DeflateGate: Is it time?

By TERRY LYONS, DigitalSportsDesk

(This was previously posted to my general sports columns and contributions on Huffington Post and Digital Sports Desk):

Some roads are paved by an overnight construction crew with a slab of blacktop. Some roads are paved brick-by-brick, by skilled workers who toil for hours on end to be sure each piece of stone is laid perfectly in unison with the next, all cemented in a pavement that will last for generations to come. Today, there is a new road being paved from Park Avenue in New York to Foxboro, Massachusetts. It might be cheap asphalt or it might be everlasting cobblestone. Only one thing is for sure, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the foreman on the job.

Over the course of more than 100 days, the National Football League and the New England Patriots have been on far opposite ends of a legal tango trying to uncover the facts behind a relatively stupid aspect of league rules involving the proper amount of air in a game ball. While airing that controversy out, the NFL has cautiously detoured, carefully dictating the road that Brady will soon walk down.

This week the NFL, via a team of hired-gun lawyers and investigators, handed down a 243-page report, authored by an independent sleuth but powered by NFL league counsel Jeff Pash's checkbook. The Wells Report, camouflaged with legal mumbo jumbo, uncovered and delivered a "more probable than not" scenario to implicate two New England Patriots game-day employees for their role in tampering with game balls and deflating them to illegal levels of PSI (pounds per square inch) much to Brady's liking for an NFL playoff game contested on a cold, damp winter evening. The report also stated that Brady "was, at least, generally aware" of the incident. Although the Wells Report left "reasonable doubt" for a level of proof mandatory in a court of law, the investigation left little to the imagination in the all-important court of public opinion.

Tom Brady of the New England Patriots (Getty Images).

Why is this crazy incident and the Wells Report so important?

On one side of that document, the newfound Magna Carta for NFL integrity because of the fact the alleged perpetrators tampered with the GAME BALLS, is a model sports franchise, model owner and model quarterback with a (real) supermodel wife. The New England Patriots are not only the reigning Super Bowl champions for the NFL, the most powerful, profitable and influential sports league in word history, but they also represent the sport in nearly every fraction one can imagine.

On the other side of the document, the NFL is practically accusing its model citizens of cheating.

The team owner has been the foundation of that franchise, etched into the New England community for rescuing a football club that nearly moved down I95 to, god forbid, Hartford, Connecticut. But, more than that, Robert Kraft, along with a very small handful of other NFL team investors, is the face of NFL ownership with visions of man hugs dancing in our heads, even after contentious labor negotiating sessions when Kraft was portrayed as the savior of the NFL back when a labor stoppage threatened the 2011 season.

The team's head coach, Bill Belichick, has carved his own legacy in stone as he is certainly on the Mt. Rushmore of the NFL's greatest coaches ever, alongside Lombardi, Halas, Shula and Landry. Belichick out-smarts, out-prepares, or simply out-coaches his opponents on a scale unimaginable in the modern-day era of salary cap and free agency. His legacy, while secure, was tarnished severely back in 2007 when the NFL levied a $500,000 fine for an unfair videotaping incident known to all as "SpyGate." But, he surely endures.

The team's quarterback and leader, Brady, is amongst the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. Period.

Off the field, Brady fast became the poster boy for what the NFL likes to portray as its typical All-Pro player. Brady's good looks, his storybook romances and media-friendly demeanor are fed to sports fans on a weekly basis every autumn. Most importantly, on the field of play, Brady has backed it up with his winning ways, complete with IV Super Bowl Wins and III Super Bowl MVPs. With it all, Brady has enjoyed endorsements, fame, glory, good fortune and extremely positive public relations throughout his career.

As the Patriots camp reacted to the Wells Report, the model team owner put out his statement, noting, "to say we are disappointed in its findings, which do not include any incontrovertible or hard evidence of deliberate deflation of footballs at the AFC Championship game, would be a gross understatement." Then both Brady's agent and his father took similar positions to put up a smoke screen of plausible deniability, all using Nixonian-like phraseology, while failing to come out and plainly state -- "We didn't do it."

As fate would have it, Brady was booked at a Salem State University speaking series, where he had the nerve to helicopter in to sit alongside media maven Jim Gray for a show right out of Inside the Actor's Studio. On that set, Brady smugly glossed over the news of the day, claiming he hadn't had time to fully digest and read the account that will undoubtedly be attached to his lifelong resume, nevermind (potentially) negatively impact the 2015 New England Patriots season, depending on yet-to-be prescribed NFL discipline via fine or suspension.

Brady's continuous, ill-advised steps, from his initial press conference just days after the Deflategate controversy broke to his disingenuous remarks told at Salem State, place Brady in a precarious position, both in terms of fighting the NFL on the discipline and in the all-important court of public opinion.

