So I learned that the NFL has decided what penalties to levy against members of the NE Patriots football team in connection with "inflate-gate:"
- Tom Brady --> four game suspension in 2015
- NE Patriots -- > $1,000,000
The NFL, last I heard, haven't doled out the penalty to the individual(s) who actually deflated the balls.
Four game suspension and $1M? Really? That's it?
Sure, to individuals who don't measure their net worth in the hundreds of millions or more, even most likely to Tom Brady, $1M is a huge sum. To a $2.6 billion team, it's "chump change," at least when it's the sum levied as a penalty for cheating. After all, for a $2B+ organization/company, $1M is a small enough sum to just count it as part of the cost of doing business. (
http://www.ibtimes.com/tom-brady-sta...triots-1799880)
The NFL, Robert Kraft, and Mr. Brady should all be ashamed of themselves!
- The NFL for tacitly sending the message that if one can afford it, cheating is okay. Also for not, upon discovering the irregularity, having stripped the Patriots of their conference win and denying them the right to play in the Superbowl. There is simply no way the balls, 11 of 12 of them, could have have all been accidentally two pounds under-inflated.
- Mr. Kraft for establishing a "tone at the top" that fails to create a culture of high enough integrity that nobody in the organization would cheat to advance his organization's fortunes.
- Mr. Brady for not reporting that there was an irregularity the instant he noticed his grip on the ball was better than it would have been were the balls filled with two pounds more pressure. That man throws footballs for a living; there's no way he couldn't have noticed.
This is a sad day for professional football. It's not sad because there was cheating. Cheating is nothing new and individuals will attempt to cheat if they think they can get away with it. It's sad, because for all intents and purposes, the people who are the stars of the Patriots organization -- the owner and the lead quarterback -- have effectively gotten away with it in spite of it being clear that cheating happened.
All the best.
Edit:
FWIW, I am not an NFL football fan of any sort. I root for the Redskins if they are doing well or appear to be. That said, for the past 20+ years, the Skins have done so poorly that I haven't watched them or any other team play. I don't know if that makes a diehard Skins fan or a sometimey fan, but either way, for me, it's the Skins or nobody. I did not watch the 2015 Super Bowl.
- T