishment. As the sanctions sit, the Patriots will get them reduced because their lawyers will figure out a way to argue it down. The can afford the fine and Wild Bill will rally the Patriots around his Us against Them mentality. Plus, the extra month of rest will only help the aging Brady as he moves forward.
2. Roger Goodell punished the team because they should have known about the deflated balls. Why has no one has yet to make a comparison to how he should have known about a certain video last year is beyond me? Whatever he punishes New England, he should also be punished. His involvement in the Ray Rice debacle is the same as the rest of the New England organization in Deflate Gate.
My solution
Besides being stupidly rich, if I held Goodell’s position, I would have taken a different approach.
1. The Patriots would lose a total of four in game challenges over the next season. (Maybe for all road division games.)
2. Teams playing the Patriots would be given permission to record and distribute Patriot’s practice. New England would have an open door policy to all the league for all events.
3. Bell Belichick would be required to answer double the number of questions for game day news conferences, both pre and post-game.
4. During games, New England would be forced to use the opposing team’s footballs for the next two seasons. The two teams would use the same balls but the other team could prepare them as they please.
5. New England ticket prices would be reduced by 25% for the upcoming season and the prices would be frozen for two years. If they appealed this decision, they would be taking money from their own fans.
6. New England would lose one roster spot for the first four games of the season. No player would have to be cut as they would be given an extra practice squad spot.
So that is how I would punish the evil empire. It would at least give the impression the league was thinking about the punishment.
