As if the saga of the deflated footballs in the 2015 AFC Championship hasn't gone on long enough, the story re-emerged again in recent days when some court made some ruling that sided with the NFL and upheld Tom Brady's four game suspension that he has yet to serve. To be honest, I did not even remember that this issue was still going through the court system, so when this latest ruling was made, I had no idea it was coming, and therefore it was even more irritating.
The NFL draft begins tomorrow night, and before long, training camps will be under way, and it will be Week 1. We should be excited as football fans. Instead, we have to listen to more of this nonsense about a 45-7 game that happened almost a year and a half ago. As we all know by now, the New England Patriots were accused by the sore loser Indianapolis Colts who had just been run off the field that Patriots players or coaches or equipment managers or anyone who they could think of to blame had partially deflated the game balls in order to give an advantage to the Patriots. I don't need to bore you with all the details, but thanks to never ending court rulings and appeals, Tom Brady still could be suspended for the first four games of this season.
After this latest ruling came down, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said that he thought this was another case of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell having too much power since he not only is the one who levies the punishments, but he is also the one who hears the appeals of the punishments that he levies. NFL Player's Association executive George Atallah echoed those sentiments. Brees said that this unilateral power is unfair and the fact that the only recourse players have is to take their case to court. And I agree. It does make no sense. It is in many ways unfair. But do you know what I have to say to those two and anyone else who feels sorry for their plight? Too bad. Deal with it.
Back in 2011 when the NFL and the NFLPA were in the midst of a lockout and a labor dispute, we all had the same goal in mind. We wanted football. No matter what it took, we wanted football back. And we got it back without having to miss any regular season games. As players and owners, we got back the game we loved and made a living off of. And as fans, we got the game we loved to watch back. All seemed well and good. However, now that we have had football back for multiple years, people are starting to get mad again.
When Roger Goodell initially made his ruling on the deflated footballs saga, the Patriots were up in arms. They said that a four game suspension for Brady, a fine for the team, and the loss of a first round draft pick was a lot. And they were absolutely right. It was an unbelievably high price to pay for what seemed like a relatively minor transgression. Once again, I agree with that opinion. First round draft picks are golden in the NFL, and losing one of the greatest quarterbacks ever for 25% of the season, plus a $1 million fine levied against the Patriots was unbelievably over the top, especially when the investigations the league based their decisions on were questionable to say the least. There was very little hard, convincing evidence that proved the footballs had, in fact, been knowingly deflated. However, where I stop feeling sorry for Tom Brady and Drew Brees goes back to those labor negotiations in 2011.
The point of collective bargaining agreements is, as the title would lead us to believe, is that it is a collection of agreements between two parties. The NFLPA signed off on Goodell having this autonomous power. There were concessions made by both sides in the negotiations, and one of the concessions made by the NFLPA was that they would allow Goodell to make rulings just like the one he made in this case with the Patriots and Tom Brady. No one held a gun to the head of the NFLPA executives and forced them to sign this agreement, but they did sign it, and now they have to live with what they agreed upon.
I will say that while a gun was not literally held to the head of the NFLPA executives to sign the agreement, there is no question that there was immense public pressure to get the deal done and not deprive the fans of any meaningful regular season games. But you know what? The owners and the league were under the same pressure as well. The players wanted to make their money. The league wanted to make their money. The fans wanted to watch the games. So in the end, everyone got what they wanted.
It is easy to look back now and say that the NFLPA should not have agreed to giving Goodell unilateral power, but in the end, they agreed to it, and now they have to live with it. Brady has remained steadfast in his desire to prove his innocence in this case, and that is why this legal battle is seemingly never going to end, and it still may be far from over. And I commend Brady for taking the stance that he took. If he really believes that he is innocent, then he should appeal these court rulings as far up the legal chain as he can. To this point, that is exactly what he has done. The problem is, there have been so many appeals, that there is not much legal chain left.
If Brady chooses to continue to appeal (and I think he will do that), he will soon be appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States, and I think that might be where the case finally stalls. Plenty of people laugh at the notion of a sports case reaching the Supreme Court, but it has happened before, and there have been multiple times that I believe the cases were truly important enough to be ruled upon by the highest court in the country. You can research those if you would like and form your own opinions, but I believe that this particular case is not worthy of being ruled on by the Supreme Court. Therefore, like I said before, eventually I think that Brady will have to serve the four game suspension levied upon him. When that will be, I can't say for sure, but the time will eventually come.
So, let me get back to my original point. None of this would matter, and this issue could have been resolved a long time ago if the NFLPA had not agreed to give Goodell the power that they agreed to give him. The fact of the matter is, they did agree to it. And now they have to live with it. Patriots fans can try to sue the league, players can lash out publicly at Goodell and the league, and anyone else who feels so inclined can say that the punishment does not fit the crime. And they would be right. The punishment exceeds the crime. It exceeds the crime by miles. But the only thing that matters is the laws of the league.
