Tom Brady's four-game suspension nullified

[26554]

by James » Thu Sep 03, 2015 4:54 pm
"Not trying to start a war or anything of the like, but Brady was guilty of cheating was he not? So why did the judge overturn the four game suspension? I mean Kraft accepted the punishment, so why this? Makes no sense to me. My wife is pissed as she can't stand Brady, but she does have him as one of her QB's on her fantasy team."

Good to see you back, James.
If you have a copy of any "Guilty" finding concerning Brady, please post it and share.
There have been a lot of suspicions and attempted manipulations but no proof of guilt?

You mean no "smoking gun"? People get convicted everyday based on circumstantial evidence. Hell, you could argue that Aaron Hernandez was convicted based on it.

[26554]

Nobody has ever hated anything as much as I hate the Brady-Belicheck era New England Patriots. They keep cheating and they keep getting away with it. They make the Madden era Raiders look like choir boys. I expect them to slap a Flying Elvis sticker on a freaking tank and put it on the defensive line. And I also expect them to get away with it.

I agree with you. I have been sick of them since about 04-05. I just didn't understand why this team with average talent was winning so much. Well, we found out.

Seriously? I'm not a Pats fan by any stretch but they haven't won anything by cheating. They beat the Colts 17-7 with the balls in question and 28-0 with regulation balls. They have average talent everywhere but at QB and in the Head Coach's office. That combination appears to have been enough to get to six SBs and to have won four of them.

Well, Gronkowski isn't average. I think it's both. They're good AND they cheat. I agree that they would've won the game regardless, but I think that's irrelevant. Should the message be sent that it's okay to cheat as long as you were going to win anyway? I don't think Brady, Belichick and possibly a few others from these NE teams should be kept out of the HoF (I would add that I feel that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Pete Rose should all be in the baseball HoF), but this stuff will always be part of their legacy and certainly I don't blame anyone who wonders if there's been other things that we don't know about.

[Steviek]

Yeah, they've definitely had talent, that is not a question as far as I'm concerned. I think they probably would have been a successful team anyway, but one has to wonder how much of an advantage they had during the Spygate years, as their talent (certainly in their first Super Bowl year) was pretty inferior to many other teams. You can't tell me that having video of a team's walkthrough practices, when actually plays are being called, would not be an advantage.

And to this day, I wonder what how incriminating those videotapes must have been that Goodell had them burned (yes, literally incinerated) and had Matt Walsh signed a confi agreement and subsequently quietly "retire" to Hawaii.

[BernardB]

For some reason sports like golf have evolved with a very low tolerance for cheating while others like baseball and football, to borrow Madden's line, look for "my fair advantage."

One of the founding fathers of the NFL, George Halas, was known for pushing the rules to the limit and then beyond. George Allen certainly learned a few of his tricks from good ol' Papa Bear. Perhaps because Halas bent rules from the very beginning, the NFL culture developed in such a way as to have a high tolerance for such shenanigans.

Perhaps unrelated---in general society tends to have a soft spot for "loveable rogues," not that many could ever find Belichick loveable.

[SixtiesFan]

For some reason sports like golf have evolved with a very low tolerance for cheating while others like baseball and football, to borrow Madden's line, look for "my fair advantage."

One of the founding fathers of the NFL, George Halas, was known for pushing the rules to the limit and then beyond. George Allen certainly learned a few of his tricks from good ol' Papa Bear. Perhaps because Halas bent rules from the very beginning, the NFL culture developed in such a way as to have a high tolerance for such shenanigans.

Perhaps unrelated---in general society tends to have a soft spot for "loveable rogues," not that many could ever find Belichick loveable.

How many pro football coaches who were long-time big winners have had "loveable" personalities?

[BD Sullivan]

For some reason sports like golf have evolved with a very low tolerance for cheating while others like baseball and football, to borrow Madden's line, look for "my fair advantage."

One of the founding fathers of the NFL, George Halas, was known for pushing the rules to the limit and then beyond. George Allen certainly learned a few of his tricks from good ol' Papa Bear. Perhaps because Halas bent rules from the very beginning, the NFL culture developed in such a way as to have a high tolerance for such shenanigans.

Perhaps unrelated---in general society tends to have a soft spot for "loveable rogues," not that many could ever find Belichick loveable.

How many pro football coaches who were long-time big winners have had "loveable" personalities?

Wouldn't you want to party with Paul Brown, Chuck Noll and Tom Landry?

[JohnH19]

Seriously? I'm not a Pats fan by any stretch but they haven't won anything by cheating. They beat the Colts 17-7 with the balls in question and 28-0 with regulation balls. They have average talent everywhere but at QB and in the Head Coach's office. That combination appears to have been enough to get to six SBs and to have won four of them.

Well, Gronkowski isn't average. I think it's both. They're good AND they cheat. I agree that they would've won the game regardless, but I think that's irrelevant. Should the message be sent that it's okay to cheat as long as you were going to win anyway? I don't think Brady, Belichick and possibly a few others from these NE teams should be kept out of the HoF (I would add that I feel that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Pete Rose should all be in the baseball HoF), but this stuff will always be part of their legacy and certainly I don't blame anyone who wonders if there's been other things that we don't know about.

