#DFG: Canceling the Noise

[MillarTime]

Pat's fans may not want to leave the comfy confines of BBTL for a while. Just checked a few other site to gauge the reactions...people are literally unable to be rational about the Pats at this point. Multiple comments equating Tom Brady with Pete Rose.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Without Brady? I doubt that even New England fans watch, much less the public at large.

You're delusional.

 

[HowBoutDemSox]

At the very, very least, I'd like to think this would shut up anyone who thinks this franchise gets preferential treatment from the League before of Kraft.

 

[RG33]

The penalties for this is a joke, get your popcorn ready for Brady and the NFLPA to go nuclear.

People saying they won't watch the NFL or are getting rid of their season tickets is also a joke. Get a grip.

Forfeiting their 1st four games would be really funny. Going 12-4 and still getting a #1 seed would be even funnier.

We're on to Pittsburgh . . . . . . . .

 

[RIrooter09]

Kraft should seriously consider litigation to make this as messy as possible for the league.  It's clear you're being targeted and punished more harshly than your peers, no need to worry about making enemies at this point.

 

[Reverend]

The thread about the suspension on reddit got 2,500 comments in 25 minutes.

 

[Sox and Rocks]

While most owners may in fact hate (jealous of) the pats, they have to understand the problem of having such a power hungry, rogue commish

 

[Stitch01]

Nope it wont.  They didn't strip all four titles.

 

[Dropkick Izzy]

Fuck. This. Shit.

 

[Jinhocho]

I honestly do think I have ever been so mad about anything in my life when it comes to sports.  MAD.  Spygate was BS, but they got caught.  This - what the fuck is this?  

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Pats fans must respond.  

Get a list of NFL sponsors. For each sponsor, provide one or more competitors to that sponsor. Distribute the list via social media. Adhere to not buying sponsor products. Didn't the backlash against Anheiser Busch (Orthwein) help keep the Pats from moving to St. Louis (or is that a myth?)

 

[TheoShmeo]

Silver lining: The outrageous penalties given to the Pats aligns the team with Brady.  Or it should. 

 

[Was (Not Wasdin)]

Does the suspension mean 4 games or 4 weeks?  Week 4 is their bye, and week 5 (game 4) is the game in Dallas.
 
The NFLPA had better be all over this one.   

 

[dcmissle]

Goodell explicitly said penalty was so strict because of spygate.  He's doing this because he got bitched at for being too lenient last time.

Recidivist. There you go.

 

[kenneycb]

Why couldn't he have just beaten up Giselle instead?

 

[Stitch01]

4 games.
 
The NFLPA will fight this tooth and nail, and probably win, but the picks are just killers.

 

[ObstructedView]

Hey, at least they didn't vacate the title! There were "serious people" who were actually calling for that.

 

[Harry Hooper]

Jim Grey: There's no way this suspension of Tom Brady will hold up.

 

[twibnotes]

I've been dying for a reason to never drink Bud. Tastes like shit anyway.

 

[Reverend]

The thread about the suspension on reddit got 2,500 comments in 25 minutes.

 
Also, the redditor fans of all teams appear to think this is a fucking joke.
 
Goodell is hated more than the Patriots it seems.

 

[moonshotmanny]

They are doing their best to try and make the Pats non-competitive aren't they. I am really, really, really pissed, and I usually don't swear in posts even when I feel like it.

 

[dbn]

They should play the entire first game without a QB on the field. Just snap it, shotgun style, into an empty backfield and let the other team return it for a TD. Every offensive play. All game.

 

[Papo The Snow Tiger]

Roger Goodell sucks the seat off a dead man's balls!

 

[Marciano490]

I care way more about the pick than the 4 games.  Obviously first rounders are hit or miss, and we've won championships after losing them in the past, but that's something that could affect us for a decade.  The 4 games probably won't matter come January.

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Not a Patriots fan here. But it is just stunning that the NFL is determined to try to burn down one if its biggest stars over nothing.
 
