Tom Brady, according to the NFL, “tampered” and “obstructed”.   Pretty grim words for something as stupid as a GAME!!   I can’t stand the Patriots, but he’s not a criminal and the NFL isn’t the the US Justice System….it’s a job and the owners.  Everyone needs to stop making it out to be a major offense and it needs to be taken off the front pages of the news.

I have questions.   If you thought you could lose 1/4 of a years pay on your job because of something on your personal phone, would you not throw it away, too?   Why does the NFL have the right to his personal communications?   Doesn’t everyone do whatever small things they can to make themselves better at their jobs?   If they are legal, shouldn’t you be able to do your best to give yourself an advantage?

It was stupid for the NFL to allow the teams to bring in their own footballs.   It’s a fact that all of the quarterbacks have their preferences, and that most of them use the balls a bit to get them broken in before the games.  If fair play is all that is at stake here, then the NFL should have just provided brand new footballs for every game, or some specific level of “broken in” footballs.   MLB provides baseballs and they aren’t not out-of-the-box brand new.   Some dude somewhere manually breaks them all in and has some mud he uses for it.  http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/28/baseball.mud/index.html.   Why would the NFL not have something similar in place?

I think it’s ridiculous when big companies (specifically sports leagues) throw someone under the bus for the company’s own oversight.   The NFL blew it here and Tom Brady is being tossed to cover it up.   MLB did the same thing with steroids for years…ignored it and then pointed fingers at some truly great players and made it look like the players were at fault.   The NBA a few years ago started a dress code for players during press conferences because, as a product of the NBA’s own own hip-hop marketing, some players apparently took things too far.

It’s the leagues’ fault.   They love to make money hand-over-fist until something comes up that finally gets the public upset, and then they overreact by blaming the players.   Sorry Mr. Brady, but you’re losing this one…the NFL won’t have it any other way.