#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[Atzar]

You actually think the NFL is going to take Tom Brady off the field for as many as three games for this? Do you think LeBron is going to sign with the Celtics this offseason, too?

No really one cares about DeflateGate except for irate Boston fans who think the world is out to get the Patriots.

I would also ask you to consider your logic here, as to which draws more attention to the impropriety: Brady off the field for Game 1 because of a suspension, or Brady on the field having payed a fine?

The answer, for those of you playing at home, is Brady off the field.

Or national media pundits who salivate at the prospect of taking shots at the organization any chance they get.  This has been like Xmas morning for them.  And a lot of them have contributed to the ridiculous amount of media exposure on this.  It keeps churning & churning.   

That isn't happening if this is the Jacksonville Jaguars.

This.

This isn't the first time somebody has tampered with the air pressure of the footballs beyond the legal limit.  We've had QBs admit to doing it in the past.  But nobody mentions that, because nobody cares about the crime itself.

It's only a story because it's the Patriots.  New England is the villain of the NFL - it's a successful franchise and it has been caught cheating in the past.  ESPN will gleefully turn into TMZ if it has an opportunity to say the words "Brady" and "cheater" in the same sentence. 

This isn't even about deflating balls anymore.  It's about Darth Vader doing Darth Vader things, and we know he's guilty because he's Darth Vader.  The crime, at this point, is irrelevant.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

Boy, we clearly are on different planets with this.  You really think nobody outside of New England cares about the outcome of this?  If he only gets a fine, watch what happens...people outside of New England will certainly care.

And to say this is just something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week in May?  We're talking about the star quarterback of arguably the premiere franchise in the most popular league in the country being labeled a cheater by the NFL community.  The same guy who has been to more super bowls than any other quarterback ever, 4 rings, 3 super bowl mvps, 2 league mvps, and was now in the same conversation as Joe Montana as being the best at the most important position in the league.

I wouldn't call this "something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week."  You're way underselling this.

I'm putting it in it's proper context to the NFL and to the people who cover the NFL as someone who's job it is, in part, to cover the NFL. You, on the other hand, are clearly a Patriots fan, and are attaching way too much importance to this.

If this was something that actually mattered, like Steroids, PEDs, or him going full Hernandez on one of the ball inflaters I'd agree with you. As it stands, it's much ado about nothing.

If he only gets a fine the resident Skip Baylesses will have something to get huffy about, which is what they want. No one's invalidating Brady's career over a text message.

What will almost certainly happen is that the NFLPA will argue it regardless of what the outcome actually is, and Brady will wind up missing an insignificant amount of time at most and, ultimately, no one will care.

I've seen multiple people question Tom Brady's legacy based on the findings of this report. You're way wrong on this saying it's just New England fans that care. Most issues go away anyway. We don't hear much about Peterson anymore, we don't hear much about the Saints 'targeting' issue anymore. Problems will go away, and this will too, but to say only New Englanders care are out this is totally wrong.

What will almost certainly happen is that the NFLPA will argue it regardless of what the outcome actually is, and Brady will wind up missing an insignificant amount of time at most and, ultimately, no one will care. That is what I mean by "the outcome," not about whether Jim Rome is talking about it or not (because who actually cares about Jim Rome beyond morons and mouthbreathers and Mrs. Jim Rome?)

[JohnBoy65]

Another interesting question. Will this keep Tom Brady out of the hall of fame? Barry Bonds was never proven to do steroids, but he probably won't get in.

[mahonedog88]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

Boy, we clearly are on different planets with this.  You really think nobody outside of New England cares about the outcome of this?  If he only gets a fine, watch what happens...people outside of New England will certainly care.

And to say this is just something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week in May?  We're talking about the star quarterback of arguably the premiere franchise in the most popular league in the country being labeled a cheater by the NFL community.  The same guy who has been to more super bowls than any other quarterback ever, 4 rings, 3 super bowl mvps, 2 league mvps, and was now in the same conversation as Joe Montana as being the best at the most important position in the league.

I wouldn't call this "something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week."  You're way underselling this.

I'm putting it in it's proper context to the NFL and to the people who cover the NFL as someone who's job it is, in part, to cover the NFL. You, on the other hand, are clearly a Patriots fan, and are attaching way too much importance to this.

