Bill Belichick – Colin McMahon

The Atlanta Falcons were found guilty of pumping in crowd noise for two years. Punishment: $350,000 fine, loss of a fifth round draft pick.

The Cleveland Browns were found guilty of illegal texting during the game. Punishment: $250,000 fine and a four game suspension for their General Manager.

The New York Jets were found guilty of openly, illegally tampering with then Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis. Punishment: $100,000 fine.

Everyone remember Ray Rice's initial punishment? Well, in Goodell's defense, there was no report using such strong language as "probably" for him to go on. — Everyone remember Ray Rice’s initial punishment? Well, in Goodell’s defense, there was no report using such strong language as “probably” for him to go on.

The independent Wells Report, set in place by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (yes, this Roger Goodell), finds that New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady was probably “at least generally aware” of violating the rules with the now infamous Deflategate scandal. The same report also found that “said league investigators found no evidence that coach Bill Belichick and team management knew of the practice.”

Punishment: $1,000,000 fine. Loss of 1st and 4th round draft picks. Tom Brady suspended for four games without pay.

Seems fair.

Oh wait, sorry – ha I’m always mixing up my words. As a writer, that can be pretty annoying. Not fair… uhm, what’s the word I’m looking for here – it will come to me – oh here we go: f*cking ridiculous. That’s two words, no wonder I was confused. I apologize.

Months ago, Patriots' owner Robert Kraft demanded an apology from Roger Goodell for wasting money and resourcing in a baseless attempt to sully Brady and the Patriots. I guess this was the response. — Months ago, Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft demanded an apology from Roger Goodell for wasting money and resources in a baseless attempt to sully Brady and the Patriots. I guess this was the response.

Before I get into this, let the record show: it’s just a sport. There are so many worse things going on, well… within that particular organization, that to call this the NFL’s greatest mistake or mistreatment in the past year would be a large overstatement. You can do plenty worse things than mistreat a franchise, just ask the Baltimore Ravens.

Let the record also show that I am a Patriots’ fan, and as a Patriots’ fan let me say: the Patriots were found rightfully guilty in Spygate and signing a contract extension with now-murderer Aaron Hernandez gave me quite a bit of disgust for my home team (I used to cheer for that psychopath). So I am not a blind “Patriots can do no wrong” kind of guy.

I stand by my f*cking ridiculous statement.

The bizarre saga of Deflategate has gone from “what?” to “really?” to “come on.” over the past few months. For the record, I believe the last time the NFL ordered an independent investigation into a matter, it was the Ray Rice case. The findings: Roger Goodell likely had no knowledge of the elevator videotape prior to its public release. Show of hands: how many people out there believe those findings?

Okay, so a private investigation was launched into potentially criminal concealing of evidence… and whether or not balls were properly inflated during a 45-7 AFC Championship beating. Right away, it seems odd to have the same reaction to such wildly different scenarios. But surely, there must be a precedent for this? This ball tampering must be a serious, serious charge with strong punishments? Well, turns out this has happened before with the San Diego Chargers. Their punishment: a $20,000 fine. Wow, that seems irregular.

So clearly the issue is not the ball tampering, but a further charge:

“With respect to your particular involvement, the report established that there is substantial and credible evidence to conclude you were at least generally aware of the actions of the Patriots’ employees involved in the deflation of the footballs and that it was unlikely that their actions were done without your knowledge,” Vincent wrote. “Moreover, the report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.”

Ah, so it is because Brady lied. Well, if it is proved with such strong language in the report like “maybe” and “probably” and “at least generally” and “more likely than not,” I mean, that just sounds so definitive, right? Forget legal language, if you used those phrases in a college essay, you would get at best a “C” and a “use a stronger voice” comment from the professor. Brady’s crucifying lack of cooperation was his refusal to turn over his personal phone and email.

ST. LOUIS, MO - DECEMBER 22: Referee John Parry #132 holds a meeting with other officials during a game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Edward Jones Dome on December 22, 2013 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Rams beat the Buccaneers 23-13. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) — I understand the outrage but lets stop pretending the Patriots are the only team to push the rules. The referees throw flags on every team.

