Have you heard the one about how Tom Brady likes his balls a little softer to play with? It goes a little like this: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick illegally deflated their footballs to help them win the AFC championship game and now Brady is suspended for four games (at a financial loss of $2 million) and the Patriots will forfeit a 1st round pick in 2016 and a fourth-rounder in 2017.
Schottenfreude is probably the word that best describes how fans around the league are feeling. The Patriots are a supremely talented team and have been repeatedly busted for cheating. It sucks to lose any game in the NFL. It’s infuriating when you know your opponent isn’t playing by the same rules.
Some say Brady’s punishment is actually payback for Spygate, when the team was caught videotaping opposing teams’ play signals. The league wasn’t able to met out punishment fans wanted then and now they are exacting revenge.
To be fair to those calling foul on Brady’s punishment, Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games after punching his fiance so hard she passed out then dragging her body out of an elevator – half the penalty the Patriot’s QB is facing. Goodell stood by the light sentence until public outcry forced a haphazard revision and harsher punishment for Rice. That video is still hard to watch, especially the jelly-like nature of her body flopping around as Rice tries to move her off the elevator.
Still, most the country is looking forward to watching a Brady-less Patriots navigate the first four games of season.
In lighter [Missed opportunity for fat joke here – ed.] news, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie managed to rack $300,000 in food an alcohol bills at sports events in the last five years, $87,594 at MetLife stadium alone. When asked about the costs Christie revealed that he is in fact Monty Brewster from Brewster’s millions and if he spends enough then he will inherit the state’s pension fund.