Brady Decides Not To Continue The Fight. Deflategate Is Officially Over.
This is kind of like an old person dying of cancer. They’d been fighting for years and had been brave as hell, but in the end we all had a good idea what was coming. There was a brief remission, but when it came back it came back strong. When the second court denied the appeal it was finally time to come to terms with Tom’s fate and start preparing for the inevitable. It fucking sucks, but this is where we are. And yes, in that analogy Roger Goodell is cancer. Not far from the truth.
Anyway, I’m not worried about the first four games of the season. You want to give Tom Brady four weeks of rest so he’s fresh for the playoffs and maybe boost Jimmy’s value? Fine by me. I’m also sure as fuck not worried about the implications this will have on the NFLPA. I know Kevin said he hated the people pretending that mattered to them and I did too. I was aware that was the reason the fight was going so strong, but I never gave a goddamn shit about it.
No, the only reason this bothers me is for legacy talk. Sure, for the last two years everyone from TB12 die hards to Patriot haters have been screaming “We know he didn’t do it so who cares? Just stop fucking fighting I’m sick of it! No one gives a shit about deflated balls!” Everyone knows it was a set-up. Everyone knows the only reason it became a story was because of leaks of falsified numbers from the league office. Everyone knows the “investigation” was a sham. Everyone knows there’s absolutely zero proof balls were ever deflated and every scientist on earth, from middle school students to Nobel Peace Prize winners, says that the PSI was exactly where it should be. Everyone knows Brady didn’t have to turn in his cellphone and was explicitly told that. Everyone knows Goodell lied. Everyone knows the entire thing was total bullshit. When KFC is screaming that on a Rundown couch then you know everyone knows he did nothing. But the tides are already turning on that line of thinking and it won’t stop trolls from coming out of the woodwork each and every day forever. It won’t stop people from screaming the Patriots are cheaters even though in their heart of hearts they know nothing happened. It’s the same thing as the filming of the Rams Super Bowl walk through, which history and jealousy have turned into fact even though it flat out didn’t happen. It’s just gonna be annoying as fuck and I’m not looking forward to dealing with it for a lifetime. That’s really the selfish reason I wanted Brady to fight until the death, so I didn’t have to roll my eyes every time someone calls him a cheater.
This was probably the hardest decision Brady ever had to make, knowing that he’s innocent and still laying down his sword. But it’s what happened. We’re on to Jimmy G, but he’s still the King.
PS – I, unlike my boss, absolutely don’t think Brady should retire. That’s ridiculous. Go win a fucking Super Bowl and make Roger Goodell smile while he hands you the MVP trophy as you stare daggers into his soul.
PPS – How fucking amazing is Brady’s firs “ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE MYSELF…” against the Bengals (before you yell please realize the Brows are an away game) going to be? I already have goosebumps thinking about it.