Here’s the way I see it.
Listening to the national talk it seems that everyone ‘agrees’ the deflated balls were more than coincidence, and there was premeditated cheating. The evidence is 11 of 12 deflated balls. But without any witnesses cheating is a theory.
And most if not all discussion states that the deflated balls would not have made a difference in the outcome of the game. So I guess that the effect of cheating during the game is the barometer, and not the cheating itself.
My question is: What was the goal or purpose of the cheating?
Unless it was to obtain the thrill of seeing whether one would get caught it would have to be to get an edge. And why would you want to get an edge? To more easily win the game.
Is there any other reason?
So, when the league says to the cheaters it’s OK, by not depriving them of the reason they cheated, any other punishment becomes irrelevant, unless it deters anyone the desire to cheat in the future.
What Goodell (who in my opinion has shown to be nothing more than someone who collects from businesses for protection services) could have done from the minute the word got out was this:
– Announce a thorough and quick investigation by two, third parties on what happened:
– Unless someone comes clean within 48 hours on what happened:
1. The Patriots will be stripped of advancing to the SB (akin to a student receiving an F caught cheating on their final exam), and the Colts are now on notice to make plans to take the Patriots place.
2. Bill Belichick will be suspended from the game for a minimum of one year (no contact) and possibly longer pending the outcome of the investigation.
3. Robert Kraft will have one year to find a buyer for the Patriots en route be thrown out of the league.
4. These are now the minimum conditions for any type of cheating or betting by an NFL team.
Even if someone does come clean, the above-mentioned sanctions may still be in play.
Now, we all know that will not happen. Goodell is a wimp and does not want to bite the hand that feeds him, although it is his job to do so. And because the lines of right and wrong are so blurred in our country that we will use any excuse not to lose out on, in the short term, the things we really think are important – like football.
So we convince ourselves that the cheating didn’t affect the outcome of the game. All continues as it’s supposed to. And of course masks the real solution to the problem, which is:
Doing whatever it takes to ensure that the character and integrity of the game is the first and only goal by the commissioner and the league he supposedly stands for.
Is my pie-in-the-sky outlook expecting integrity really just a remnant of the past?
