Football Air Pressure Controversy

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Well, we started with a four-game suspension - 1/4th of the regular season. That was just fine with me. Don't ask me how Goodell came up with the formula - two games for punching out your girlfriend but four games for failing to hand over a cellphone. But Goodell had his reasons and four games sounded like it would actually HURT the Patriots since obviously fining them and removing draft choices doesn't.

That's the whole thing about the Patriots and Steelers. They cheat all day long on Sundays and they may get a fine or a wrist-slap on Tuesdays but it doesn't discourage them. They're all about winning and paying fines is just a cost of "doing business", just like the drug cartels. If you want them to hurt, you pull their key players out of action.

That's what a four-game suspension does and I was going to enjoy the heck out of it because maybe then someone else could win the AFC East and New England wouldn't get to spend at least half the playoffs winning in snowy, slushy mush with deflated balls.

Some judge spoiled my Christmas and even though the judge had a point, he has no legal right to overturn a commissioner's suspension. Who in the name of Kenesaw Mountain Landis does he think he is?? I'm flabbergasted that a judge even had to rule. Aren't there better uses of his time than this?

So you really think punishment should be based on what hurts and not on standards? Should fines for speeding be based on your salary? If you're poor say $25 and if you're rich $1000 plus 4 weeks in jail?

Do you really think if the Panthers and Vikings get caught doctoring footballs and the Patriots might have done the same, that the Patriots should be crushed and the other two get off completely because the Patriots are good?

[barrett]

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/...patriots-apart

I'm going to make a bit of a 180 here.

I just read this and maybe I see things differently Bob. I am guessing you feel like the owners who were autonomously quoted here. That New England got an almost free pass on a super serious cheating scandal with Spygate. They cheated for a huge competitive balance and probably won super bowls as a direct result of that cheating. Then they mostly got away with it. Other owners and fans begrudgingly accepted the punishment but always felt it should have been worse.

So this time around Goodell had to go for blood because his bosses wished they had last time. So even though there was no evidence, possibly/probably even no crime, and no real competitive advantage gained if there was one, everyone felt it was time to crush them.

I still think everything that has happened regarding only this case is a joke. The league has run a failed sting, paid millions for a clearly biased report, and leaked reports to create the story in the first place. It is likely the Patriots tried to have their balls right at or slightly less inflated than the 12 lb rule. That is like having pine tar a half an inch too high on the bat. Not to mention the Colts had under-inflated balls in the same game.

But when you cheat in the past, you kind of earn that kind of reaction.

[HPF Bob]

As for the speeding sidebar, Jack Johnson was the heavyweight boxing champion in the 1900s and enjoyed flaunting his lifestyle, which included driving around with white women - a definite no-no for a black man back then.

So a cop pulled him over for speeding as he passed through a town in his roadster and the cop told him he'd have to pay a fine. "How much is it?", asked Johnson.

Thinking he needed to be made an example of, the cop made up an amount - $50 (keep in mind that, in that day, $50 was probably more than a month's salary for most men).

Johnson whipped out a $100 bill and told the cop to keep the rest because he just knew he'd be driving too fast through that town on his way back.

So, while it is not democratic, if the fine is not going to be enough to deter repeat offenses, then the fine is not stiff enough - regardless how much the figure is.

I've already concluded Goodell's punishment calculations are whacked (thus my Ray Rice comparison) so it doesn't matter to me how many games Goodell gave Brady as long as it was enough to keep it from happening again. Whatever it is, someone will complain it is too lenient and others will complain it is too stiff.

[barrett]

But if you screw up the punishment the first time, you can't just make up a new one seven years later for the fun of it because a handful of owners didn't like the way you covered up for your buddy Bob Kraft the first time. That is why the judge the NFL picked in the venue they picked said what you are doing is so wrong that you can't do that, even when the CBA specifically says you can. Because CBA or not, it is actually illegal to treat employees that way.

So the NFL needs to wait for New England to actually break another rule (or they need to actually catch them when they do depending on your view point) to assign that deterrent level punishment. They can't just manufacture an offense with fake leaks, crooked lawyer investigations, and a fall guy that opposing fans like you will eat up.

