Putting My Thoughts on #DeflateGate into Words

A trivia question for baseball fans! What happened on June 3, 2003?

It's OK, I know you looked it up. In a Tampa Bay Devil Rays vs Chicago Cubs game, Sammy Sosa of the Cubs hit a ground ball to second base, his bat broke into several pieces. A run scored from third base. Who cares? A steroid user hit a grounder... cool. Well, as it turned out, the umpire happened to pick up a shard of Sosa's broken bat and to his surprise he found cork inside - a substance used by hitters to get more pop in the ball. It is illegal. The eventually-known steroid user was cheating on top of his cheating. He was caught red-handed.

The New England Patriots were caught red-handed on Sunday night, just like Sosa. It took a few days for it to be confirmed, but the Patriots deflated 11 of their 12 game balls for Sunday night's AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Their footballs were well-below the league minimum for air. I will spare readers the explanation of the entire event. By now, it is all you have heard. Did you know there was another game played that day and in fact another team in the Super Bowl, other than the Patriots? Yeah me neither.

Patriots fans may be in denial. Heck, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were very convincing. Maybe both truly knew nothing about it. No one knows. Not you, not your friend, not the refs, and certainly not Roger Goodell. The bottom line is, though, that something fishy happened. Somehow the air-pressure in those footballs dropped dramatically between the time they were inspected by the refs before the game and half-time. When you already have Spygate on your resume, from this point forward, it really doesn't matter what you say. You cheated.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/deflate-gate-tom-brady-didnt-alter-ball/story?id=28413065

The term "cheater" certainly puts a damper on things. You mean we can call the Patriots a term that we can also call Sosa, a guy who injected things into his body to make him better at his sport, staining that sports legacy for eternity? A guy who also put a substance into his bat to make him hit the ball quicker and further? Well, yeah, I suppose you could. The problem is, if you are going to do that, if you are going to make such a blanketed statement, you are kind of a moron.

I understand the disdain for the Patriots, really I do. This isn't some typical "the Patriots always win so you are just a hater" nonsense. Of course, the winning does fuel a lot of the hate. But there is also so much mystery with this team. Belichick seems to only say 11 words per week. Brady isn't in Papa John's commercials like Peyton Manning (maybe because he doesn't have as much time? He is certainly deeper in the playoffs quite often). That turns a lot of fans off. The more we see someone, the more someone is shoved down our throats by the media, the more comfortable we feel judging them and liking or disliking them. Tom Brady has been about as low-key as an NFL quarterback who has won two MVP awards and three Super Bowls can be. Belichick, with a resume equally as impressive, has been even more low-key than Brady. They are a mystery. That leaves a lot of fans feeling mistrust to a pair that has dominated opposing teams for over a decade.

http://www.gannett-cdn.com

 If one is to lump the New England Patriots with Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, and Lance Armstrong it is suggesting that the Patriots did something so egregious, so unthinkably terrible that it tarnished the sport and all it stood for. Can we as a society, as fans, allow such a travesty if we truly love the sport? Is recording signs from an illegal spot so despicable, even when it is allowed and practiced from other "spots," just not the one you were in? Is slightly deflating a football, then proceeding to destroy a team 45-7, really the evil key to your success? Don't be ridiculous.

It is possible that not only have the Patriots cheated, but that they truly are the best team in the AFC. It is possible that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick may have questionable characters, but are also the best all-natural (meaning no PEDs, to clarify why this is different than the aforementioned athletes) quarterback and head coach in the history of the NFL. See reality, not just what you want to see. Understand that the Patriots bent the rules, but also understand that no matter how unlikeable the Patriots may be, they are still that damn good. A few pounds-per-square-inch of air isn't the difference between a perennial title contender and a fraud, and if you think so, you are lying to yourself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/sports/football/patriots-bill-belichick-denies-knowledge-of-deflated-footballs.html?_r=0

Does this somehow make the Patriots a victim in the end? No, we definitely shouldn't be saying that. Even if, somehow someway, it wasn't someone's intention to over-deflate the balls - it still happened. That cannot be ignored. The Patriots are not free from fault no matter what Dwayne Allen or Donovan McNabb say. The real victim certainly isn't the Colts or their fans. They lost 45-7. They have been outscored in their last three meetings against Brady and the Pats 130-49, with two of those three meetings being in the playoffs and all three being losses for the Colts. They have much bigger problems with Brady than a few pounds-per-square-inch of air. The real victim isn't the Baltimore Ravens or their fans. It seems like the city of Baltimore, no matter what the sport, is a city of whiners and complainers. They didn't have a problem with the ball, as their coach has since confirmed. They just got outplayed.

The victim certainly isn't Jerry Rice, who emphatically stated that if the Patriots win the Super Bowl there would be an asterisk next to their title. That is in contrast to most current and former NFL players (other than the sour grapes of Chris Canty, who unsurprisingly plays for those Ravens and used to play for the New York Giants) saying that this is way overblown and really not a decisive, competitive advantage. Michael Wilbon, ESPN commentator, is acting like a victim, but he isn't one either. It is no surprise Wilbon hates the Patriots. They decimated his Chicago Bears this year, 51-23. Rob Gronkowski scored three touchdowns that game. Maybe all those Gronk-spikes from the Bears game caused the deflation? Despite Wilbon's call to have the Patriots removed from the Super Bowl, they won't be. Instead, enjoy your memories of gift-wrapping Manning his only Super Bowl ring because your quarterback was about as effective as a car with no wheels, Michael.

Chris Canty, Baltimore Ravens

The real victims are Patriots fans. Once again, despite the insignificance of the actual "cheating" itself, Pats fans find themselves under attack for the carelessness and ineptitude of their favorite football team. Fully-aware that any illegal activity, even something as tiny as this, could blow up in their face because of Spygate, the Patriots still entered a game with illegal equipment. Come on, you have got to be kidding us.

Can you be a "victim" in this situation when your team is headed to the Super Bowl? I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. I sure do hope the Patriots are not victims to the Seahawks, though. And I would much rather be talking about that game than a few pounds-per-square-inch of air.