Tag Archives: Tom Brady

Deflategate Winners and Losers

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The roar you hear this afternoon is millions of New Englander’s roaring, “Wicked awesome. Tom kicked Goodell’s butt!”

Yes, Judge Richard Berman ruled in Tom Brady’s favor today, lifting the Goodell imposed four game suspension in the infamous Deflategate case. The judge correctly ruled that that the NFL doesn’t have penalties for not reporting misconduct and in reality, that’s all the NFL had on Tom.

So who are the winners and losers here? Well clearly everyone in New England will believe that Brady has been vindicated. Lets be clear. Having charges thrown out doesn’t mean that Tom acted in an ethical manner. Believing that he didn’t know that balls were underinflated (I’m pretty sure he asked to have the balls this way) is akin to believing in the Easter Bunny. Remember, Brady’s and the Patriots success has more to do with better preparation than better talent. It’s why other teams hate them. They are ALWAYS better prepared even if that means pushing the limits of the rules. So Tom will get to chase another championship and some records but he is NOT innocent.

Certainly NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is a loser here. After all he stood firm against one of the league’s marquee players and teams. Additionally, this is one of a series of missteps in the disciplinary arena (Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson) sustained by the Commissioner in recent times. Is he the loser?

I don’t think so!!! Lets face it while Goodell will publicly state that his job is to uphold the integrity of the game, his job really is to get as much money in to the pockets of the 32 lucky monopolists who get to own teams as is legally possible.

It seems to me like Goodell has done exactly that. Can any of you remember a day during this OFFSEASON when the NFL hasn’t been in the news? I can’t! The Commissioner has simply orchestrated a scandal that lasted from a few days before the end of one season until a week before the start of the next. Who needs advertising? Free press is always better. It amazes me how many days that the NFL is the lead story on SportsCenter, in July!

Any thoughts on what the ratings might be for NFL kick off next Thursday? Is it a coincidence that the Patriots will be hosting the Steelers in that game? I wouldn’t be surprised if the game drew Super Bowl like ratings.

Driving the popularity of the NFL is the job of Roger Goodell, not the integrity of the game. It’s why he gets paid $40 million per year. Sadly no one thinks integrity is worth that much. I may be wrong about this but those of you that doubt me should look to see what he gets paid for this year’s work.

So who are the losers here? Well certainly the “integrity” of the game is a loser. If I were a gambler, I might think twice about that parlay bet next Sunday. After all, if the balls are tampered with who knows what else is tampered with?

Oh, I almost forgot the real losers here. Maybe it’s because they have become losers almost by definition. It’s the New York Jets and their fans whom were convinced that even if justice would never be delivered on the field that maybe it would be delivered in the court of law. WRONG. The George Washington Bridge is closed to pedestrians today for obvious reasons…….

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Feeling a bit of Deja Vu or Oops I did it Again

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As I watched the amazing finish to last nights Super Bowl, I had a flashback to a night just over nine years ago.

I spent most of the time leading up to the game conflicted. As a Jet fan living in Boston, I want to hate the Patriots but find myself loving the fact that although you may hate them, its likely because they are simply smarter than the other 29 NFL teams.

Lets face it the Pats just won their 4th Super Bowl in 14 years. During that time that have had one, count ’em one Hall of Fame player. If you think of the rosters of teams like the 70’s Steelers, 80’s 49ers, or 90’s Cowboys, they were loaded with great players. The Pats? Just Tom Brady and some guy named Bellichek.

My other conflict is that I really like the Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. Even though he dissed the Jets big time back in the mid-90’s, who could blame him for leaving that house of hell. He then went to coach my favorite college team, USC where he was minutes from winning three consecutive national championships. This is where the Deja Vu comes in.

The match up at the 2006 Rose Bowl was Number 1 USC  what Matt Leinhart and Reggie Bush vs. Number 2 Texas with Vince Young. Additionally, USC and Texas entered the game with winning streaks of 34 and 19 games respectively. I was taken by a certain bank along with a bunch of other finance geeks to Pasadena for the game. A beautiful day and a game that lived up to the immense hype.

The game was an offensive battle with a close game morphing to a USC lead of 38-26 with 6:42 to go in the game. Vince Young then led the Texas Longhorns on a touchdown drive to cut the USC lead to 5. On the ensuing drive USC drove to midfield where they faced a fourth down and two situation with just over two minutes left. Carroll could have chosen to punt, he could have chosen to hand the ball off to Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, or he could have had last years Heisman Trophy winner throw a pass.

So what did Carroll choose to to with immortality on the line? Leinhart hands off to the immortal Lendale White, remember him? Unless you are a member of his immediate family, likely not. White rushes for one yard and Texas gets the possession with plenty of time to drive down the field.

Vince White of course runs in for the winning touchdown with 0:19 remaining. Final score Texas 41- USC 38. Drive home safely.

I was crushed. Of course, the entire state of Tennessee should have been more upset as Carroll’s mistake only made the intellectually challenged Young look better and the Titans drafted him. That was a mistake.

So in 2006, Pete Carroll looked at the biggest situation in the biggest game of his career, looked at his stud running back and said, “Nah, let me roll the dice”.

One could argue that Pete Carroll is two incredibly poor decisions away from arguably being the greatest coach in football history.

Last night, I sat on the couch and said to my wife, I feel like Ive been here before. It was just 40 degrees warmer.