Kraft Derangement Syndrome is Alive and Well in America
If Kraft is guilty of these charges, the NFL should suspend him for the entire season, fine him $1 million and strip the Patriots of their first-round draft pick next year.
And if you think docking the Patriots a draft pick unfairly punishes the team, I would argue it’s the only real punishment Kraft would feel.
A million bucks is seat-cushion money to a billionaire. As for not being around the team for a year, as long as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are running things, a tackling dummy could be the owner and the Patriots will still reach the Super Bowl.
“I would take their whole draft from them. it has to be something that cripples them. This is a black eye.”
The Patriots, under Kraft, have earned a reputation as unscrupulous cheaters. …
If Kraft is guilty of these charges, the NFL should suspend him for the entire season, fine him $1 million and strip the Patriots of their first-round draft pick next year.
And if you think docking the Patriots a draft pick unfairly punishes the team, I would argue it’s the only real punishment Kraft would feel.
The embarrassment that Robert Kraft has brought to the National League [sic] in my mind is enough that the league should make him sell it. Sell the team.”
Mark Lebovich, New York Times:
“I’ve talked to a few owners in the last few days. To put it lightly, a lot of them – there is not a groundswell of ‘Oh, poor Robert. We have to go easy over this.’ I think as we’ve seen around the Patriots over the last few years and especially around Mr. Kraft, there’s a level of glee and Schadenfreude when things go wrong. And people do sort of jump on the bandwagon.”
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“I think this is how it is going to end. It think it’s going to end with [Mr. Kraft] giving the team to his son. And him never being in that suite again. I don’t think this is like Jimmy Irsay with drugs and a personal history with that problem. I don’t think this is like Jerry Richardson with inappropriate behavior toward employees. I think once you put in these two words ‘sex trafficking,’ whether Robert Kraft knew this or not, I think that changes it. And Mike, the Patriots are the most hated sports team in America. Roger Goodell has slapped Robert Kraft around a number of times, and Kraft has slapped back. And I think this is going to end with him out of the Patriots.”
I present this as your weekly (it seems) roundup of proof (like we needed it) that there is no infraction by anyone involved with the Patriots so small that the world can’t try to use it to try to end the Bradichick Epoch.
An aging widower (allegedly) gets a Rub & a Tug & a Hug at a place that (reportedly) specializes it, and it’s used as an excuse to take away draft picks and even the very empire he built from nothing. An accusation of a misdemeanor offense against a defendant with no record whatsoever, and the same people who think Pretty Woman is a Romantic Comedy are trying leverage it to tear down this dynasty.
You think this is about “human trafficking,” you’re delusional. If you want to have a conversation about the international scourge of sex slavery, let’s do it. But show me anywhere in the laws where it says you fight it by taking draft picks away. The very fact that is the default setting everyone is going to just proves that this is really all about competitive balance. It’s about trying to level the playing field. It’s about jealousy.
The comments to these anonymous owners to the NY Time and Kornheiser’s own opinion bears this out. The rest of the NFL resents Mr. Kraft’s success. The Patriots are hated. And all the reaction to this so far is seen through that prism. “Jimmy” Irsay having a “problem” with drugs is an interested way of putting the fact his mistress overdosed in a condo he bought her with money belonging to the Colts organization and he was convicted of driving around high as a lab rat with a suitcase full of pills and cash. Jerry Richardson sexually harassed the bejeesus out of the female employees he had massive amounts of power over, making their lives miserable. Mr. Kraft is charged with an offense so minor he likely will never have to appear in court over it. To even mention these situations in the same breath is the worst kind of demagoguery.
But sure, let’s do what the NFL always does when it comes to the Patriots: Treat a misdemeanor like a capital crime. Take away the 1st round pick. the next Devin McCourty or Vince Wilfork. Take all 12 of them away. Overreact. Overreach. Force Jonathan Kraft to take over now. Do your worst. It still won’t suddenly make the other 31 organizations competent or keep the Pats out of next year’s AFC championship game. At the very least. But if you do, you better hope all the other 31 owners live pure, Tim Tebow-like lives of chaste morality. And I don’t think the rest of the NFL has the balls to bet on that.