While his actions can not be properly compared to the utter depths of sports malpractice, orchestrated somewhat recently by Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds or Lance Armstrong for cheating their sports and fellow competitors by constant denial of utilizing performance enhancing chemistry, the fall-out on Brady might be as impactful were it not for the mountain of goodwill he had previously built up.

Says sports media guru and former White House Director of Communications Kevin Sullivan: "While it's still unclear what exactly Brady's role was, he has too much personal goodwill in the bank and too much success on the field for this to seriously damage him. Deflategate will be part of his legacy, but more likely as a footnote than a headline."

With that in mind, it might be time for Brady, Belichick, Kraft and the New England Patriots to 'fess up. Even if they have ballboys Jim McNally and John Jastremski text it to us.

NFL 2012: What Keeps Me Awake at Night

By TERRY LYONS

Editor-in-Chief, DigitalSportsDesk.com

BOSTON - This is the most wonderful time of year. The NFL is in full swing with great match-ups like this Sunday’s New England Patriots versus Baltimore Ravens game and 13 other contests that dominate autumn Sundays just a day after hundreds of college football rivals battle crisp Saturdays all across the nation. Yet, as football couch potatoes watch our favorite games, we are, unfortunately, forced to watch dozens of political ads purchased with millions in campaign funds wielded by those who spends hundreds of millions to obtain a job that pays $400,000 a year and they have the brass to promise they can balance the budget.

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Over the years, a few of those TV spots have posed interesting questions about 3:00 AM phone calls to the White House and one, simply states, “What keeps me up at night?”

Well, as one who regularly chronicles the National Football League, there are a lot of things that keep me up at night, especially in the early weeks of the NFL season of 2012.

            So, what keeps me awake at night?

            THE REFS: Most obviously and importantly, the ongoing lockout of the NFL’s regular officiating staff is the most troublesome issue of the season. While Commissioner Roger Goodell rightly backed his cadre of replacement refs and even patted his organization on the back for their assumed ability to promptly sign and train the substitute staff, the truth of the matter is that the sub refs are just that; “sub-par, “ “sub-standard” and “sub-ject” to ridicule and manipulation by the shark tank mentality that is the NFL’s coaches, scouts, players, fans and media machine.

            After a preseason with plenty of leeway and barely a few real or imagined issues, then an opening weekend which went surprisingly well for the officials and the league, the tides turned when football operations scoured the scouting tapes which was coupled with the natural rise in intensity.  Like the Sox falling in Septembers past, the young NFL regular season morphed into a debacle of epic proportions this past Monday night when the officiating crew for the Denver Broncos versus Atlanta Falcons nationally television game turned  a single game into an embarrassing, unwatchable variation of what used to be referred to as professional football.

            You know you’re in big trouble when NFL lifers like Jon Gruden trashed the on-field product as though it was New Coca-Cola and former NFL referee and on-screen/third screen social media guru Mike Pereira threw his former employer under the “Jerome Bettis” with an online mea culpa to the tune of.  “There is no way to keep with your tweets. Just know I feel your frustration. This is not the NFL I worked for. Don't care whose fault it is.”

            What else keeps me up at night?

            BOUNTY-GATE: It is the story that won’t quit. Like steroids in baseball or the Spygate issue which haunted Coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots in 2007 and for seasons upon seasons, the NFL’s suspension of New Orleans saints Coach Sean Payton and his merry band of mayhem-makers who allegedly pooled huge pots of cash as reward money for leveling knock-out hits against opponents.

            Prior to the first week of football, an independent committee ruled that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell did not have jurisdiction to suspend players Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Scott Fujita, and Anthony Hargrove, mainly focusing on a lack of concrete evidence in the case. While the players were immediately reinstated, the “quicker picker-upper” scandal remains in the public eye since rumors swirled in 2010 and the NFL acted in March, 2012. What is the combined after-effect for the NFL, its teams and players through the whole fiasco? Zero.

            What else keeps me awake at night?

            WES WELKER: The over-reaction to the fact that wide receiver Wes Welker has under-performed for the Patriots in the first two weeks of the 2012 regular season is as bad as the speculation that the artist formerly known as Ochocinco had a bad summer.

            The truth of the matter for Welker, QB Tom Brady and the Patriots is that there are 17 weeks to the NFL season and the increased depth of New England’s wide-outs is a massive check in the plus column, as opposed to the negative vibes coming from the fact Welker has no touchdown catches on 109 yards and eight receptions in two weeks of action. The Patriots’ acquisition of Brandon Lloyd was made to reduce the wear and tear thrust upon Welker over a long, 17+ game season.  Welker’s 13.6 yards per catch still leads the team.

What the League Wants ...

There is a lot of sports talk about the result of the New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens Monday Night Football game on Dec. 3, 2007. Most of it from sports talk tv and radio. Most of it nonsense.

One thing that I would like to address is the very common and totally ridiculous statement that sportscasters and fans often make:

"Well, that is what the league wants."

Ridiculous statement made by people who otherwise make a living with intelligent commentary on the sports world.

