Patriots brought this overpunishment on themselves By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Columnist April 25, 2016 The Patriots were driving 68 miles per hour in a 65 m.p.h. zone. They got caught. Instead of doing what most would do — “Sorry, officer, you got me, I won’t do that anymore’’ — the defiant Patriots flashed two middle fingers at the police and said, “Come and get me! You’ve got nothing!’’ And so here we are. Loss of a first-round draft pick. The largest fine in the history of the NFL. And worst of all, Tom Brady gets a four-game suspension and his reputation is tarnished. It’s not over, of course. It’s never over with this thing. Injunctions, stays, appeals, and settlement talks will carry into the next few weeks, months, and (maybe) years. But Monday’s ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals was a loud smackdown of Fanboy Judge Richard Berman’s ruling that initially wiped out Brady’s suspension and allowed the greatest quarterback of our time to play a full season in 2015. Bottom line: The Patriots were doing it. They had a system of deflating footballs after the balls were inspected by officials. Any agenda-less person who reads the Wells Report would come away with no other conclusion. The texts were unexplainable. It is not the reason the Patriots win. In all likelihood, it gave them virtually no competitive advantage. The Patriots win because they are better than you are. They are better prepared. They are smarter. They beat you fair and square. But that is not enough for the Patriots. They are like the Nixon White House in 1972. They do not have to break into Democratic National Committee headquarters and engage in dirty tricks in order to beat George McGovern in the general election. But they did it anyway. This is the Patriots. They leave no stone unturned. They go the extra mile. That’s what Spygate was about. That’s what this is about. And when caught, they deny, then accuse. They do the deeds of guilty men. Brady destroyed his cellphone on the day he was supposed to speak with Ted Wells. Deflator Jim McNally was prohibited from meeting with Wells after his texts with John Jastremski were uncovered. Waffling, pathetic Bob Kraft — the man who wants to be loved by his own fans and his fellow NFL owners — arrived at the Super Bowl and demanded an apology. Then he caved at the owners meetings in San Francisco in May. Then he told Patriots fans he made a mistake putting his faith in the league. Then he asked for his draft picks back. Then he said that — Deflategate not included — Goodell is still doing a swell job. Please. Meanwhile, we have the preposterous “Wells Report in Context,” in which the Patriots contend that McNally called himself “The Deflator” because he was trying to lose weight. Throughout the process, the Patriots unleashed their formidable media cartel (which stretches to Washington and beyond) to recite the gospel of Foxborough. Through amazing good fortune, the Patriots got a star-struck judge to overrule NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s overpunishment of Brady. Locally, Goodell was painted as a buffoon who might lose his job. When the NFL appealed Berman’s verdict, it was largely characterized as a Hail Mary. Why would the league even bother? But a couple of little issues keep getting in the way. One is the labor law. Patriot Nation has a blind eye on this. Unfortunately for Brady and Patriot fans, it all goes back to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, which the players willingly signed. In it, they ceded all punishing powers to the commissioner. Sorry, Patriots fans, but Goodell gets to be unfair. He gets to overpunish the Patriots because the agreement says he can do it. This is where Fanboy Berman failed. He was supposed to rule on the broad-reaching punishing powers of the commissioner. He should have said, “Sorry boys. This is not fair, but the contract you signed gives the Commish power to do this. Fix it next time you negotiate a CBA.’’ Instead, he got all caught up in Brady’s second-half completion percentage against the Colts and other ancillary issues. He made his silly ruling, then went to a party in the Hamptons and mingled with Kraft. In an interview with his college newspaper, he said, “I could become a celebrity [in Boston] or maybe I already am,’’ and said that watching the fallout from his ruling (Berman for President T-shirts) “was a lot of fun.’’ Former NBA commissioner David Stern put it best: “Judge Berman was dazzled by the headlights of professional sports and crossed into the wrong lane and engaged the federal courts in the intricacies of running a sports league, where they have no business.’’ Bingo. The Second Circuit judges went back to ruling on law Monday and repudiated Berman. Sorry, Patriots fans. This was never about Ideal Gas Law. It’s about labor law. The judges think that Brady and the Patriots are guilty. And now it looks like Tom may pay the price for the intransigence and institutional arrogance of his dynasty-driven franchise.