I am just trying to find a hypothetical that would be somehow similar. The NBA is hardly a paragon of amazing management and wisdom, but If some NBA team was jealous of Lebron and whined to the league that his headband was made from a non-approved substance and it was against the rules and maybe possibly it was giving him some sort of a miniscule edge, do you think the NBA would respond by commissioning a high-profile investigation of Lebron's cheating, then suspend him for a quarter of the season and slam his team hard with a fine and taking away draft picks? Would Headbandgate be in the news for months? Hahaha, obviously not, only an insane organization would behave that way over nothing. 
 
The NFL themselves basically ignored the same thing when it happened with the Chargers and when they were heating the balls in the Vikings game. That only makes this whole thing even more insane.
 
To do this in a league with so many issues with actual violence and crime is just... I don't even know. 
 
You don't have to be a Patriots fanboy or a Tom Brady fan to think this is insane. You just have to be a fairly reasonable person. 

 

[natpastime162]

Nope. I've lived outside MA since 2001 and I can tell you that ain't happening. People hate the Patriots.

 
Yep, Eagles fan in PA here.  The only thing people around here seem to agree on is the Pats are dirty cheaters.  I tend to avoid the topic as it is never interesting and always becomes a SpyGate discussion.  Interestingly, I have yet to find a single non-Pats fan in this state that brought up the topic, then when asked was also able to accurately describe the actual transgressions in SpyGate.

 

[Section15Box113]

Nope. I've lived outside MA since 2001 and I can tell you that ain't happening. People hate the Patriots.

Use your aggressive feelings. Let the hate flow through you.

From now, I *am* embracing the Dark Side.

And, starting in game 5, it will be time to move the battle station into position...

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Come on. The equipment guys are team employees. I'm sure NFL HQs was pissed about the Patriots not making McNally available to talk about the text messages too. Even in the context of this whole thing being ridiculous, penalizing the team still makes sense. Not penalizing BB because the investigation showed he had no involvement also makes sense.

They interviewed him FOUR times. That's not enough?

 

[bsartist618]

 
I'd love to hear the NFL's explanation for the reason why ball PSI specifications were determined to be what they are.  Surely they exist for a reason.

 

[soxhop411]

Just KO your wife next time. You would have gotten less games

 

[nighthob]

While most owners may in fact hate (jealous of) the pats, they have to understand the problem of having such a power hungry, rogue commish

 
I doubt the owners hate the Patriots, and from all reports Kraft is very popular amongst them. Now I'm sure opposing coaches and GMs hate them for continuously beating the crap of them, but that's another matter. So don't worry, there will be another attempted coup, only this time Kraft isn't going to help out Goodell.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

Why couldn't he have just beaten up Giselle instead?

There's no evidence he didn't.

 

[twibnotes]

The real question here is why is Brady tagging Goodell's wife and how did he find out about it?

 

[scottyno]

Integrity of the rules matters so much, that's why the Wells report went back and questioned the refs that blew the pats balls up to 16 psi further outside the allowed limit that the pats are being punished for.

 

[nighthob]

 
I'd love to hear the NFL's explanation for the reason why ball PSI specifications were determined to be what they are.  Surely they exist for a reason.

 
Unlike baseball's pine tar rule (which originated as a cost saving measure in WWI) the depression era rule in the NFL doesn't have any documentation. 

 

[soxhop411]

@LG_Blount: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! SMH [emoji35] #PATSNATION STAND UP!!!!!

 

[IdiotKicker]

How do they hit them for picks when the report cleared the team?

 

[mt8thsw9th]

So I'm still not sure what they did wrong. Weird.

 

[soxhop411]

@LG_Blount: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! SMH [emoji35] #PATSNATION STAND UP!!!!!

 

[Average Reds]

I'll say this as calmly as possible.  The NFL has (once again) badly overplayed its hand.
 
Once I actually looked at the facts associated with the bounty scandal in New Orleans, I realized that Goodell made a conscious decision to sacrifice the health of a single franchise in service to what he saw as the greater good, which was to project an image of toughness on the issue of player safety while the league was in active litigation on the matter.  The fact that the bounty program wasn't the widespread scandal that Goodell made it out to be was irrelevant.  Once the reporting established the narrative, Goodell did not hesitate to act.  And we - the non-Saints fans who sat and watched it happened - did nothing.
 
