According to the old saw, there are three statements you should never believe: “The check is in the mail,” “I’ll respect you in the morning,” and “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” I think we can now add to that list anything uttered by someone associated with the New England Patriots.
When it was announced there would be an inquiry into the events surrounding “deflategate,” Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft vowed that the New England Patriots would “fully cooperate” with the NFL. So, when investigator Ted Wells wanted to have a follow up interview with locker room attendant James McNally, they were blocked by Patriots’ attorneys. The attorneys, in the Patriots’ jeremiad against the Wells report, explained that they thought McNally had been through enough and wanted to spare him more stress. Coming up with an excuse for not cooperating is not cooperating.
As an additional example of their cooperation, Tom Brady refused to turn over his cell phone so his texts could be examined. Actually, it is worse than that—investigator Ted Wells later said that he had asked Brady to turn over not the phone, but just a transcript of any related texts and he would accept Brady’s word that no other relevant material was on the phone. Even THAT was too much for The Golden Boy, who stonewalled the investigation. There is an evidentiary principle that can be applied here; when a party in control of evidence refuses to make it available, you can assume the worst. The ONLY REASON for Brady not to turn over his text records is the existence of the “smoking gun” that the Patriots have been denying the existence of since this began.
Brady says the reason he won't turn over the phone is to preserve the right to privacy for future players. Right. You have evidence on your phone that exonerates you, but you can't show it to us because it's private. So we just have to take your word for it. Does Tom Brady have that little respect for our intelligence? If he has evidence, then he can waive his right to privacy. The Patriots constantly talk about the lack of "conclusive" evidence in the Wells report, but they don't seem to be producing much conclusive evidence themselves.
Robert Kraft assured America that the Patriots were completely blameless and he would demand an apology when the report was released and vindicated them. Another statement, another lie. The Report found Brady and the Patriots guilty (or as Gary Trudeau once said about Richard Nixon, “That’s guilty, guilty, guilty”). Don’t get mislead by the lawyer-speak of “more probable than not” which is just how lawyers say guilty when talking about incidents that don’t rise to criminal activity. I suppose Kraft wasn’t really lying, he was merely setting the stage for moral outrage when the inevitable finding of guilt was released.
Wait, we’re not done. At one point Robert Kraft said that the Patriots would accept whatever punishment the NFL meted out. So where are we? The Patriots continue to attack the Wells Report, Brady is appealing his suspension, and basically the Patriots will fight every single punishment being imposed. Strike three for honesty, if you are scoring at home.
Of course Robert Kraft has an explanation; the Patriots are better at explaining than following rules. He said the Patriots would accept the punishment, but the punishment was far far more than could have been reasonably expected. I suppose that statement would technically be true since Bob Kraft expected the punishment from his good friend Roger Goodell would be a fine the size of Robert Kraft’s cuff link budget.
And anyone who believes the Patriots’ lawyers that the equipment manager called himself “The Deflator” because he was trying to lose weight should be e-mailed by a Nigerian prince, because the claims are equally credible.
The Patriots are the Oakland Raiders of the New Millennium, a rogue nation that follows its own rules and sneers at anyone who suggests they might want to play nice. This goes all the way back to 1982, when the Patriots had a snowplow clear a path in the snow so their field goal kicker could win the game. It has continued since; no NFL team has had its name associated with the suffix "gate" as often as the Patriots.
The Patriots, not the media, have turned Deflategate from a molehill into a mountain. Instead of just sheepishly acknowledging that “mistakes were made” they upped the ante by proclaiming absolute innocence, and then doubling down in the face of contrary evidence. I think they think that if they keep making it bigger and bigger at some point people will realize it is taking a speeding ticket to the Supreme Court and just let them off scott free.
Is four games too much of a suspension for Brady? As I look at it, one game was for cheating, one game was for involving the staff, one was for not cooperating, and one was because of the Patriots’ history of lies, deception, and deceit (I think that’s their law firm). It will probably get knocked down to two games, unless all of Kraft’s bile is pissing off Roger Goodell. Does Goodell look like the Incredible Hulk when he gets angry? I wouldn’t want to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment