Guerry Clegg: Punishment doesn't fit crime in Patriots' case
So now we know where the NFL stands on cheating that ultimately had no effect on the outcome of a game.
It's doubly worse than a player knocking his fiancee out cold, then dragging her out of an elevator.
Unless, that is, a video pops up showing there's indisputable evidence of the attack leading to a public outcry and threats of boycotts and sponsors jumping ship. Then domestic violence is a bad, bad, bad thing.
What the NFL's four-game suspension of Tom Brady for ordering New England Patriots equipment managers to deflate footballs really about isn't cheating. It's about the public perception of the NFL and whether it would coddle one of its top stars, especially in light of the past 15 months of player and team misbehavior.
Of course, players and coaches have been misbehaving going back to days of leather helmets. But it was 15 months ago when a New Jersey hotel security officer called police to report that Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice had knocked his fiancee Janay Palmer (now Mrs. Ray Rice) out cold on an elevator.
Since then, the NFL has been hit with one problem after another, from the shameful -- more domestic violence, child abuse -- to the embarrassing -- texting between Cleveland Browns officials and coaches during a game, artificial crowd noise being piped in during an Atlanta Falcons game.
The Brady football-deflating scandal arose after the Patriots deflated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 in the AFC Championship Game in January. Four months have passed and much has happened since. The Patriots won the Super Bowl. Tom Brady has surfaced in all over the place -- cliff-jumping in Costa Rica, the Kentucky Derby, the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao. Everywhere but the White House.
Ted Wells, a prominent attorney, led the NFL's investigation and determined that it was "more probable than not" that Brady ordered the footballs deflated to his liking. So the NFL zapped Brady with the four-game suspension and the Patriots with a $1 million fine and loss of a first-round draft choice. Never mind that it's more probably than not that the Patriots would have beaten the Colts by five touchdowns even if they had been playing with soccer balls.
Millions of Patriots fans -- outnumbered only by Brady apologists in the media -- believe the penalty was too harsh. Jets fans -- and there are dozens of them -- want to see Brady banned from the NFL for life. Seattle Seahawks fans think the fairest solution would be to force the Patriots back on the field to replay the final minute of the Super Bowl.
This probably chills the relationship between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
I think the fine and the loss of draft choice are appropriate. What does suspending Brady accomplish?
The fans will pay full
value for tickets to watch Jimmy Garoppolo. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys get to play the Patriots with Garoppolo while their NFC East rivals Washington Redskins, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles have to face Brady.
So in the spirit of trying to prevent a team from gaining an unfair advantage, the Cowboys have just been given a substantial competitive edge. Likewise for the Buffalo Bills, who now have to face Brady only once whereas the Jets and Miami Dolphins have to face him twice.
Did Brady cheat? Well, duh.
Should he be punished? Well, sure. Fine him the equivalent of his postseason income and two games pay. Make him perform community service. Make him conduct free youth clinics.
Then, let a little air out of the NFL's ego and get rid of the stupid rule about the air pressure in the footballs. If softening the footballs makes them easier to throw and catch and harder to fumble, doesn't that make the game more entertaining? If the rule is eliminated, then both teams can supply footballs to their liking.
I hate cheating. But for me. this just doesn't move the needle too much on the cheatometer.
Dangerous or risky performance enhancing products? Get rid of them. I personally knew one football player (a former Falcon) who lost his job because he wouldn't risk his future health by taking steroids.
Academic fraud in college sports? That bothers me. The infamous Jan Kemp scandal set Georgia football back 10 years. Served them right.
Cheating in kids sports disturbs me. Systemic cheating by paying college players warrants heavy penalties.
Simply getting caught doing what dozens upon dozens of former quarterbacks say is fairly common just doesn't seem to justify a four-game suspension.
But at least the NFL can feel good about preserving "the integrity of the game." Yeah.
-- Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com
This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 11:13 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Punishment doesn't fit crime in Patriots' case ."