Let me play it out to be sure I make my point properly.

###


The New England Patriots are now 12-0 and are playing some of the greatest football in the league's history. The team is playing games against teams that all operate on their own and with highly competitive owners, coaches and PLAYERS.

Now, there are some questionable calls made in the NE vs Baltimore game.

So, what do we hear on the airwaves?

"Well, the league 'wants' the Patriots to go undefeated. (or) The league wants New England to remain undefeated so the NFL Network will have a big game when New England fces the NY Giants." (on Dec. 29th).

So, okay. Here we go... (stay with me...)

### (Screen play style...)

Picture the NFL executives all gathered around Commissioner Roger Goodell's office and Roger starts to think.. and the picture fades ... dissolves...

(The calendar on Goodell's desk is August 15, 2007)

Goodell: "Okay staff. Now, here is my idea. The NBA, MLB and NASCAR are getting too much attention these days. I want something big. Got it? We will orchestrate this whole great thing, right here from my office.

We'll have the New England Patriots go undefeated this year. Okay?

Now, we have to keep this a secret.

We can't let all the teams and players or the TV networks or the media find out about this, okay?

Otherwise, it will never work.

Now, we have about two weeks to plan this, so we better get going.

We can't allow anyone on the Patriots to get a serious injury. Otherwise, it will make it harder.

We have to get all the teams to agree to lose to them, even though their world class athletes are ultra-competitive and they train all their lives, all year long and do everything they can to win games for a living. Some of them might sell their souls to the devil or hurt their mothers/fathers just to win a game. It's in their blood, their spirit, their minds. They just hate to lose, but we'll figure out a way to get around that fact.

And, the opposing coaches, we'll get them to agree to lose too, even though they might lose their jobs over it. Some will never get a job in the NFL again, but, they'll agree.

Now, how are we going to do this?

The refs!!

We control the refs, right?

We'll get them to ref the games as best as they can. We'll televise every game and show each call at every angle. We'll even allow instant replay to be used to overturn calls, but the refs will be the way we can manipulate the games, right?

The refs will orchestrate every game, just the way Arthur Fiedler used to conduct the Boston Pops.

That will do it.

Now, when the Patriots get to 11-0 - and they'll do that, RIGHT GUYS? We'll pick one week - in the game against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night in December - to get everyone wondering.

We'll have this great game -- hmmm -- what should the score be?

Goodell flunky: (Shouting from office chair) - "27-24!

Goodell: "Okay, 27-24. That's perfect."

Then, after everyone is talking about the league conspiracy theory, we'll orchestrate the next few weeks, so the Patriots will beat a great team like the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Why - on earth - did we allow the NFL schedule to be so damn hard on the Patriots this year, when we decided to do this whole thing?

The next time we want the "League" to get its way, let's plan a few years out, huh??

Goodell flunky: "Now, Commissioner, what happens when people start to talk about this whole thing? The con, con, con....

Goodell: "Conspiracy?"

Goodell flunky: "Ye, Ye, Yes. The conspiracy."

Goodell: "Well, let me think. How, about, we blame it on the NBA?"

Everyone: "Yeah.."

Goodell: "Right, the NBA. Hell, Pacman nearly killed a guy, paralyzed him for life and we blamed that on them."

We can talk about how the NBA orchestrates this atuff. The league wanted 'the big markets' in the finals...

(We won't say anything about the fact that teams like San Antonio, Utah have been in the finals a lot..)

We can bring up the Portland Trail Blazers vs Lakers game seven in 2000, when the Lakers ran-off about 15-straight points. Or that 2002 series with the Kings against the Lakers. We all know that the NBA did the same exact thing that we're doing now, when Stern gathered his staff together and planned the whole thing, right?"

Goodell: "Righht? RIGHHT???"

Staff: "Yes, Roger."

THE PICTURE FADES back to REALITY.

GOT it REALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C'mon people. C'mon sportscasters, ESPN people.

C'mon FANS????

Give me a damn break and wake the hell up.

Think about it. You are smarter than that, right?

Please? Say right...

The NFL, the NBA, any league anywhere - CAN NOT... repeat ...CAN NOT do such a thing.

It is RIDICULOUS. It is totally IMPOSSIBLE.

Think about the ridiculous statement?

Do you think the 'conspiracy' would stay a 'secret?"

And, as has been noted in the past, when people say stupid things like this out loud in a press conference question or on TV..

It would be AGAINST the LAW and everyone, - repeat - the executives, coaches, players - everyone who took part - - would go to JAIL. (For a very long time..)

It would NEVER, EVER, EVER be possible....

So, please.. please.. do not fall into the trap, the thought which is not thought out.

Media are the key, as they are stupid enough to actually put up a stupid comment from a fan from the "internet chat box' or "email letter" and then state - on the air - "Well, I had to read it.."

Or, they say: "People are saying.."

Yeah, right.. people are saying it.

Stupid people.