Deflategate--the NFL's credibility is under scrutiny again

The curse of Ray Rice is already making an appearance, and the NFL has no one to blame but itself.  When baseball had a gambling scandal, they created the perception of integrity by appointing Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as commissioner (of course his main accomplishment was keeping African-Americans out of the sport for 30 years, but at least no one claimed that there were blacks playing in the major leagues).

Basketball faced a gambling threat when referee Tim Donaghy admitted to improprieties in order to make money from betting on games he worked, and claimed that other refs had either fixed games or engaged in point shaving.  Basketball dealt with the situation swiftly, although that is no solace to the Sacramento Kings whose loss in the 2002 Western Conference finals was allegedly orchestrated by the league.

Professional football has not suffered from any major allegations of on-field shenanigans.  The Wikipedia section on “American Football Scandals” (I would note that the entry on futbol (soccer) scandals is much longer) deals mostly with off-field events like the Vikings party-boat scandal and the exploits of “Pacman” Jones at strip clubs.  The most recent accusation of on-field impropriety was the “bountygate” scandal that resulted in Roger Goodell suspending Saints’ coach, defensive coordinator and some players.  However “bountygate” was not about the Saints gaining a competitive advantage, other than possibly the increased chance of winning if an opposing player was injured.

The one exception to the above is of course “Spygate,” the accusation that Bill Belichick of the Patriots secretly taped the Jets’s defensive coaching signals.  Subsequent allegations were made regarding previous games the Patriot’s played in, including Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. Roger Goodell investigated, fined Belichick and the Patriots, and then destroyed all the evidence. 

The Patriots are once again at the center of a scandal regarding an on-field edge, with the NFL reportedly finding that 11 of 12 game balls provided by the Patriots were inadequately inflated, which would provide an advantage to the quarterback and the receivers (and the defensive backs of the Colts when intercepting the ball).

The first thing to note is that the method by which the NFL manages game balls is completely insane.  Each team is responsible for providing the balls to be used by that teamin the game.  So tampering with a game ball would only provide an advantage for that team, and not for the opponent. Why wouldn’t you have a system where both teams played with the same balls?  Why wouldn’t you have a system where an indifferent third party controlled the balls until game time?

Roger Goodell makes $45 million per year.  If the NFL hired someone to be in control of the game balls for every regular season and post-season game, and paid them $500 a game, it would come to $133,500 per year, or 0.3% of Goodell’s salary.  That seems a small price to pay for the continued integrity of the biggest sport in America.

No official judgment has been made, but let’s assume that the early reports are true and the NFL confirms that someone with the Patriots knowingly supplied footballs that did not meet the NFL’s regulations on pressure.  Maybe some low-level staff person would have done this without instruction; maybe Bill Belichick personally let the air out of the footballs while taking a break from preparing his offensive scheme.  If true, what should the penalty be?

The only answer possible is that the Patriots have to forfeit the win over the Colts.  The alternative being suggested, that they lose a first round draft pick (imposed after Spygate), is wholly inadequate; first of all, as the AFC champion their draft slot is going to be rather low in the first round.  Secondly, ask Jerry Jones (or any owner) if he’d trade a first round pick for a trip to the Super Bowl, and he’d say “Hell, yeah!” faster than Chris Christie heading for a buffet table.  Penalties need to deter wrongdoing.

When a crime is committed to attain something, logic 101 says that the first penalty is to take that item away from whoever acquired it.  If you catch a thief robbing your home, you don’t send him to jail but let him keep your TV set. 

The fact that the Patriots won 45-7 does nothing to contradict this.  The Patriots didn’t know they’d win easily; otherwise they wouldn’t have (allegedly) deflated the balls. And football is a non-linear game; once the Pats were up a couple of touchdowns thanks to mushy footballs, then that put pressure on the Colts that wouldn’t have been there but for the deflating.  Once a team gets on a roll, it tends to stay on a roll (just ask the Packers).  Lastly, Alex Rodriguez doesn’t need steroids to be a great hitter, so if he is caught juicing he should be allowed to play?  Just because you don’t need to cheat does not absolve you if you do cheat.

Some people have pointed out that the Pats actually played better in the second half of the game, when the balls were properly inflated.  That just proves that the Patriots were both dishonest and stupid.  If they cheated then failed to cash in on their advantage, that’s just pathetic; but still cheating.

The NFL is facing a credibility problem thanks to its handling of the Ray Rice incident, where even the NFL’s internal investigation concluded that Roger Goodell lied to the owners when he said the league had contacted all law enforcement agencies in an attempt to obtain the in-elevator footage.  Add to that the suspicious “non-call” of pass interference in the Dallas/Detroit game, and the suspicious “non-catch” by Dez Bryant in the Dallas/Green Bay game, and you have a situation where the NFL appears to have orchestrated a Super Bowl consisting of the two most popular teams in the league, the Seahawks and the Patriots.

If not for the pass interference non-call, the Lions might have beaten the Cowboys, and the winner of that game might have beaten the Packers but for the “catch” rule.  The Patriots possibly won due to under-inflated balls.  We really should be having a Lions/Colts Super bowl this year.  But who’d want to watch that?

As an aside, the Broncos claim Peyton Manning was injured during the last game of the season and the playoff game, yet they never filed an injury report with the NFL, and the NFL has not fined them.  So either the NFL decided not to punish an admitted transgressor, or the Broncos are lying and Peyton was just playing like a 38 year old quarterback.

If the Patriots are found guilty of tampering with the footballs in the AFC championship game, then the Colts deserve to go to the Super Bowl.  Did I mention that Patriot’s owner Robert Kraft is a good friend and supporter of Roger Goodell?  Gee, I wonder what will happen.