Because only the most paranoid and guilty celebrities (with a supermodel wife) would refuse to turn over potentially personally devastating material to such an airtight organization like the NFL. They have not once ever leaked any material from any sort of investigation before… not once. And that, boys and girls, is how one uses sarcasm.

With increasing scrutiny turning on the Wells Report, and a potentially huge new hole surfacing earlier today, one wonders if the NFL and its elite team of 32 rich white guy owners have gone too far in their witch hunt of the New England Patriots. Many believe that Tom Brady will launch a lawsuit against the league and others (myself included) hope that owner Robert Kraft follows suit.

A referee was accused, convicted, and fired for stealing and replacing balls during the AFC championship game. Funny how that got left out of the report.

And as for punishing the Patriots, the team cleared by the Wells Report… you got me on that one. Great to see that Goodell is not above letting such petty things as facts stand in the way of punishing the Patriots… such a controversial move, to overly punish the team that most of the nation is jealous of/hates anyway.

This is discrimination, clear and simple. As a Patriots’ fan I can only say: sue the bastards, Tom. Beat ’em in court like you beat them on the field.

The New England Patriots are worse than Hitler. That is, if you believe the overwhelming negativity directed at the Patriots within the past week. The reasoning behind this: after last Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Colts, reports surfaced of an investigation against the Patriots with regards to ball inflation. This basically means that the Patriots are being ACCUSED of cheating. Not a game-determining cheat mind you, nothing as serious as that, but still – cheating is cheating and the integrity (scoff, excuse me) of the NFL sport must be protected. I don’t mean to undermine what the Patriots MIGHT have done. Cheating is cheating and, IF found guilty – they should face appropriate consequences. “Deflategate” as it has come to be called, has called back into question much more serious issues of integrity, however, in my mind at least. The integrity of major sports journalism is under question… and it might be doing worse than the Patriots.

Even with the ball deflated, players (Colts and Patriots) agree that it had little-to-no impact on the game.

This article will focus primarily on ESPN and Sports Illustrated, two of the larger and more trusted sources of sports journalism in America – and specifically their handling of the DEVELOPING Deflategate situation.

The Patriots are not liked around the nation. One does not have to look far to find evidence of this. Part of the hatred has foundation. In 2007, the New England Patriots were found guilty in Spygate, essentially cheating by recording more signals than they were supposed to from the other team. Were they the only culprit of this: probably not, but still – cheating is cheating and I, as a New England Patriots fan, found the punishment fair. No one is above the rules.

The New England Patriots cheated 8 years ago. This does not make all current and future allegations against them immediately true.

Part of the hatred comes from something else though: the Patriots are a good football team. No, that’s an understatement. They are a great football team. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady might be the best coach-quarterback combo in the history of the game. I don’t say that just as a fan, there are numbers to support this.

Okay, cool – the Pats rock, how does this matter? Well, sports journalism is made up partly of former players: people who have played largely within the past ten years… also known as: a lot of people the Patriots beat. If you think this does not matter, if you think that athletes and former athletes do not have huge egos – you are fooling yourself. So right away, the POTENTIAL exists for bias. I am not going to accuse anyone of anything without evidence…

Want some evidence?

Let’s talk about Jerome Bettis, an excellent former player who now does analysis for ESPN. I have zero issue on Bettis reporting facts. Here is a link to his video discussing the Ray Rice incident, which occurred at the beginning of the season. Wow, okay – he is very supportive. Granted, all the facts were not known at that time but he appears to be approaching the situation with an open mind. Cool…

Here he is on the Deflategate INVESTIGATION:

Holy f*ck. What happened to the calm, thoughtful, contemplative Bettis that we saw earlier? Patriots are known felons? Sir, even by the loftiest of standards: the Patriots have never broken the law. Rules, yes – but not law. These are both videos taken from (at the time) ongoing investigations. One is about balls being properly inflated, one is about a woman being beaten unconscious. Excuse me for saying but: your passion appears misplaced.