If this was something that actually mattered, like Steroids, PEDs, or him going full Hernandez on one of the ball inflaters I'd agree with you. As it stands, it's much ado about nothing.

If he only gets a fine the resident Skip Baylesses will have something to get huffy about, which is what they want. No one's invalidating Brady's career over a text message.

You sure about that?...Cause it sure sounds that way to me, not with everyone, but I hear a growing  crowd doing just that.

First of all, stop mentioning PEDs and steroids.  In today's world, nobody cares about that stuff anymore.  Now the domestic violence stuff, criminal records, yes I agree with you.  I also agree with  you, when you step back and look at this, we're talking about a little air being taken out of a football.  I see that, you see that, others do too, it's ridiculous the story has gotten this big.  But the fact is, it DID get this big.  When it first happened in January and when the Wells report first came out, it was the lead story on every national news station, it was the headline on CNN, Fox News, BBC.  So whether you want to admit it or not, the general public finds this to be a massive story...albeit a different kind of massive story since we're talking about in game cheating, but a massive story nonetheless.

[Donoghus]

Another interesting question. Will this keep Tom Brady out of the hall of fame? Barry Bonds was never proven to do steroids, but he probably won't get in.

No.

[D.o.s.]

I'm guessing 31 team fanbases will be p*ssed if Brady gets only a fine while one fanbase will be livid if he gets suspended.  Football fans are definitely keeping an eye on this.

Football fans are keeping an eye on this because it's May and the national outlets have to talk about something that isn't draft related.

Like Atzar just said, no one really cares based on the crime. They care because it's a chance to get all hand-wringy and TMZ over the patriots. If you actually think this has any bearing on Brady's status as a player you're way overestimating it.

Another interesting question. Will this keep Tom Brady out of the hall of fame? Barry Bonds was never proven to do steroids, but he probably won't get in.

Absolutely not. This is the sort of equivocation that makes me roll my eyes and weep for humanity.

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

Boy, we clearly are on different planets with this.  You really think nobody outside of New England cares about the outcome of this?  If he only gets a fine, watch what happens...people outside of New England will certainly care.

And to say this is just something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week in May?  We're talking about the star quarterback of arguably the premiere franchise in the most popular league in the country being labeled a cheater by the NFL community.  The same guy who has been to more super bowls than any other quarterback ever, 4 rings, 3 super bowl mvps, 2 league mvps, and was now in the same conversation as Joe Montana as being the best at the most important position in the league.

I wouldn't call this "something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week."  You're way underselling this.

I'm putting it in it's proper context to the NFL and to the people who cover the NFL as someone who's job it is, in part, to cover the NFL. You, on the other hand, are clearly a Patriots fan, and are attaching way too much importance to this.

If this was something that actually mattered, like Steroids, PEDs, or him going full Hernandez on one of the ball inflaters I'd agree with you. As it stands, it's much ado about nothing.

If he only gets a fine the resident Skip Baylesses will have something to get huffy about, which is what they want. No one's invalidating Brady's career over a text message.

You sure about that?...Cause it sure sounds that way to me, not with everyone, but I hear a growing  crowd doing just that.

First of all, stop mentioning PEDs and steroids.  In today's world, nobody cares about that stuff anymore.  Now the domestic violence stuff, criminal records, yes I agree with you.  I also agree with  you, when you step back and look at this, we're talking about a little air being taken out of a football.  I see that, you see that, others do too, it's ridiculous the story has gotten this big.  But the fact is, it DID get this big.  When it first happened in January and when the Wells report first came out, it was the lead story on every national news station, it was the headline on CNN, Fox News, BBC.  So whether you want to admit it or not, the general public finds this to be a massive story...albeit a different kind of massive story since we're talking about in game cheating, but a massive story nonetheless.

The general public finds the slop fed in front of them to be a massive story. This is true for all sorts of journalism, not just sports. It was a headline because people love to talk about it. we're still talking about it because it's an easy hit-generator (you'll notice that I bumped this thread with little more than a quote and a guy making a face).

But please, tell me more about how sports coverage works. I'm very interested to hear your perspective on it.

[Roy H.]

Another interesting question. Will this keep Tom Brady out of the hall of fame? Barry Bonds was never proven to do steroids, but he probably won't get in.

No.

No way.  It's more like somebody using pine tar or illegally curving their hockey stick too much.

Some idiot voter down the line will use this to justify voting against Brady (at least on the first ballot), but he'll sail into the Hall.

