Brady Responds

Submitted by Blueblood2991 on

Tom Brady posted this on facebook this morning.

 

I am very disappointed by the NFL’s decision to uphold the 4 game suspension against me. I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either. Despite submitting to hours of testimony over the past 6 months, it is disappointing that the Commissioner upheld my suspension based upon a standard that it was “probable” that I was “generally aware” of misconduct. The fact is that neither I, nor any equipment person, did anything of which we have been accused. He dismissed my hours of testimony and it is disappointing that he found it unreliable. I also disagree with yesterdays narrative surrounding my cellphone. I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline. Most importantly, I have never written, texted, emailed to anybody at anytime, anything related to football air pressure before this issue was raised at the AFC Championship game in January. To suggest that I destroyed a phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong. To try and reconcile the record and fully cooperate with the investigation after I was disciplined in May, we turned over detailed pages of cell phone records and all of the emails that Mr. Wells requested. We even contacted the phone company to see if there was any possible way we could retrieve any/all of the actual text messages from my old phone. In short, we exhausted every possibility to give the NFL everything we could and offered to go thru the identity for every text and phone call during the relevant time. Regardless, the NFL knows that Mr. Wells already had ALL relevant communications with Patriots personnel that either Mr. Wells saw or that I was questioned about in my appeal hearing. There is no “smoking gun” and this controversy is manufactured to distract from the fact they have zero evidence of wrongdoing. I authorized the NFLPA to make a settlement offer to the NFL so that we could avoid going to court and put this inconsequential issue behind us as we move forward into this season. The discipline was upheld without any counter offer. I respect the Commissioners authority, but he also has to respect the CBA and my rights as a private citizen. I will not allow my unfair discipline to become a precedent for other NFL players without a fight. Lastly, I am overwhelmed and humbled by the support of family, friends and our fans who have supported me since the false accusations were made after the AFC Championship game. I look forward to the opportunity to resume playing with my teammates and winning more games for the New England Patriots.

yossarians tree

July 29th, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^

First: In the Grand Scheme of Things, who fucking cares?!

Second: If I'm Brady, no fucking way would I ever give up my phone to Goodell, especially when it would be the target of hackers and leaks the minute it was out of my hand.

Ronnie Kaye

July 29th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^

The sad thing is if he does serve four games and the Pats start 0-4 (unlikely but within the realm of possibility) he will have almost no margin for error in getting them to the playoffs.

If he does end up on that podium, passing Montana, his teammates should give him the go-ahead to throw a verbal barb at Goodell. It'd be priceless.

robpollard

July 29th, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^

I'll bet if you asked 100 casual fans and asked, "Did the Patriots use inflated footballs in their Super Bowl win?" a high percentage would say "Yes." They have no idea what actually did or didn't happen, in large part due to the ineptness and leaking of false info by Roger G and the NFL.

The Patriots (led by an all-time great game by Brady) beat an all-time great defense in the Super Bowl when there were *zero* questions about inflated footballs. Yet people are still up in arms about an issue that wasn't important to them, or the NFL, for 99.9% of its history. But here we are today, talking about this *again*!

So even if Brady personally has Bill Nye the Science Guy weigh footballs, in public, before every possession this season, while leading them to a 19-0 record and throwing for 6,000 yards, people will still believe this stupid issue is somehow relevant.

coldnjl

July 29th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^

the owners are the reason there was no reprieve at all from the non-supported penalties...He is doing exactly what they pay him for...to be a puppet. I hope Brady embarasses them.

MeanJoe07

July 29th, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^

Free Tom Brady! I'm gonna unbuckle just so I can go drop slurry of loose stools on the commissioner's head!!! I'll force feed him an amalgam of rehydrated singleberry slush and Alaskan cornchips.

Bodogblog

July 29th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^

this is also a battle between continued lowest common denominator thinking and what's hopefully a more reasoned national consciousness going forward. It's worth the fight on that front alone. Foolish pundits across the country responded to the NFL's decision with something along the lines of "well not providing the cell phone makes me think he did it". This is asshole thinking, dumbed down, regardless of how one feels about Brady. Not surrendering the phone is evidence of exactly nothing, and to the extent the national debate hasn't yet recognized that, we're all worse off.

Bodogblog

July 29th, 2015 at 4:33 PM ^

it is a good barometer of the will and desire for reason of the American male. There's been a lot to be optimistic about recently, with the gay marriage ruling the most pronounced. I never despised those opposed to this, given it's something that's been taboo in most cultures for the entirety of human history. Overcoming that takes time, not ridicule. But over the last two decades and certainly within the last 5 years the approach has been reasoned argument: "that's not natural!" was met with scientific data that shows this prominent throughout nature; "you may as well let a man marry a dog!" or "40 year old marry a 9 year old" were met with reasoned arguments as to why these things certainly weren't the same thing; people recognized they had loved ones who were gay; finally all that was left was religion, and in the west that's not enough. Yes long overdue, but reason finally won over not-reason. I see arguments on reddit, and yes I'm sure everyone here hates reddit, but I see educated people bringing facts and sound analysis and a lot of hot takes dismissed. This blog isn't a bad example of what I'm talking about on many topics. I'm hopeful that reason is the future with a more educated population and intolerance of demogoguery. But humans have have fallen away from that before - the Persians and Greeks and Romans probably thought they were there as well.