Now let’s talk about Michael Rosenberg, a New York journalist who writes for Sports Illustrated. Rosenberg has a past of putting things in perspective. He fairly called out and condemned the handling of the Adrian Peterson situation from earlier in the year. Rosenberg has struck me as an intelligent and thoughtful journalist, but one of his articles goes much too far. I would bother to tear apart the piece he wrote on the Patriots after INITIAL REPORTS of Deflategate surfaced, but someone else beat me to it. Journalism is not about reporting thoughts, or rumors, or making wild accusations based on what you read on the Internet. That’s what blogging is for. Journalism is about reporting the facts. Judgement is left to others. There is not one fact in Rosenberg’s list of wild accusations against New England, and yet this was posted on a very reputable sports site.

The rush to judgement has caused many Patriots' fans to tune out the allegations, or make fun of them completely. — The rush to judgement has caused many Patriots’ fans to tune out the allegations, or make fun of them completely.

Okay, back to ESPN. Over the past week, I have seen headlines like “Don’t Believe Brady” (later changed to “Hard to Believe Brady”). Again this gives the impression that the Patriots have already been found guilty. The have not. In fact, if you’re wondering why I haven’t gone more into the facts of the case, it is because they keep changing. I will get to that in a sec, but I wanted to draw attention to one more fun article from ESPN first.

This one.

Let me be beyond clear: truth is not an opinion. It never has, nor never will be influenced by the common consensus. So why does this article exist? Maybe to show that around the world, people are not taking the Patriots at their word? Hard to believe that ESPN readers wouldn’t trust them after reading headlines like those I just mentioned.

The point is that the coverage has been horrible. Want the facts of the case? Colts defensive player D’Qwell Jackson DEFINITIVELY started the investigation into the possibility of deflated balls… until he didn’t. Bill Belichick was DEFINITELY the mastermind behind the cheating… until it was (and currently is) DEFINITELY Tom Brady. With all this disbelief going around – against the Patriots, against the NFL, it seems that no one is levying it against the people who are reporting the news. What is going on? How do we even know there was ever a scandal and not some accident?

During his press conference, Tom Brady denied all involvement in the SUPPOSED scandal. He was then asked several times if he was sorry. HE JUST SAID HE DIDN'T DO IT! — During his press conference, Tom Brady denied all involvement in the SUPPOSED scandal. He was then asked several times if he was sorry. HE JUST SAID HE DIDN’T DO IT!

Let’s say (and this is just a scenario based on known facts): 36 balls were inflated for the game, 11 of them came out below the guidelines. Tom Brady, being the hometown quarterback gets first pick. Brady, who has already stated his liking of under-inflated balls, chooses those he feels least inflated (not knowing that it is below league regulation). Then Andrew Luck chooses, then the remaining 12 go to special teams. Saying this happens is admitting that NFL officials made a mistake (hard to believe I know, especially in this playoff season). But it is just that: a mistake. Doesn’t sound nearly as sexy as a cheating scandal, but this may be the truth.

“Things are going to be fine — this isn’t ISIS, no one’s dying.” Tom Brady said this and it is a fair point. This isn't even Baltimore or Minnesota: where actual crimes happened. — “Things are going to be fine — this isn’t ISIS, no one’s dying.”
Tom Brady said this and it is a fair point. This isn’t even Baltimore or Minnesota: where actual crimes happened.

The truth that does not appear to matter since the Patriots were found guilty by the media on day one. Come on guys, we get that you don’t like us. I don’t like the Yankees, the (New York) Giants, or either of the Manning brothers – but I would never call any of them cheaters without all the facts.

For anyone wondering: the NFL is currently finding a hard time linking the deflated balls to any purposeful wrongdoing. Doesn’t matter, ESPN and Sports Illustrated have already ensured that the Patriots reputation has suffered. Guilty until proven innocent… and if innocent then conspiracy. Hey journalists, I know you might take offense from a Patriots-fan and internet blogger telling you this… but do your jobs.

The appropriate punishment, as long ago determined by the NFL, is a $25,000 fine by the way… in case anyone was wondering. Rules should not ever be broken… but you can kill someone or you can go 5 miles over the speed limit. This is the latter.