It’s pretty simple, really. The Patriots were driving 68 miles per hour in a 65 m.p.h. zone. They got caught. Instead of doing what most would do — “Sorry, officer, you got me, I won’t do that anymore’’ — the defiant Patriots flashed two middle fingers at the police and said, “Come and get me! You’ve got nothing!’’ And so here we are. Loss of a first-round draft pick. The largest fine in the history of the NFL. And worst of all, Tom Brady gets a four-game suspension and his reputation is tarnished. It’s not over, of course. It’s never over with this thing. Injunctions, stays, appeals, and settlement talks will carry into the next few weeks, months, and (maybe) years. But Monday’s ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals was a loud smackdown of Fanboy Judge Richard Berman’s ruling that initially wiped out Brady’s suspension and allowed the greatest quarterback of our time to play a full season in 2015. Bottom line: The Patriots were doing it. They had a system of deflating footballs after the balls were inspected by officials. Any agenda-less person who reads the Wells Report would come away with no other conclusion. The texts were unexplainable. It is not the reason the Patriots win. In all likelihood, it gave them virtually no competitive advantage. The Patriots win because they are better than you are. They are better prepared. They are smarter. They beat you fair and square. But that is not enough for the Patriots. They are like the Nixon White House in 1972. They do not have to break into Democratic National Committee headquarters and engage in dirty tricks in order to beat George McGovern in the general election. But they did it anyway. This is the Patriots. They leave no stone unturned. They go the extra mile. That’s what Spygate was about. That’s what this is about. And when caught, they deny, then accuse. They do the deeds of guilty men. Brady destroyed his cellphone on the day he was supposed to speak with Ted Wells. Deflator Jim McNally was prohibited from meeting with Wells after his texts with John Jastremski were uncovered. Waffling, pathetic Bob Kraft — the man who wants to be loved by his own fans and his fellow NFL owners — arrived at the Super Bowl and demanded an apology. Then he caved at the owners meetings in San Francisco in May. Then he told Patriots fans he made a mistake putting his faith in the league. Then he asked for his draft picks back. Then he said that — Deflategate not included — Goodell is still doing a swell job. Please. Meanwhile, we have the preposterous “Wells Report in Context,” in which the Patriots contend that McNally called himself “The Deflator” because he was trying to lose weight. Throughout the process, the Patriots unleashed their formidable media cartel (which stretches to Washington and beyond) to recite the gospel of Foxborough. Through amazing good fortune, the Patriots got a star-struck judge to overrule NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s overpunishment of Brady. Locally, Goodell was painted as a buffoon who might lose his job. When the NFL appealed Berman’s verdict, it was largely characterized as a Hail Mary. Why would the league even bother? But a couple of little issues keep getting in the way. One is the labor law. Patriot Nation has a blind eye on this. Unfortunately for Brady and Patriot fans, it all goes back to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, which the players willingly signed. In it, they ceded all punishing powers to the commissioner. Sorry, Patriots fans, but Goodell gets to be unfair. He gets to overpunish the Patriots because the agreement says he can do it. This is where Fanboy Berman failed. He was supposed to rule on the broad-reaching punishing powers of the commissioner. He should have said, “Sorry boys. This is not fair, but the contract you signed gives the Commish power to do this. Fix it next time you negotiate a CBA.’’ Instead, he got all caught up in Brady’s second-half completion percentage against the Colts and other ancillary issues. He made his silly ruling, then went to a party in the Hamptons and mingled with Kraft. In an interview with his college newspaper, he said, “I could become a celebrity [in Boston] or maybe I already am,’’ and said that watching the fallout from his ruling (Berman for President T-shirts) “was a lot of fun.’’ Former NBA commissioner David Stern put it best: “Judge Berman was dazzled by the headlights of professional sports and crossed into the wrong lane and engaged the federal courts in the intricacies of running a sports league, where they have no business.’’ Bingo. The Second Circuit judges went back to ruling on law Monday and repudiated Berman. Sorry, Patriots fans. This was never about Ideal Gas Law. It’s about labor law. The judges think that Brady and the Patriots are guilty. And now it looks like Tom may pay the price for the intransigence and institutional arrogance of his dynasty-driven franchise. Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Dan_Shaughnessy.
