Fans of the New England Patriots are questioning quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension. Local fans says they’re comparing his punishment to previous NFL sentences handed down for offenses many people consider more grevious.
Is deflating footballs as bad – or worse – than domestic violence?
With its punishment of Pats quarterback Tom Brady, the NFL has answered that question with a ‘yes,’ says the state’s top law enforcement official -- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy. She spoke to reporters at an event in Boston.
“I’m just struck by the fact that somebody like Ray Rice gets a two-game suspension and Tom Brady over deflated balls is facing a four game suspension," said Healy. "It just, it doesn’t add up for me.”
People on Twitter hailed Healey’s comments. The NFL handed Brady a four game suspension for likely knowing that Pats staff tampered with game balls. That’s twice the penalty Ray Rice got last year, after the Baltimore Ravens running back was arrested for assualting his then-fiance, now wife, eliciting this apology:
“I failed miserably, but I wouldn’t call myself a failure, because I’m working my way back up.”
After more video of the incident surfaced, of Rice knocking his wife out, he was suspended indefinitely, then reinstated on appeal. Regardless, Healy says domestic violence is rampant in the league.
“I sure wish that the NFL would spend spend about a tenth of the time it’s spending on this on issues of domestic violence and domestic assault.” “They need more outreach, they need more accountability. And instead, we’re talking about air pressure and soft pigskin,” Healy said.
But air pressure and soft pigskin are integral aspects of the game. And NFL writer Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal says that’s why the NFL is taking this so seriously:
“If people think that someone’s cheating and getting away with it, it damages the game.”
And Kaplan thinks Brady is being additionally punished for being defiant toward the League:
“It’s not just that they suspect he monkeyed with the balls. They are livid that he declined to fully participate in the investigation and they’re trying to send the message to everyone else in the league – ‘don’t do that."
Then there are those who think that any comparison between Brady and Rice’s punishments is inappropriate. William Kickham is an attorney in Wrentham, where he’s represented Pats fans charged with domestic violence for incidents at nearby Gillette Stadium:
“The comparison should be made to the same offense. Ray Rice’s offense was not involving the conduct of the game, but something quite outside the game.”
Kickham thinks the league wants to look tougher after the Rice incident and all punishments will be more severe from now on. Executive Director Dan Lebowitz of The Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University takes something of an opposite view. He says the NFL is turning Deflategate into what he calls “Deflectgate.”
“It’s trying to make the public... think about the League in terms of the integrity of its game, and take the gaze away from the domestic violence incidents, from the child abuse incidents, and from the concussive issues that continue to plague the game.”
Lebowitz thinks the NFL erred in both the Brady and Rice punishments.
“Really what we’re looking at is a League that really needs to define what is its discipline policy in every aspect of discipline. What is its code of conduct? What are established norms, and then what’s the appropriate penalty for them?”
Comparing the consequences of ball deflation and domestic violence won’t be a problem, Lewbowitz says, if the NFL’s stated rules and punishments are clearly defined.