Too dramatic for this issue? Probably. But there are clear-cut issues here that popular culture has dealt with in the recent past, there's plenty to allow the majority to object to the case's handling: the evidence against Brady is circumstantial and weak; the science, where there is any, is inconclusive or supports him; there are chain of custody issues; you have other QBs in the league admitting to over/under inflated prerences; the established fine, even if found with wrongdoing, is $25,000. The case is weak, the only way out for Godell is to rely on the lowest common denominator implication of "if he didn't have anything to hide, he'd have given up his cell phone." This is the silly 'if you're not guilty then why not let the cops search your car' argument we all moved past in high school. It's shameful and Godell should be roasted by every blogger and, yes, reason-lover on the Internet.

CompleteLunacy

July 29th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^

Literally everytime I hear a so-called "expert" speak about deflate gate, how it ruins the integrity of the game and blah blah blah, I just want to vomit. Even the one local radio guy who I generally think is unbiased tried to argue this, THIS does more to damage the integrity of the game than a domestic abuse case. His argument was tampering with footballs directly affects a game, whereas domestic abuse does not (apparently). I literally yelled in my car after that. What the fuck kind of reasoning is that? I mean, we are talking about a slightly under inflated ball, right?



My mantra though this has been " I feel like I'm taking crazy pills". I'm not a Brady homer or a Pats homer. But damn, it really takes some sort of twisted logic to think THIS supposed cheating (which cannot be definitively proven anyway) is somehow worse for football than players who beat their wives or children. I mean, what in the actual fuck? I'm just so damn sick of the ridiculous bloviating.on the most inconsequential rule you could possibly break.

True Blue Grit

July 29th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^

Boss Goodell to distract everyone from his incompetence in mishandling all the other recent and far more significant cases (Peterson, Ray Rice, Bountygate, et al).  The Patriots and Tom Brady proved the perfect patsies (sorry for the pun) around which he could create a bogus media storm and shameless witch hunt.  People even fell for the rigged Wells investigation as "impartial" evidence that Brady was guilty.  Then, by issuing these outrageous penalties to the Patriots and Brady for extremely minor alleged violations of letting air out of footballs, he made himself appear to be the "tough guy who was righting a great wrong".  The whole thing makes me want to vomit.  I hope Tom Brady sues the NFL and Goodell for a shit ton of money for defamation of character and wins.  Then, maybe, then Goodell will finally get dumped by the owners for his gross incompetence. 

JamieH

July 29th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^

All the braying jackasses with the "he destroyed his phone, he must be guilty!" line are numbskulls.

If the cops show up at your house and say "we think you are plotting to kill give us your phone, do you give it to them without a warrant? F*** no! And if you were to then destroy the phone are you guilty of ANYTHING? Double F*** no!

Goodell has NOTHING. NOTHING. He has not one piece of evidence that Brady did anything wrong. So he's grasping at straws to attempt to try Brady in the court of public opinion. And because people tend to be dumb, it may work, though it has blown up in his face when he has tried it before.

Look, Brady may or may not have done something. And his phone may or may not have had any incriminating info on it. Standard procedure for a broken phone is to destroy it. Brady says his phone was broken. Is that true? He testified under oath, so he probably said so under oath right?

This entire incident wouldn't have happened if the NFL had ever actually been serious about the air pressure in the balls to begin with. But they never were, as evidenced by the ridiculously broken gauges that were being used to measure the game balls. If the "official" gauges were so broken that the readings were worthless to begin with, then WTF is this entire fight over?

Oh yeah, the fact that Goodell's ego is bigger than his brain.

wahooverine

July 29th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^

This isn't a criminal case with someone's life on the line.  The burden of proof is more reasonable.  I love Brady but come on any common sense reading of the circumstancial evidence has to conclude that Brady had to know what was going on. No smoking gun is needed to see this. On top of that he hasn't offered a credible alternative explanation and refused to cooperate with the investigation. If he had nothing to hide there is no valid explanation for that..all it did was escalate the mess. He tried to cover it up and failed. If you think Tom is innocent because the League didn't prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt, then you must also think OJ Simpson didn't kill his wife.  Do I think the punishment is harsh? Yes. That is probably Goodell and the other owners just sticking it to Kraft.

jericho

July 29th, 2015 at 2:36 PM ^

It is amusing to me how people see things differently.  I feel any common sense reading of the circumstancial evidence has to conculde that this is all smoke and mirrors by the NFL.

Plus, the old, "If you don't have anything to hide, then you must do this" argument is McCarthyism at it's worst.  You have no evidence that he tried to cover anything up.  You just want to read it that way.  Fine.  Just don't expect everyone to agree with you.

Armbuster

July 29th, 2015 at 10:19 AM ^

Kraft now says he was wrong to put his faith in the league.... lip service, or did Goodell go back on his word after getting Kraft to drop his suit? Either way, now there's at least one owner actually on Brady's side...

sadeto

July 29th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^

Were you expecting Kraft to say something different? Like, to reiterate his support for Goodell? This is easy for him to say at this point. Like he or anyone else really cares about his "faith" in a league that has made him even richer many times over. Owner discord is normal and usually a diversion from what is really going on with the league. 

Armbuster

July 29th, 2015 at 10:40 AM ^

Everyone that I talked or read pretty much agreed that there was some kind of agreement that Goodell would back down on Brady in exchange for Kraft dropping it.

You're right that it's not unusual for owners to voice displeasure, but those were some pretty strong words and Kraft and Goodell used to be pretty close.