When one of the most dumb fuck commissioners in sports history, David Stern, calls you a dumb fuck, you're a dumb fuck of the highest order. Only even bigger dumb fucks would point to his dumb fuck ruling as validation. Have a seat in the dumb fuck throne, Pat fans.
Just curious. What is "over punishment " for a franchise with a long history of cheating? How many slaps on the wrist are required before doing something to stop a team from cheating? Goddell gave the boys in Beantown a lot of rope over the years, he finally nutted up and stopped them from making their own rules.
True after being kraft's wussy (kraft helped him secure big payday) (he in turn destroyed spy gate tapes) for so long. The owners got tired of the continual cheating and rules violations by the pats. In many ways he was forced to do something.
Tom Brady July 29, 2015 · I am very disappointed by the NFL’s decision to uphold the 4 game suspension against me. I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either. Despite submitting to hours of testimony over the past 6 months, it is disappointing that the Commissioner upheld my suspension based upon a standard that it was “probable” that I was “generally aware” of misconduct. The fact is that neither I, nor any equipment person, did anything of which we have been accused. He dismissed my hours of testimony and it is disappointing that he found it unreliable. I also disagree with yesterdays narrative surrounding my cellphone. I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline. Most importantly, I have never written, texted, emailed to anybody at anytime, anything related to football air pressure before this issue was raised at the AFC Championship game in January. To suggest that I destroyed a phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong. To try and reconcile the record and fully cooperate with the investigation after I was disciplined in May, we turned over detailed pages of cell phone records and all of the emails that Mr. Wells requested. We even contacted the phone company to see if there was any possible way we could retrieve any/all of the actual text messages from my old phone. In short, we exhausted every possibility to give the NFL everything we could and offered to go thru the identity for every text and phone call during the relevant time. Regardless, the NFL knows that Mr. Wells already had ALL relevant communications with Patriots personnel that either Mr. Wells saw or that I was questioned about in my appeal hearing. There is no “smoking gun” and this controversy is manufactured to distract from the fact they have zero evidence of wrongdoing. I authorized the NFLPA to make a settlement offer to the NFL so that we could avoid going to court and put this inconsequential issue behind us as we move forward into this season. The discipline was upheld without any counter offer. I respect the Commissioners authority, but he also has to respect the CBA and my rights as a private citizen. I will not allow my unfair discipline to become a precedent for other NFL players without a fight. Lastly, I am overwhelmed and humbled by the support of family, friends and our fans who have supported me since the false accusations were made after the AFC Championship game. I look forward to the opportunity to resume playing with my teammates and winning more games for the New England Patriots
Maybe he should acknowledge that his corrupt owner gave the commish dictator powers over the league and it blew up in his fucking face.
Tom is an awful liar The ball boys actioned your wishes Appeals court judges took this at face value Now go back to your IGL party
Hey Tom you jerkoff--you collectively bargained away some of your rights as a private citizen when you signed your contract agreeing to be bound by the CBA. _
FYI- That worthless block of whining dribble is 9 months old. Has he issued a statement now that the Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the suspension? Still defiant, you lying sack of dung?
Haha Grogan joins patsfans and looks like a douche http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...d/threads/super-bowl-51-illegitimate.1129317/ SteveGroganRookie They should make the Lombardi smaller since anyone winning the Super Bowl other than the Pats in 2016-2017 will have done so in a handicapped league. I have never been one of those boasting about the Patriots. But something changed last night. By hamstringing the Patriots due to hate and frustration the Patriots effectively broke the league. (Really, it was broken when the NFL put them through that BS PR leak nightmare 2 weeks prior to the Super Bowl.) Either way, the discussion of the greatest franchise of all time stops here. To win so much that the other league owners go full Randolph and Mortimer Duke on you to try and hamstring your team - makes you the greatest, without dispute. I think it's funny, the first legitimate NFL super bowl is likely 10+ years away. When the effect of losing a first round draft pick finally dissipates.
Pats drafts are usually as hit n' miss at the Jets'. They'll still somehow come away with an A+ grade. Belichick is a genius etc...
