Deflategate 2 Roundup: National Media is Calling Out Goodell and Demanding He Apologize to the Patriots
Why the @NFL has overlooked the @steelers‘ Deflategate 2.0, via @ebenezersamuel https://t.co/9YNFI7HMmc pic.twitter.com/5cFMgURxvO
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) December 14, 2016
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NYDN – [S]omehow, Roger Goodell and his stooges are already all done with the strange case of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ underinflated footballs. …
Nobody can or will say anything legitimate about Deflategate 2.0, because the whole discussion of ball deflation theory is so 2015, especially when it doesn’t involve the Patriots’ Evil Empire. … The Steelers faced the Giants in frigid temperatures, so is it really any surprise that two footballs, measured by Big Blue, reportedly measured in at 11.4 psi and 11.8 psi, respectively?
Nope, but the league can’t admit that.
Yahoo! – [T]he initial situation with the New England Patriots scandal is nearly identical – the NFL chose to do nearly the exact opposite. … NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to do the right thing and verbalize it with a simple but noble act.
He should apologize to Tom Brady.
WaPo – Any serious examination of those footballs from the Giants-Steelers game might well show that Goodell owes the Patriots and Brady an apology and material recompense. Which is exactly why the league is shutting the matter down and shutting it down now.
Forbes – [W]hen compared to the way the Deflategate investigation was handled, the way the NFL scrambled to quell Glazer’s story is telling. The Giants’ allegations were seemingly treated like a routine complaint, opposed to the crime of the century. Playing with deflated footballs isn’t a big deal. The one-hour lifespan of Deflategate 2.0 shows that to be true.
Maybe there’s hope for American journalism after all. Because even though the Boston sports media’s biggest douchebag continues to show his utter contempt for his readership by misusing the term “Deflategate Truther” I invented to describe the Pats fans he hates so much and insists we’re all dopes for still being mad over Deflategate 1 (I refuse to link to his bullshit), at least the national press gets it. All the columnists who don’t despise the football public of New England or have a petty little vendetta against the Krafts and Belichick can admit the obvious, bold faced, weapons-grade hypocrisy Roger Goodell and the NFL are displaying here.
Even worse is that Goodell – the soulless, contemptible, thin-lipped, animatronic despot that he is – can’t even be bothered to hide his total lack of respect for the football fans of America that made him a multi-millionaire. The air pressure of footballs was central to the integrity of the sport. Until it wasn’t. Until saying it was meant testing the balls at every game and telling us the results. Which they refuse to do because it would prove what a fraud the whole issue is.
Now it’s about “chain of custody.” Yeah, that’s it. That’s why the Pats lost draft picks and their franchise quarterback for a quarter of a season and the Steelers will walk away unscathed after the quickest “There’s nothing to see here, citizens” in history. Chain of custody. Even when you’ve got the Giants poking gauges into their opponent’s footballs against league rules, procedures were followed, the Ideal Gas Law is suddenly real, the Patriots are guilty and everyone else is cleaner than Pope Francis. Every time Patriots fans carry the Ball of Logic into the Endzone of Truth to score 6 points of Brady’s Innocence, the NFL moves the goal line.
So I appreciate the support coming from outside of New England. When Deflategate 2 first broke, I said it would expose the league’s shameless hypocrisy once and for all. And it’s rewarding to know I’m not alone. As far as getting an apology, we have a better chance of getting the Super Bowls against the Giants reversed. But it’s a nice thought. And if I’m fantasizing about how it might go down, I’ll picture Goodell delivering it on the podium at the Super Bowl while handing the Lombardi to Brady. And Brady responding with a “Thank you, Commissioner. Now go fuck yourself. Fuck you in the eye. Fuck you in the ear. Fuck you, you self-righteous, feckless, evil little asswipe. For 16 years I’ve represented this league with dignity and integrity. I’ve conducted myself with class and should have been the face of your league. But while you’ve spent all this time protecting wife-beaters and child-abusers and homicidal maniacs you conduct a witch hunt on me, destroy my reputation and turn me into a national punchline. I’m going to stay in this league just so I can fill my hands with championship rings and wear them while I reach my hands into your chest and rip out your tiny black heart and watch the light leave your eyes, you vindictive little coward.”
Or, simply do this. I’m good either way: