The man responsible for kicking off more than three weeks of DeflateGate shenanigans finally has issued an apology. Well, kind of.
WTHR.com’s Bob Kravitz, who initially broke the news that the NFL was investigating the possibility of the New England Patriots using deflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game, published a mea culpa (of sorts) Tuesday morning.
Kravitz didn’t apologize for actually breaking the story, insisting he had a great source and knew “with 100 percent certainty” that the information was correct.
In Kravitz’s account, he erred while voicing his opinion that Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick should be severely punished if New England was found guilty.
“I thought it was implied, quite strongly, that penalties should only be levied if the Patriots were found guilty of toying with the integrity of the game, but I failed to establish that clearly in those tweets and in my columns,” Kravitz wrote. “Thus, it appeared I was calling for Belichick’s head and other penalties before any investigation was completed.
“Clearly (or maybe not so clearly), I would never call for Aaron Hernandez to get a life sentence before he got his day in court, and I did not mean to suggest that Belichick and the Patriots should be penalized before an investigation was complete. But that’s the way it came out, and for that, I apologize.”
The NFL’s independent investigation of New England’s involvement in DeflateGate is ongoing, so withholding judgment on the Patriots until a verdict is reached should be obvious. Until the league releases its findings, however, it appears we’ll all be subjected to more apologies and speculation.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