The NFL is just lucky Kraft cares more about his owner's club and making money then anything else, or he would have sued them and brought down the whole league for the whole farce.

The NFL is also lucky ESPN does whatever they are told and doesn't have any journalists left.

[HPF Bob]

The NFL has contracts with all the major tv networks for the very purpose of controlling the coverage it receives. Think of crossing us? We'll remember that the next time your rights package comes up.

Barrett, the libertarian and jurist in me agrees with you. I'm just providing the countering viewpoint and if they happen to ever single out the Patriots or the Steelers for punishment, to me it just makes up for all the favorable officiating they get.

Before John Madden was the beloved NFL granpa, he was the coach of the Raiders and they used to get away with so many cheap shots. They were experts at throwing an elbow at an opponent's throat as he was laying on the ground. The Raiders once had a DB named Neal Colzie who following in the footsteps of Jack "They Call Me Assassin" Tatum, a fellow Buckeye alum.

Colzie learned from his master how to throw that elbow at the throat and, while playing for the Raiders, he got away with it. Then, one year, he was waived and picked up by the Dolphins. As a Dolphin, he tried the same crap and would always get flagged for it. Did the refs finally grow a set of eyes after he stopped playing for the Raiders or did the refs see it all along but just wouldn't call it while he was in silver and black?

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

The NFL has contracts with all the major tv networks for the very purpose of controlling the coverage it receives. Think of crossing us? We'll remember that the next time your rights package comes up.

Barrett, the libertarian and jurist in me agrees with you. I'm just providing the countering viewpoint and if they happen to ever single out the Patriots or the Steelers for punishment, to me it just makes up for all the favorable officiating they get.

Before John Madden was the beloved NFL granpa, he was the coach of the Raiders and they used to get away with so many cheap shots. They were experts at throwing an elbow at an opponent's throat as he was laying on the ground. The Raiders once had a DB named Neal Colzie who following in the footsteps of Jack "They Call Me Assassin" Tatum, a fellow Buckeye alum.

Colzie learned from his master how to throw that elbow at the throat and, while playing for the Raiders, he got away with it. Then, one year, he was waived and picked up by the Dolphins. As a Dolphin, he tried the same crap and would always get flagged for it. Did the refs finally grow a set of eyes after he stopped playing for the Raiders or did the refs see it all along but just wouldn't call it while he was in silver and black?

I don't disagree with any of this.

And the NFL should have buried New England in 2007 and if they ever get actual evidence (not a failed sting they try to prop up), they should bury them in the future.

My biggest problem is that the fat cats at NFL headquarters did not go after Bob Kraft of the Patriots organization because they all make money on deals he negotiates and revenue his franchise shares. Instead they tried to make their point with Tom Brady. They wagered hate of the Patriots would be enough for most people and it was. If they had run a competent investigation and had gone through the correct motions in their witch hunt appeals trial, Brady would be the fall guy, and the owners would have buried their hatchet without ever touching their own pocketbooks.

Their may not be a more entitled and corrupt group in the US than pro sports owners. These guys operate a monopoly, steal public money, dump on their employees as much as they can get away with, and somehow the public is more jealous of the players' millions than the owners' billions.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by barrett

I don't disagree with any of this.

And the NFL should have buried New England in 2007 and if they ever get actual evidence (not a failed sting they try to prop up), they should bury them in the future.

My biggest problem is that the fat cats at NFL headquarters did not go after Bob Kraft of the Patriots organization because they all make money on deals he negotiates and revenue his franchise shares. Instead they tried to make their point with Tom Brady. They wagered hate of the Patriots would be enough for most people and it was. If they had run a competent investigation and had gone through the correct motions in their witch hunt appeals trial, Brady would be the fall guy, and the owners would have buried their hatchet without ever touching their own pocketbooks.

Their may not be a more entitled and corrupt group in the US than pro sports owners. These guys operate a monopoly, steal public money, dump on their employees as much as they can get away with, and somehow the public is more jealous of the players' millions than the owners' billions.

The investigation was incredibly botched. No way could they have taken that through a real judicial system and expect it to hold up. I read that guy's report and was asking "Where's John Dowd when you need him? That guy buried Pete Rose."

As to why fans rip players and not the owners, I don't have an answer.