Deflategate Musings:

I have many thoughts on this topic. Below they are listed in no particular order:

(1) Can we stop adding "-gate" to everything remotely suspicious/controversial/popular? We get it, Watergate was a huge scandal so now every scandal is related to that scandal. This normally gets under my skin a lot more than Deflategate has. Perhaps that's because "deflate" and "gate" rhyme. In this case, I'll help perpetuate the use of "-gate" by using it in this post.

(2) I don't believe Belichick, but I don't believe Tom Brady more. First off, how many of you, when watching the press conferences were amazed by how much Belichick had to say? I for one was astounded. He didn't brush it off like I expected him to. This tells me two things: (A) He's taking this seriously, and (B) He feels obligated to address the situation because he knows there's something to hide. He can't be his usual cocky, arrogant self because he knows the media is right in accusing him.

I honestly feel like Belichick has built in plausible deniability but he also knows that Brady was the driving force behind Deflategate. To my second point, never would I ever expect Belichick to deflect attention from himself to Brady like he did in the first press conference. Saying, "I don't know, you'll have to ask Brady," is just crazy to me. Not only that, he wasn't pressed about Brady when he said that, he seemed to be rambling, and then deflected attention from himself to Brady. I wouldn't say he threw Brady under the bus, but he definitely knows that Brady was the one who orchestrated everything.

My last point on this matter, during the press conference, Belichick took it too far when he was stating that he has never paid attention to air pressure in footballs. Really?! One of the best masterminds of our era doesn't know every last detail of what his QB (the very one he's been in tandem with since the year 2000) prefers in a football? I simply cannot believe that. He's hiding something for sure.

(3) The use of the word "ball" is hilarious.

Pay attention, watch the media heads. Whenever they talk about this subject, you can tell they are coached to use the word "football" instead of saying "ball." This is not their fault, it's every guy's fault in America. Admit it, inside each one of us is a middle schooler who still giggles for every sentence with a "ball" remark. It's a wonder why women put up with us. My favorite part of all of this is that whenever the media heads slip up and say "balls" instead of "footballs," there is usually an ever so slight pause where you can see them finish the sentence in their head, try and gauge the level of appropriateness of the rest of their sentence, and wonder if they will be on The Daily Show, Tosh.0, or some other modern day satire for their remark.

(4) Brady is guilty.

I'm operating under an assumption here I want to express. No ball boy nor equipment manager in the game today would ever intentionally deflate the balls on his own accord. There's no way. There must be a driving force involved. That driving force wouldn't be a WR/RB/OL/TE/FB. The only people that would make that decision would be a coach or QB. I don't believe a positional coach would make the call on anything like that. I've already outlined why I don't believe Belichick did it either.

This thought process leads me to believe that Brady is the driving force and one moment in his press conference confirmed this to me. There was a point when a reporter stated (summarized) "Tom, you are an idol and hero to a lot of people across America. You're a big example and someone that a lot of people want to emulate and be like." The reporter then asked him the question, "How would you then respond to people who say 'Tom Brady is a cheater?'" Tom Brady then said, "I don't believe so."

To me this confirms everything. No matter what circumstance any human being is in ever, when someone is falsely accused of cheating/lying/stealing and someone asks, "are you a cheater?" the answer is ALWAYS some strong expression of the word "No!" Brady was behind Deflategate, probably has been for a long time, and by saying "I don't believe so" confirms that he was behind Deflategate but doesn't consider it cheating. This segues to my next point perfectly.

(5) While I do consider this cheating, I don't believe it should be a rule at all. Who cares how much the opposing team inflates the ball. They're the ones who should be comfortable with how hard the balls are in the first place. (the middle school boy in you came out didn't it? See point 3 above) The air pressure obviously didn't make a difference in the second half when the NFL switched the Patriot footballs with footballs inflated with legal pressure. In the second half, the Patriots outscored the Colts 28-0. While this illustrates the point that the Patriots were stupid to risk it in the first place (having clearly been the superior team), I think it also illustrates that there should be a rule change where they relax the rule completely on air pressure in a football. Let the coaches decide how inflated/deflated they keep their footballs. I don't think it has any effect on who wins the game.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know!