Thoughts and Musings on the Wells Report on Deflategate and Its Aftermath…
By Jordan Kobritz
1. Ted Wells’ conclusion that it was “more probable than not” that low-level Patriots’ employees were playing fast and loose with the air pressure in the game balls used in this year’s AFC Championship game is typical NFL-speak. It’s the language required by NFL rules, the legal equivalent of the “preponderance of the evidence” used in civil cases.
2. The Report’s conclusion that Tom Brady was “at least generally aware” of the nefarious activity is more problematic. What, exactly, does that mean? Did he conspire with two other Patriots’ employees to reduce the air pressure in footballs below the league minimum of 12.5 psi? Or did he just have knowledge that they did it?
Throughout his career Brady has let it be known publicly that he prefers footballs on the low end of the pressure scale. In an effort to please the star quarterback, it appears as if the employees took matters into their own hands and, based on texts included in the Report, their actions were right out of a Three Stooges playbook. If Brady suspected — or even if he knew – they were breaking the rules, was he obligated to snitch on them? If an umpire thinks a batter was hit by a pitch when he wasn’t, should the batter correct the umpire and refuse to take his base? The NFL isn’t akin to a U.S Service Academy governed by a Code of Honor.
3. Wells gave NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ample opportunity to extend an olive branch to Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft. Kraft has been one of the league’s power brokers for 21 years and until Deflategate, one of the Commissioner’s staunchest supporters. Goodell could have echoed the conclusions in the Report that exonerated both Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick and the team and refrained from punishing either of them.
On the other hand, the coach is responsible for everything that goes on around the team and given the Patriots’ history of rule breaking — Spygate, anyone? — Goodell’s options included penalizing Belichick, the Patriots and Brady. Goodell let Belichick off the hook entirely, but suspended Brady for four games, fined the team $1 million and docked them two draft picks, their first round pick in 2016 and a fourth-rounder in 2017. That’s not exactly a recipe for making olives.
4. Although it was devoid of a smoking gun, there was something for everyone in the 234-page Report. If you’re a Patriots’ hater — which includes pretty much everyone who doesn’t live in New England – the Report reinforces your belief that the Patriots are cheaters. That’s how they win. If you’re a Patriots fan, you’re more convinced than ever that the NFL — and the entire world beyond New England — is jealous of the team’s success during the past 15 years and is out to “get them.”
5. Anyone who says cheating is cheating and therefore the NFL was obligated to drop the hammer on Brady doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Gaylord Perry won 317 games during a 22-year MLB career and had a well-earned reputation for doing funny things with baseballs. When he was caught doctoring the ball during the 1982 season, he was suspended for 10 games. Despite the suspension, Perry was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. Whether the four-game suspension sticks or not, that’s where Brady will end up – in the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
On the other hand, Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal to throw the World Series, has never been on the ballot for Cooperstown, despite career statistics that would make him a shoe-in, no pun intended. As every sports fan knows, there’s cheating and then there’s gamesmanship. What Jackson was accused of is the former; what Perry did – and Brady may have done – is the latter.
6. A number of commentators have equated Deflategate with the NFL’s domestic violence problem, suggesting they both go to the integrity of the game. Sorry, we’re talking apples and kittens here. Employing criminals — that’s what those who commit domestic abuse are — is a PR nightmare for the league. It may damage the NFL brand, or shield to borrow Goodell’s favorite word, but it doesn’t go to the integrity of the sport. Messing with footballs does.
7. Brady isn’t the only NFL quarterback who has a preference for footballs prepared a certain way. Former NFL quarterback Matt Leinart claims every quarterback — with the exception of one-time teammate Kurt Warner – “tampers with the football.” His remarks were echoed by a number of other signal callers, including Rich Gannon, who said Deflategate is a “non-issue; everyone does something” to the football. Of course, like speeders zipping down the highway, not everyone gets caught.
8. Brady has hired famed litigator and long-time NFL adversary Jeffrey Kessler to assist the NFLPA with his appeal. Kessler successfully challenged the Saints players’ Bountygate punishments, which were overturned by former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who Goodell appointed to hear their appeals. Article 46 (2) of the CBA allows Goodell to hear Brady’s appeal or appoint a surrogate. There are plusses and minuses to either course of action. Whichever way Goodell goes, unless the suspension is reduced to 1-2 games, it’s likely the case will end up in court. Brady’s attorneys can challenge the evidence connecting their client to the alleged misdeeds and claim that the punishment is excessive and arbitrary. Based on a number of recent cases — Bountygate, Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson — Brady’s suspension has a reasonably good chance of being reduced, if not overturned entirely.
9. Unlike Brady, the Patriots and Kraft have no right to an appeal. Similar to other professional sports leagues, the NFL constitution and other governing documents prohibit owners from suing the league. As upset and disappointed as Kraft is, he is unlikely to pull an Al Davis, the late Oakland Raiders’ owner who tied the league up in litigation for years with varying success. It’s more likely that Kraft will work behind the scenes to guarantee that Goodell hits the unemployment line when his current term as Commissioner expires in March, 2019. In the meantime, he can delight in making life miserable for Goodell, despite the perks that go along with the title and the exorbitant salary (Goodell made more than $44 million in the 2012 tax year).
10. The Wells Report may have raised more questions than it answered, but what is indisputable is that it is first and foremost an indictment of the NFL. There is no protocol for the game officials to test — and record — the air pressure in game balls and no protocol for maintaining a chain of custody for footballs between the time they are tested and used in a game. Prior to the AFC Championship Game the Colts alerted the league that the Patriots doctored the footballs. That information was passed on to five league officials but still the NFL couldn’t prevent it? For a $12 billion-a-year business, that is beyond embarrassing.
The Wells Report portrays the Patriots’ employees as clowns, which shouldn’t be unexpected. It also paints the NFL as amateurish and incompetent, which is inexcusable. It’s time to get your house in order fellas.
Jordan Kobritz is a former attorney, CPA, and Minor League Baseball team owner. He is a Professor in the Sport Management Department at SUNY Cortland and maintains the blog: http://sportsbeyondthelines.com Jordan can be reached at jordan.kobritz@cortland.edu.
