FOXBORO, Mass. — DeflateGate spiraled into chaos Thursday afternoon.
Tom Brady came to the podium and said he was ready to answer questions about the controversy, and roughly 20 national news reporters perched on the edge of their flimsy Gillette Stadium media workroom chairs all pounced at once, screaming out “Tom!” “Tom!” “TOM!” “Tom!” “Tom!”
Brady’s character was questioned, he was asked if he was a cheater, and then he was asked to apologize to his young fans watching from home. And this was after Brady claimed no wrongdoing.
Check out this exchange:
Tom, a lot of fans are disappointed in the situation right here, for those, is this a moment where you should just pause and say whether it was by design, or as you suggested wasn’t, or just accidental, is this a moment to just say ‘I’m sorry’ to the fans of the NFL and to the fans of Tom Brady?
“Well, I think it’s disappointing when a situation like this happens. Obviously I’d love to be talking about a very joyful mood. These are the best two weeks of the year if you happen to be one of the two teams still playing. It should be a great two weeks. I’m obviously very disappointed that we’re having a press conference like this. I wish I could give you more answers or the answers that you guys are looking for, but I don’t have some of those.”
Your fans are watching, so if they’re looking in that camera, what do you say? What do you say to the fans of the Patriot Nation?
I’m not sure. What would you like me to say? I’m not quite sure.
You say whatever you like, you’re the guy.
(Laughs.)
These were questions asked by a White House News Correspondent. Poor Obama.
As Brady said, and he’s being criticized for it on Twitter, this isn’t ISIS. This is regarding two pounds per square inch of pressure being let out of a football.
Belichick and Brady both said they didn’t do anything wrong. They easily could have made this go away with a relatively minuscule fine if they had admitted to cheating, so now it’s up to the NFL, which hasn’t even spoken to Brady, to decide whether the Patriots altered the footballs.
The Patriots are probably hoping the NFL reaches its decision soon. The NFL likely has no interest. They’re getting even more coverage than normal over a week before their biggest event of the year. This story is leading national news. And it’s about letting air out of a football.
This shouldn’t be this big of a story. The advantage of playing with a ball with 10.5 PSI versus 12.5 PSI was showcased in the AFC Championship Game, when Brady actually played better with the properly inflated balls after the half. But the NFL let it become the biggest story of the year. The original punishment for altering a football was $25,000. That suggests how unimportant this story should be. Deflating a football is comparable to when New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda used pine tar to get a better grip on a baseball — cheating, but not worthy of NBC Nightly News leading with the story.
If the NFL decides that the Patriots cheated and let air pressure out of footballs, then they should be penalized, perhaps harshly, because it’s one thing to cheat, and it’s another to cheat and lie.
But for now, Brady and Belichick both just stood at a podium and declared that they didn’t do anything wrong. What’s in it for either man, both humongous public figures, to lie on a national stage with the possibility existing that either could be proven wrong?
Their other option was to deflect all questions on the matter and stonewall the press as Belichick has been known to do. Belichick and Brady didn’t mince their words or leave any shadow of a doubt. They denied any responsibility.
The Patriots quarterback and head coach would lose all credibility, and their reputations would be tarnished forever, if they were outed as liars. So let’s allow the NFL to do its job, and it appears that they’re taking their sweet time.
Belichick and Brady have a lot riding on the truth.
Thumbnail photo via Elise Amendola/Associated Press
