Number of Legitimate Patriots Championships Holding Steady at Zero

[Daly]

It's a $25K fine for the crime. The rest of it is for the cover up.

[Daly]

Rumor going around that the owners are furious.... And not at the patriots. Done be surprised if Rodger gets his walking papers before kickoff.

[4Dragons]

AP Story..

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-11-19-33-12


NFL suspends Brady 4 games for deflated footballs

NEW YORK (AP) -- The NFL came down hard on its biggest star and its championship team, telling Tom Brady and the Patriots that no one is allowed to mess with the rules of the game.
The league suspended the Super Bowl MVP Monday for the first four games of the season, fined the New England Patriots $1 million and took away two draft picks as punishment for deflating footballs used in the AFC title game.
"Each player, no matter how accomplished and otherwise respected, has an obligation to comply with the rules and must be held accountable for his actions when those rules are violated and the public's confidence in the game is called into question," NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent wrote to Brady.
The Patriots lose next year's first-round pick and a fourth-round choice in 2017.
Brady would miss the season's showcase kickoff game on Sept. 10 against Pittsburgh, then Week 2 at Buffalo, a home game against Jacksonville and a game at Dallas. He will return the week of a Patriots-Colts AFC championship rematch in Indianapolis.
He would be replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo, a 2014 second-round selection from Eastern Illinois who won the Walter Payton award as the best player in the FCS. He has thrown 27 NFL passes, including one touchdown.
Brady has three days to appeal the suspension to Commissioner Roger Goodell or his designee. His agent, Don Yee, said "the discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis" and that Brady will appeal.
"And if the hearing officer is completely independent and neutral, I am very confident the Wells Report will be exposed as an incredibly frail exercise in fact-finding and logic," Yee said in a statement.
The Patriots did not immediately comment on the punishments.
The league also indefinitely suspended the two equipment staffers believed to have carried out the plan, including one who called himself "The Deflator."
Vincent wrote letters to the team and Brady saying a league-sponsored investigative report established "substantial and credible evidence" that the quarterback knew the employees were deflating footballs and failed to cooperate with investigators.
The investigation by attorney Ted Wells found that Brady "was at least generally aware" of plans by two Patriots employees to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch.
The Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 and went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
The fine matches the largest the NFL has handed out, to Ed DeBartolo Jr., then the San Francisco 49ers' owner, who pleaded guilty to a felony in his role in a Louisiana gambling scandal in 1999.
Vincent told the Patriots the punishment was handed out regardless of whether the flatter footballs - which can be easier to grip and catch - affected the outcome of the blowout win over the Colts. Vincent said the flattening of balls probably began much earlier.
"While we cannot be certain when the activity began, the evidence suggests that January 18th was not the first and only occasion when this occurred, particularly in light of the evidence referring to deflation of footballs going back to before the beginning of the 2014 season," he wrote.
"It is impossible to determine whether this activity had an effect on the outcome of games or what that effect was."
In his 243-page report released by the league last week, Wells found that the team broke the rules again, this time by deflating the game footballs after they had been checked by officials. Although the report did not conclusively link the four-time Super Bowl champion to the illegal activity, text messages between the equipment staffers indicated that Brady knew it was going on. Investigators said Brady's explanation for the messages was implausible.
"It is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady's knowledge and approval," the report said.
The NFL allows each team to provide the footballs used by its offense - a procedure Brady played a role in creating - but it requires them to be inflated in that range of 12.5-13.5 pounds per square inch. Footballs with less pressure can be easier to grip and catch, and Brady has expressed a preference for the lower end of the range.
Brady said last week that the scandal hasn't taken away from the team's 28-24 Super Bowl win over Seattle - its fourth NFL title since the 2001 season.
"Absolutely not," he said at a previously planned appearance in Salem, Massachusetts, last Thursday night. "We earned everything we got and achieved as a team, and I am proud of that and so are our fans."
Fans chanted "Brady" and "MVP," then gave him a standing ovation as he entered the arena in the town made famous by the colonial witch trials. Since the airing of the scandal in the hours after the Colts game, New England fans have been unwavering in their support for the team, blaming the investigation on grudges by opponents jealous of the team's success.
The Patriots' odds for winning another championships dropped from 7-1 to 10-1, according to the Glantz-Culver line.
San Francisco defensive tackle Darnell Dockett's reaction in a tweet was: "You have to love the patriots. They do anything to win a Super Bowl."