[celticsclay]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

It was on the front page of cnn.com yesterday for what that is worth and Jim Rome spent most of his morning talking about the outcome and whether he will get suspended (only sports radio that is on when i drive in to work). ESPN just posted that Bovada (which is the biggest sports betting site there is) posted a prop on whether Brady will get suspended and for how many games (you can say over or under 3.5 games). So there really isn't any way you can argue that only boston people care about this in light of those facts.

I am not trying to be a jerk by reposting this, and if nobody honestly cares that is fine and I won't raise it again. However, I dont know how we can debate whether people outside new england care about this with the above mentioned things.

[D.o.s.]

then I will requote myself for (what will be) a third time, then:

What will almost certainly happen is that the NFLPA will argue it regardless of what the outcome actually is, and Brady will wind up missing an insignificant amount of time at most and, ultimately, no one will care. That is what I mean by "the outcome," not about whether Jim Rome is talking about it or not (because who actually cares about Jim Rome beyond morons and mouthbreathers and Mrs. Jim Rome?)

Bovada will take bets on anything. that's the whole point of Vegas and/or gambling.

This is a relative nonstory that is getting massive amounts of attention because it's the NFL, in may, and a popular team to boot. It has zero resonance on Brady's career beyond whatever useless drivel will be pumped out on sports radio over the next few hours.

We'll all forget about it when Tebow gets caught with some hookers and blow in an NYC gay bar. Trust me.

[Celtics4ever]

I live outside of NE people want to see him fry for this, I kind of root for the Pats as my Celtics love bleeds over and pro wise I don't have a decent team in Ohio.

[JohnBoy65]

The general public finds the slop fed in front of them to be a massive story. This is true for all sorts of journalism, not just sports. It was a headline because people love to talk about it. we're still talking about it because it's an easy hit-generator (you'll notice that I bumped this thread with little more than a quote and a guy making a face).

But please, tell me more about how sports coverage works. I'm very interested to hear your perspective on it.

I don't get your point. Are you saying that this is only a big story because it's the Patriots and it's May?

1) There are many teams that this would be an issue for. Saints, Giants, Cowboys, Seahawks, and maybe a few more. Also, the Pats may be covered more now because they've been caught in a mess like this before.

2) This was a story since it happened, which was right in the middle of the playoffs, it's being rejuvenated now because the report was just finalized. So, naturally, it's going to be talked about now.

[D.o.s.]

You remove a reply from its context and then wonder why the point is unclear?

I think I'll just spectate this thread, because it's fairly clear that I'm screaming at a wall.

[JohnBoy65]

You remove a reply from its context and then wonder why the point is unclear?

I think I'll just spectate this thread, because it's fairly clear that I'm screaming at a wall.

You've said a few times it's only a story because it's May. That point is just inaccurate .

[kozlodoev]

Do you think those two ball boys were making it up? They sent those texts knowing this would blow up and they could maybe frame Tom Brady in 8 months time? If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck it's a dang duck. I hate the Patriots, but I don't necessarily think this is a big deal, but Brady cheated and the league can't really take that too lightly.

I don't think anyone in the organization was trying to frame Brady. I think there is precious little in this report that establishes

(1) what EXACTLY was done, and
(2) what Brady's involvement was.

What's not being discussed enough is that the Ted Wells has made a fool of himself by ordering "statistical analysis" of a clearly flawed data set which is too small for inference to boot. It's downright comical that they're talking about "statistically significant difference" between sample means where one of the samples consists of 3 or 4 observations.

[D.o.s.]

You remove a reply from its context and then wonder why the point is unclear?

I think I'll just spectate this thread, because it's fairly clear that I'm screaming at a wall.

You've said a few times it's only a story because it's May. That point is just inaccurate .

If that's what you're taking from my posts then perhaps you should brush up on your reading comprehension skills, or I should deliver my points more clearly. Since I can't control the former, I'll try to go for the latter:

This story is not a big deal. The coverage it's receiving is, in large part, because of when it's coming up. We saw this the first time the story came up: it was a talking point for the week between the AFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl. Once the Super Bowl coverage started, nobody cared. The difference now is that there's nothing else to talk about until training camp opens.

For shorthand, I used "it's May." to describe this phenomenon. Clearly that was too much of a leap to make for some CBers, and I apologize for my overestimation.