Tom Brady Cheats; Minions Pay the Price
Presidential contenders defend him (Los Angeles Times). Movie stars have predicted future victories for him (Us Magazine). And what about the masses? In one Iowa poll, the Midwest majority believes Tom Brady, the Patriot quarterback and current Super Bowl MVP, flat out cheated in his latest NFC championship victory (DesMoines Register).
But the real story here isn’t about the glitzy Kraft family team owners that deny any wrong doing. The story isn’t even that Tom Brady all but was holding the smoking gun—or should we call them smoking text messages?—after the disapproving Ted Wells Report came out all but sinking the Super Bowl winning organization’s claims of complete innocence (Wells). Not at all. The real issue here is the punishment the Patriots will receive, and how in this case the Patriot fish might rot from the head down…but it’s the tail end of that fish that is getting chopped.
For those not in the know, the term ‘Deflategate’ refers to a colossal scandal facing the NFL Patriots after their victory in the NFC Championship game that gave them a one way ticket to the 2015 Super Bowl this past January. Essentially the opposing team brought to the attention of the officials that the balls seemed a little off. Upon closer inspection of the balls, it was learned that the balls were indeed ‘deflated’ to the extent that they broke NFL rules for how much air should have actually been inside each ball (Wells).
The quarterback of any team can request that his team’s balls be filled to a certain level to accommodate his own preferences. However, that level must be within the NFL guidelines. In this case, the balls were substantially underweight. Experts claim that this could make it easier during poor weather for the quarterback to grasp (Wells) (Yahoo News).
So…was it Brady who filled the balls up? Nope. That’s for the hired help to do (Wells).
In this case it was two small time employees of the Patriots organization who, evidenced by text messages, purposefully deflated the balls at the request of Tom Brady himself (Wells).
One might think that with evidence pointing towards Brady as the instigator of the ‘cheat’ that he would face the lion’s share of the penalty. Unfortunately for the two who actually deflated the balls, that isn’t the case (Yahoo News).
Tom Brady is to face a mere 4 game suspension. The guys he directed to deflate the balls are fired…for forever. That’s right. They are suspended from the NFL for life (Yahoo News).
It’s at this point in the story that a thinking person must ask himself or herself how the lowly hired help was supposed to avoid becoming road kill—that is, how were the minions supposed to not lose their jobs? If these two gentlemen had not heeded the wishes of Tom “I don’t think I cheat” Brady the two would most assuredly have been fired. But, by virtue of the fact that they deflated the balls, these two men are kicked out of the NFL like a red-shirted security guard on Star Trek. Best not to spend the small time paycheck all in one place. They don’t get paid much.
The question this writer has is one of fairness. Is it fair that these fellows get the ax because they followed orders, while the guy wielding the orders gets to continue being a megastar football player with the Super Bowl ring, the car, and the fancy-pants lifestyle?
Survey of one—as in this one writer—says no.
Why should minions lose their employment when managers and star players won’t have their livelihoods effected? But this iGlobe writer will put it to you, sports fans. Do you think it is fair that the underlings lose their jobs while the current Super Bowl Champions continue to party like rock stars?
Feel free to sound off in the comments below. After it’s all been said and done, the news media seems to not sound off about this issue…at all. I guess it’s left to the rest of us to vote with our blogs…and wishful thinking that people might close their wallets until some real justice with a healthy topping of mercy is delivered fairly.
by Kendall Haney, Sports Pseudo-Not-Really-Football Enthusiast
Sources:
Wells, Ted. "Ted Wells Report Deflategate." Ted Wells Report Deflategate. N.p., 2015. Web. 05 June 2015.
Los Angeles Times. “Ted Cruz Says Tom Brady Was Framed in Deflategate Scandal.” Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.
"Mark Wahlberg Texted Tom Brady After Deflategate Scandal: What He Wrote." Latest News. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.
"Iowa Poll: Quarterback Tom Brady Cheated in 'Deflategate'" Des Moines Register. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.
"Tom Brady, Patriots Get Hammered by NFL in Deflate-gate Punishment." Yahoo Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2015.