Patriots Offseason
Once again, it’s a crazy NFL offseason for New England Patriots supporters. Whereas most teams are waiving players to open up cap space, pinpointing potential free agency targets, and resigning crucial team members, the Patriots instead are dealing with another media circus, specifically Tom Brady.
While teammate Rob Gronkowski, is having struggles to make ticket sales for his party boat, aka the “Gronk Cruise,” Brady faces much harsher offseason realities. After a year-long witch hunt by the NFL, Tom Brady and his team of lawyers have been brought back to court. After successfully fighting a  four game suspension, the quarterback again is combating suspension after the NFL appealed the original “Deflategate” ruling.
However, this time around things haven’t gone as smoothly for Brady and his team of lawyers. During the second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing, Circuit Judge Denny Chin was critical in regards to the evidence of ball tampering. Chin was quoted saying the evidence was “compelling, if not overwhelming,” and beyond that, that there was some evidence that suggested that Brady in fact “knew about it, consented it, and encouraged it.”
The court still appears to be far from making a ruling, but it still seems to believe the side of the player union’s arguments. Having said that, Brady has been under fire for destroying his cell phone. When commenting on the issues regarding Brady’s cell phone, Judge Barrington D. Parker made the following statements: “An adjudicator looking at these facts, it seems to me, might conclude that the cellphone had incriminating information on it and that, in the teeth of an investigation, it was deliberately destroyed,” and “(w)ith all due respect, Mr. Brady’s explanation of that made no sense whatsoever.”
Despite the harsh comments, Judge Parker seemed to be critical of Goodell for the severity of the punishment, calling Goodell the “enforcer,” rather than the “judge, juror, and executioner.” Parker also called the suspension a “draconian penalty,” asking, “(W)hat’s the advantage you get from an underinflated football?”
No decision has been made yet and it’s likely that the ruling will take a month or so. For the sake of the NFL, the league better hope a decision is made soon. The last thing the NFL needs is for this case to last into another season of play. It’s ridiculous enough that the NFL appealed the case in the first place. Regardless of whether or not anything suspect happened, the NFL chooses to put their resources and time into a matter of deflated footballs, rather than the systemic problem of domestic abuse. Similar to Brady though, players like Greg Hardy return after a few suspended games. The major difference is Greg Hardy beat a woman to a pulp, while Brady may have deflated a football.
How are these wrongs equivalent in any way whatsoever? The answer is they aren’t in the real world; their only equal in the NFL.
While Goodell and Brady await the verdict, let’s hope that the NFL reevaluates what issues of importance are. Until that day comes though, Patriots fans everywhere can enjoy the success of a class act, Tom Brady. Whether a football was deflated or not isn’t the issue at hand; the real issues are ignored.