[Sanlmar]

The AP story above claims:

...New England fans have been unwavering in their support for the team, blaming the investigation on grudges by opponents jealous of the team's success.

This couldn't be further from the truth. One of the greatest joys of living in Massachusetts aside from some excellent professional sports teams is the superior sports talk despite the championships. Boston fans are still amongst the most cynical & jaded. Philly is pretty damn good too. Chip Kelly & Philly are a perfect match.

Boston: The fellowship of the miserable are still present and accounted for.

Now that the Red Sox are losing and the Patriots are hamming it up there can be no question that I am enjoying the greatest sports talk in the country. Unwavering support? Complete nonsense. Patriots & NFL are getting hammered and I love listening to every minute.

I remember tuning in to Seattle sports talk with the Tune In app after their Super Bowl loss. I was expecting anger & ferocity. Nothing of the sort. Graceful losers. What a bunch of pussies.

Can you imagine how gay sports talk in Los Angeles must be?

[jsearles22]

[Daly]

[BeerAndPoker]

Brady obviously appeals this just like anyone in sports in hopes to get it shortened and not admit guilt.

[BCR]

First game back is Sunday Night Football against the Colts who turned him in?



he'll throw for 500 in that one.

[BeerAndPoker]

DELETED FROM THE NET.

[simpdog]

Hey guys, I got a good one.

 

[Corrigan]

wonder if you could pixelate it a bit more

[BeerAndPoker]

[1marley1]

*green rep*

i said basically all those things

[big dick]

LOL ZZZZZ nappy time

[1marley1]

LOL ZZZZZ nappy time

*red rep*

[TheXFactor]

[simpdog]

BREAKING NEWS: Patriots sign undrafted QB Dom Grady out of W. Michigan to play QB in weeks 1-4 while Tom Brady sits.

[Corrigan]

Free yebsite

[WillieMcFML]

Free yebsite

[chinamaniac]

Obviously Brady liked the ball a bit deflated and knew. That was obvious back then.

Still, it's a completely retarded rule. The fucking refs handle the ball after every single play. If one of those assholes can't give it a squeeze and notice a demonstrable deflation, it's not worthy of a silly rule. It's retarded to give the teams their own balls to fix up in the first place, but if you do, they're clearly going to work them up to their liking. The only enforcement should be the refs on the field. If they can't notice it, it's largely insignificant in degree. More psychological than actual advantage as demonstrated by his equal and better numbers after they inflated them.

If the NFL wasn't so fucking cheap they'd have hired full time refs rather than guys who worked it as a second job. They might have hired a few full timers after the last labor dispute, but all the orthodontists and other guys are still grandfathered in. It's not like the league makes billions. I'm no Pats fan, but the whole story is nonsensical. If you're not closely monitoring something, guys are going to dabble in the edges of legality or slightly over. I can feel if a ball is significantly deflated in one second. If these guys handling it every play can't, then it's so small as to be a non-story imo.

Theoretically, he broke rules. If you want to fine him a few dollars so be it. He can certainly afford it. Let him play and send his first two or four checks to charity. Just come to a resolution and shut the fuck up about it. The ball could have been filled with 10lbs of concrete and he still would have shredded the Colts.

I don't doubt the pats are generally dirty. I also don't doubt the first four of my Steeler SB wins were largely a result of them being ahead of the curve in terms of PED's in the 70s. Guys all over were experimenting with them, but those Steeler offensive lines were like Soviet-bloc Olympic power lifters. Way more organized at cheating than the randoms. I try to be a realist rather than a homer.band sorry Tony, the Hawks are on that wagon big time also. It's obvious when you see their guys get larger and faster and more aggressive than their previous career trajectory suggest possible. The league has always been ruled by guys pushing the edges. Same as any other industry.

Rumor is suspension up to 8 games. Would not be surprised if it gets wiped out or severely brought down on an appeal.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-...-be-overturned