In what has to be considered a MAJOR surprise, Roger Goodell has UPHELD Tom Brady's 4 game Deflate-Gate suspension, setting up a Federal lawsuit and everything that's going to entail.
The only thing I can think of that would not represent a major sea change away from the Patriots is that Goodell expects to lose and is willing to use this as a means to be unable to suspend any player in the future for any reason whatsoever.
That, bluntly, would be right up Goodell's alley. It also represents the fastest way for Roger Goodell to be removed as NFL Commissioner, by some degree of legal fiat.
I'll say right now: As of before today, my Super Bowl prediction, based on the fact that the country has eaten up two of the most toxic sporting events in history this year, was New England vs. Dallas.
Super Bowl XLIX, Cheats vs. Thugs, broke all records by several million viewers, even though the country KNEW New England had no right to be in the game two weeks beforehand.
Any sports league with an ounce of integrity (and you can please insert your laugh tracks here) would've long since stripped the New England Patriots of the title and declared no champion for 2014-15.
America LOVED a bunch of drug-addled thugs playing a bunch of corporate cheats for the title, and there is no reason to believe the league game-fixers would not have wanted to double down.
Now, with Brady almost certain to hit The Nuclear Option on any most-favored relationship with the league (just ask Al Davis), there really are only two options at this point:
Goodell thinks he can win, or actually hopes he doesn't!
The problem with the latter approach is that it might be the one way someone steps in (and I'm NOT talking the owners -- I'm talking the result of the impending Federal lawsuit!!!) and rids the NFL of Roger Goodell.
Goodell has doubled down in the one way that, though we all know the NFL is far Too Big To Fail, might get an intrepid judge to stomp out Goodell.
But one thing is for certain, and you can ask any Oakland Raider fan of the last 35 years, and they'll tell you:
The one way to get on the NFL's bad side and destroy your franchise is to have a party openly sue the league with malice.
Tom Brady, to save his legacy and almost certainly at least the credibility of two of his team's championships, probably has to file a Federal lawsuit against the league in court, about six weeks before his team is scheduled to take the field in the league's season-opener.
Tom Brady has to become Al Davis, and, as a result, from my perspective, the AFC just got blown wide open. Denver is probably too old, Indianapolis (who two major season-preview magazines have predicted would be in the Super Bowl) probably becomes a marginal favorite, and the rest is a real mish-mash to the point that several sources (including Harvard University) have actually posited the Miami Dolphins to be the AFC's favorite to go to the Super Bowl.
Actually, the Broncos aren't really all that old outside of Peyton Manning and DeMarcus Ware. Most of their starters are under 30, and they are starting two rookies on the O-line (along with a second-year center).
ReplyDeleteThe Roger Goodell NFL is all about having a big quarterback, in name and in stature.
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