Brady will, in my opinion, never concede guilt in this case, even if you asked him about it 50 years from now. And I applaud his stance. It is hard to believe based upon how he handled himself in meeting with the league before Goodell made the ruling, but I have no idea if he is guilty or not. If he believes he is innocent, then more power to him. He can appeal his case until there is no one else left to appeal to. And while I may not know whether or not Brady is guilty, I do know that he and the rest of the players gave Goodell the power that he is currently wielding. And for that, they have no one to blame but themselves.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players expires in 2020. Thanks to Brady, I think we all know what one of the first demands of the NFLPA will be a lessening of the power of the commissioner in terms of punishing players and/or teams. And it is a more than reasonable demand to make. What would make sense is that if a player did not agree with a punishment levied upon him, he should be able to appeal in front of an independent arbitrator that is not the exact same person who made the ruling in the first place. Until that happens though, the players are simply going to have to live with what they agreed to.
Maybe if Brady really wants to go out and stick it to the league, he can continue to appeal his case, hope it lasts through this season so he can play all 16 games, win the Super Bowl, and ride off into the sunset like Peyton Manning without ever serving his suspension. That would be the ultimate victory for Brady. So if I were Brady, I would go into training camp this season and expect nothing less than a Super Bowl. I would have my lawyers draw out the legal process as long as they could, and try to go out with a victory not only on the field against the 32 other teams, but off the field over Roger Goodell as well. That, in my book, would be the ultimate way to go out. Ride off into the sunset with all his money, his supermodel wife, and a big middle finger for the league that tried to tarnish his legendary image.
Daily Giants Update: With the draft now less than 48 hours away, it is truly time to get excited. With the first two picks seemingly locked in as Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, that leaves seven teams ahead of the Giants to make their selections. I have wanted Myles Jack to fall to the Giants ever since the season ended and we had a linebacking unit that was atrocious, and his name seems to be falling a bit recently. Hopefully he falls into the laps of the Giants, and if he is still on the board when they pick, I would hope that the team jumps at the chance to take him and immediately plugs him in and tries to turn him into the future leader of the defense that the team has so desperately needed for so long now.
Daily Rangers Update: The season is over, and what a disappointing way to end it. That's all I have to say about them.
In hockey that actually does matter, the St. Louis Blues knocked out the defending champion Blackhawks in a crazy Game 7, and the Ducks face the Predators tonight in the final game of the first round. The Islanders and Lightning also kick off the second round tonight in Tampa Bay.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: After 22 games, the team sits at 11-11, and while it is still early, there still have been things that I have been able to take away early in the year. The $200 million man Zack Greinke got off to a very bad start, but I think he is starting to find a bit of a rhythm. I can't say that I expect a historical season like he had last year, but he is going to be the ace.
I cannot say anything close to that, however, about the other new acquisition in the rotation, one Shelby Miller. He has been horrible in every start thus far. I felt bad enough about what the team gave up to get him immediately after the deal, and with the way he has performed so far, I only feel worse.
Still plenty of time left, and I have seen some good things elsewhere, but I think I have already lost patience with Miller.
Daily NBA Update: The Raptors staged an incredible comeback last night to avoid another loss at home, but my stance on them remains the same. Don't talk about being disrespected until you actually win a playoff series.
The Cavaliers and Spurs are in cruise control, and I also like what I have seen from the Atlanta Hawks. The talk of the playoffs has been injuries though, and the Los Angeles Clippers went from having championship aspirations one night to talk about blowing up the team after losing Chris Paul AND Blake Griffin to injury the next night. I think they have about a 50/50 chance of getting past the Portland Trail Blazers, but I would be shocked if they got anywhere after that.
The injury bug, has also bitten Stephen Curry, and while the injury he suffered was absolutely a freak accident that there was no way of predicting or preventing, he is starting to worry me a bit with the multiple injuries he has suffered over the course of the past few months. There are some guys, no matter the sport, that just seem to be unable to stay healthy for extended periods of time, and I hope this is just a blip on the radar and he does not fall into that category. I think Golden State still gets past a Houston Rockets team that should really be ashamed of the way they have looked on most nights.
The Warriors also caught a break when Griffin and Paul went down, because it will like be Golden State and Los Angeles in the second round. With the Clippers down their two best players, I think the Warriors win that series easily if Curry plays, and I think they still win even if he misses all or some of the series.
Right now though, the Spurs and Cavaliers are both healthy and rolling, so if Curry is unable to get back to 100%, Cleveland and San Antonio look like the two best teams.
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