NFL Commissioner/Warden/Playa Hater Roger Goodevil upheld New England Patriots QB Tom Brady’s suspension earlier today. Now Brady is looking to take the NFL to court, and the Twitter-verse has exploded with reactions from both sides of the coin.
And while this Pittsburgh Steelers fan is happy that Brady’s suspension (we will open the 2015 season against the Patriots), I do wonder what criteria Goodevil uses in reducing and upholding suspensions.
I mean, let’s take Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell for example. Bell was originally suspended three games for his DUI and marijuana possession charges. Goodevil reduced it to two games earlier today.
To me, DUI and weed possession is more egregious than deflating footballs. Yet Bell’s suspension was reduced and Brady’s wasn’t.
Example #2: Greg Hardy.
Now this dude was originally suspended for his role in a domestic violence incident. The details were so horrifying that I didn’t think it would be possible for Hardy to continue his NFL career. Goodevil later reduced Hardy’s suspension to four games.
Now think about that for a moment. Brady was suspended for the same length of time as a convicted woman batterer. As with the case with Bell, I think deflating footballs is FAR less of a hot-button issue than domestic violence.
Go figure.
I understand that Goodevil and Co. have sent a message to Brady that being uncooperative is not an option. But four games for deflating footballs, especially when said footballs were not used in the second half of the AFC Championship game when New England blew the doors off of Indianapolis? Really??
Then again, this is Roger Goodevil we are talking about. The idea of crawling into Goodevil’s head and trying to understand his logic in reducing and upholding suspensions makes my head hurt.
Categories: NFL
You are correct from society’s standpoint. Of course, battering someone is worse than deflating a damn football.
But from the NFL point of view, the opposite is true. Brady was trying to get a competitive advantage that’s against the rules. This is much more of a threat to the integrity of the league. If fans don’t believe the games are on the level, it’s jai lai or pro wrestling.
Hardy, Bell and R Rice are idiots who deserve to be punished severely. But they did not try to fix the game in their favor. The NFL takes what Brady did much more seriously, as they should.
JAG