Go big or go home is the saying, and the NFL went big with Tom Brady to protect the shield, and in the seven months since Deflategate became a national story, the league has looked even more foolish.
The league has done nothing but lie and manipulate, like leaking a false report that 11 of the 12 footballs were 2 PSI under-inflated, and never correcting that story. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reported a week after the AFC Championship game that 10 of the 12 footballs were closer to 11.5 PSI than the reported 10.5 that was leaked to the media.
That lie set in motion what was to become a national firestorm, with allegations of the New England Patriots once again being caught red handed, tarnishing yet another Super Bowl win for the NFL’s latest dynasty. Sports Illustrated legal expert Michael McCann, did a complete 180 after reading the appeal transcripts, among his analysis:
“I look at this testimony and I say for all the failing the NFL has, the bizarre process they use, at the end of the day where is the evidence Tom Brady participated in a ball-deflation scheme? I don’t see it. Then you’re left with, OK, was he cooperative? Well, Ted Wells found him sufficiently cooperative. You have Ted Wells saying he is. Why would that would even warrant a suspension if he isn’t as cooperative as he should have been? This doesn’t add up to me.”
On Wednesday, Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell are expected to appear in Federal Court in New York, and despite Judge Richard Berman urging a settlement, the simple fact is this: Tom Brady shouldn’t accept any suspension whatsoever because despite what the NFL says, Brady did nothing wrong.
You cannot prove someone is at fault based on assumptions, which the Wells Report clearly states on page 228:
“In sum, the data did not provide a basis for us to determine with absolute certainty whether there was or was not tampering as the analysis of such data ultimately is dependent upon assumptions and information that is not certain.”
The NFL and NFLPA already have rules and regulations in place, and ball tampering and non-cooperation are fines, and precedent in both cases, has already been set (Brett Favre and Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings). With Brady however, to make up for the Ray Rice fiasco, the NFL went above and beyond, spreading lies and painting a very one sided image of Tom Brady being some sort of ring leader to deflate footballs. The NFL has nothing on Brady, and in return, he shouldn’t accept any kind of settlement that lays blame at his doorstep.
This is about right and wrong, and nothing the NFL did in its investigation has been right and Tom Brady doesn’t deserve any of the criticism that he’s gotten over the course of the last seven months. He isn’t guilty, and shouldn’t accept any settlement at all, but rather take a page from the NFL playbook- go big, or go home, and take this all the way to a hearing before a federal judge.
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