The same thing is playing out here on a smaller level.  The NFL allowed a narrative to take hold and the only way out was to find the Pats culpable.  Once that culpability was '\"established" (through the bogus Wells Report) the punishment was inevitable.
 
Brady's suspension will obviously be overturned.  But the Pats aren't going to do anything but take their punishment.  And the NFL will never have to answer for their misbehavior in setting up a sting operation during the actual AFC Championship Game.
 
The only way this will change is if Brady decides to be a Curt Flood-like figure and sacrifice the remainder of his career in service to proving a point. 
 
It's not reasonable to expect Brady to do this.  He's going to fight his suspension and move on after that decision is rendered.  But one day Goodell will go so far that a player will feel compelled to force the issue.  And the joke that is the NFL Commissioner's Office will be exposed for what it is.
 

 

[Tito's Pullover]

Enemy #1a = Troy Fucking Vincent, the former Eagle and the Bill.

I still don't understand how Troy Vincent, who didn't graduate from Wisconsin and only got his bachelor's degree in 2007 from a distance learning program, is qualified to be an Executive Vice President in the National Football League.  Apart from being a pretty good football player, of course.

 

[dcmissle]

Bad sign. This is all Troy Vincent. Seems to me that Goodell is likely to assume role as reviewer, which will compel Brady to sue.

Goodell really fucked the team in the Machiavellian way I outlined.

 

[soxhop411]

@zeus30hightower: .....[emoji58]

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

@nfl NFL cites prior violations as a factor in penalties levied against @Patriots: at.nfl.com/t4KuKRN pic.twitter.com/Z95gKL5GBq
 
To me this is the worst excuse out of the lot. They could not prove team's wrongdoing in the report, so they cite Spygate which they were ALREADY penalized for. 
 
Like I said before, the fuckers at the NFL who's out to get the Pats will only look for more chances, every single year. It's the Revenge of the Losers. 

 

[soxhop411]

@zeus30hightower: .....[emoji58]

 

[mikeot]

Kraft should seriously consider litigation to make this as messy as possible for the league.  It's clear you're being targeted and punished more harshly than your peers, no need to worry about making enemies at this point.

 
Channel the ghost of Al Davis and litigate the shit out of this travesty.  

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Players reactions:
 
@LG_Blount
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! SMH #PATSNATION STAND UP!!!!!
 

@PatrickChung23
Fukin ridiculous

 

[Skip]

What an embarrassment of an overreaction by the NFL

 

[RG33]

I would like the Patriots to troll the NFL and announce they have traded their 2015 1st round draft pick for Joe Haden.

 

[johnnywayback]

I think this whole thing further illustrates that the NFL is just terrible.  It's not the first illustration of that fact, and it's not even close to the most egregious.  I'm sure someone in here has assembled the list: not just the front-page stuff like CTE and the Ray Rice fiasco, but the long history of empowering teams to hold state and local taxpayers over a barrel and the blackout policies and the exploitation of the military and people with cancer. . . the NFL is bad.  It's a bad thing.  And I often wish I didn't love football, because I feel bad when I pay attention to it, and even worse when I pay money to it in the form of Sunday Ticket, etc.
 
 
As I think I've said here before, I don't give a shit about the *morality* of sports.  It doesn't bother me if Tom Brady's legacy is besmirched.  You could actually take away the actual championships, and it wouldn't for a moment detract from the joy of watching them be won.
 
But the NFL hasn't been *fun* for a long time, not in the sense of pure fun that sports is supposed to provide.  And while, as a Patriots fan who really enjoys cheering when they win, and watching you guys cheer when they win, and watching fans of other teams look miserable when their teams lose, I'm pissed off about this ruling, I also think, in a way, it might give me a reason to start not caring about football entirely.  And that might be not such a horrible thing.
 
In other words: Yes, it took the NFL being terrible in a way that directly affected my favorite team for me to care enough about it being terrible to consider quitting.  But I suspect that I would miss it a lot less than I think.