Gronkowski is one, Randy Moss is another but they didn't win a championship with him. They only went 16-0. Anyway, I'll never believe that "cheating" got them to where they've been over the past 14 years.

Oh, and Pete Rose does not belong in the HoF but that's a discussion for another venue.

[bachslunch]

Seriously? I'm not a Pats fan by any stretch but they haven't won anything by cheating. They beat the Colts 17-7 with the balls in question and 28-0 with regulation balls. They have average talent everywhere but at QB and in the Head Coach's office. That combination appears to have been enough to get to six SBs and to have won four of them.

Well, Gronkowski isn't average. I think it's both. They're good AND they cheat. I agree that they would've won the game regardless, but I think that's irrelevant. Should the message be sent that it's okay to cheat as long as you were going to win anyway? I don't think Brady, Belichick and possibly a few others from these NE teams should be kept out of the HoF (I would add that I feel that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Pete Rose should all be in the baseball HoF), but this stuff will always be part of their legacy and certainly I don't blame anyone who wonders if there's been other things that we don't know about.

Gronkowski is one, Randy Moss is another but they didn't win a championship with him. They only went 16-0. Anyway, I'll never believe that "cheating" got them to where they've been over the past 14 years.

Oh, and Pete Rose does not belong in the HoF but that's a discussion for another venue.

From the Pats teams of the last 15 or so years, I'd figure Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Ty Law, Richard Seymour, Darrelle Revis, and Adam Vinatieri are likely to be HoFers. Junior Seau is already in. Rob Gronkowski has a good start but needs to play well a while longer. Wouldn't surprise me if Robert Kraft gets in eventually. Reggie Wayne was cut in preseason, so he doesn't really count. Very outside chances at best for Vince Wilfork and Logan Mankins.

[oldecapecod11]

Trying to find a photo of the Gunners at Sportsman's Park was an exercise in futility.
Trying to find a photo of Sportsman's Park marked for football was equally as futile.
(Even "Vintage Football Photos" at wwwDOToldestlivingprofootballDOTcom had none.)
The search did reveal a couple of interesting items. (Certainly, there are others.)

The first is a memorial for the ballpark.
How sad that the NFL Gunners and American League Browns are ignored.

The second is an excerpt from a day in the life of Sportsman's Park.
The statement about the events of that day is applicable over 100 years later.

To paraphrase: All the sports world is up in arms over the deplorable spectacle, conceived in stupidity and executed in jealousy.

How well it describes the actions of the goodfella and his little band of nfl minions and all the detractors of an American icon.
In their own foolish ways, they have only contributed to the Brady legend and elevated his legacy additional notches.

Finally, of the incident(s) described below, only the alleged bribery might be considered illegal. Might!
(Note: "informally" banned)
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Memorial

http://www.distilledhistory.com/wp-cont ... mansv2.jpg

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During this time, the Browns were best known for their role in the race for the 1910 American League batting title. Ty Cobb took the last game of the season off, believing that his slight lead over Nap Lajoie, of the Cleveland Naps, would hold up unless Lajoie had a near-perfect day at the plate. Browns' manager Jack O'Connor had ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to play on the outfield grass. This all but conceded a hit for any ball Lajoie bunted. Lajoie bunted five straight times down the third base line and made it to first easily. On his last at-bat, Lajoie reached base on an error – officially giving him a hitless at-bat. O'Connor and coach Harry Howell tried to bribe the official scorer, a woman, to change the call to a hit – even offering to buy her a new wardrobe. Cobb won the batting title by just a few thousandths of a point over Lajoie (though it later emerged that one game may have been counted twice in the statistics). After news broke of the scandal, a writer for the St. Louis Post claimed: 'All St. Louis is up in arms over the deplorable spectacle, conceived in stupidity and executed in jealousy.' The resulting outcry triggered an investigation by American League president Ban Johnson. At his insistence, Hedges fired O'Connor and Howell; both men were informally banned from baseball for life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o ... uis_Browns

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Posted - for obvious reasons - in both Threads
Tom Brady's four-game suspension nullified - and - What old stadiums do you miss?

[rhickok1109]

Yeah, they've definitely had talent, that is not a question as far as I'm concerned. I think they probably would have been a successful team anyway, but one has to wonder how much of an advantage they had during the Spygate years, as their talent (certainly in their first Super Bowl year) was pretty inferior to many other teams. You can't tell me that having video of a team's walkthrough practices, when actually plays are being called, would not be an advantage.

This is an example of how a retraction never catches up with the original story.

The Patriots never taped another team's walkthrough. They were accused of having done so by a disgruntled former employee. The Boston Herald ran the original story and, after further investigation, they retracted the story and ran TWO apologies to the Patriots, one on the front page and one on the back page. (It's a tabloid, so the back page is actually the front page of its sports section.)