The Assasination of Tom Brady by the Cowardly NFL

Ever since the public shellacking of the Indianapolis Colts, the Patriots have been accused of deliberately changing the air pressure of game footballs in said game. There was a long investigation that concluded in a 243-page long report published last week. The report depicts two game-day assistants as being active and fully aware of their transgressions. It also provides circumstantial evidence that Tom Brady was involved (the wording used in the report is "more probable than not").

As you can imagine, I'm not happy about the 4-game suspension given to Brady (the Patriots got docked two 2016 draft picks and got fined $1 million, although the money is the least concerning of the three). There are no precedents to work back from in handing out such a harsh suspension. There are a few cases that can be viewed as similar, although not the same.

The first one is from a Minnesota - Carolina game a few years back. It was discovered during the game that the teams were heating the balls during the game, using heaters on the sideline. No penalties were handed down; the teams were simply told not to do it again.

A second case involves the San Diego Chargers. Towels laced with Stickum, a banned substance, were found on the sideline. These were used to provide the receivers with better grip. The Chargers were fined a massive $25,000 and that was the end of it.

Based on these two ball-related infractions alone, the penalties given to New England seem unreasonably harsh and quite arbitrary. Bringing in statements from other QBs as well; Aaron Rodgers has publicly stated that he wants the balls overinflated and that he alwasys hopes the refs never check the actual pressure - this quickly becomes farcical. If one chooses to dissect the report even further, it becomes obvious that the NFL had little evidence to support the suspension, and that they have overrreacted to a minor infraction.

Today, May 14th, 2015, the Patriots came with their response. In a 20,000 word piece presumably written by their legal team, the club debunks many of the conclusions of the Wells Report and shows how much guesswork and wrongful inference based on a very haphazard collection of evidence the investigators have used to conclude that there was deliberate tampering. The report, with its lack of convincing presentation, got Brady suspended for 4 games.

I won't reiterate the Patriots defense here - if you care enough about the case to have an informed opinion you can read it yourself. However, at length, it shows how single messages, arbitrary conclusions and lack of routine is supposedly "evidence" of wrongdoing with intent. After reading the piece in full, I am (as a Patriots fan, admittedly biased) confident that Brady's suspension will be overturned.

One last piece of information: Brady stated that after a game in the fall of 2014 he wanted the footballs inflated at 12.6 psi, within the limits provided in rule 2. He has publicly said he likes game balls at the lower end of the legal spectrum, which 12.6 psi can be viewed as. Nowhere has he said he wants them below 12.5, and nowhere in the exchanges between the two team assistants is there any mention of deflating the balls to below 12.5. In fact, several times they talk about overinflating them. Brady, like most quarterbacks, have a preference for what footballs he likes to throw. And he likes them at 12.6 psi, rubbed and prepared as allowed by the league rules. If a locker room attendant were to let air out of the balls after the officials inspection, would it not be fair to assume that the amount of air to be let out had to be very specific? Would you be able to let air out of 12 footballs (there were actually 13 balls in the bag) to a specific psi within 1 minute and 40 seconds? Not likely. Although if you think you're up for it, I'd love to see video of such a feat.

Bottom line is, the Wells Report is shoddy investigation reaching for conclusions that appear to have been set before the investigation even started. The document would never hold up in a court of law. There are just too many instances of the investigators jumping to conclusions. The evidence does not support those conclusions. Free Tom Brady.

If it's good to be back expect more

It's been a while.

Almost two years, actually.

1 year, 11 months and 11 days, to be exact. That's a lot of ones.

I never bothered to explain why I left in the first place. For some reason, I felt like I did not want to do this anymore, even as my life was heading into a very exciting phase at that time. I would have had a lot of things to write about. You guys missed out. Sorry.

There have been two cases of me logging on and putting words to paper (screen?) since : after Sandy Hook happened (this was before my last post), I had a few words. Never published, probably never will. And about a girl. That one was never intended for publication, because, well, it's none of your damn business.

The reason for me doing this - writing - has always been personal. I write because I have something to say. Not necessarily anything intellectual or of value to the average reader, but nonetheless for me, things that need to be said. In the past few years twitter has been an outlet of sorts for me. Highly compressed as they are, opinions on twitter are fast and must be precise due to their length (or lack thereof) and the fact that there is a new one every five fucking minutes.

A quick glance on my twitter account tells me I have posted 5960 tweets, and I remember starting the account right around 3 years ago (November-December 2011). Those numbers mean that I have sent an average of 1980 (estimate due to not knowing the exact date of my debut) tweets per year, which comes out to about 5,4 tweets per day. Not a staggeringly high number, but one could assume that twitter took over for this current format as my main source of expression. Not to mention, over time, I have accumulated a small following on twitter, which basically guarantees that someone sees my tweets (and thus my opinions).

For the past week or so, I have toyed with the idea of bringing this back. Taking up writing again. Part of me really miss writing. In grad school I would churn out on average 8-10 pages per week. I miss writing. It is a pleasant form of expressing oneself. It is precise, permanent, and it can convey messages in a way that video or voice cannot. And, the long-form of it, which at least this post must be considered, has been overlooked recently because of the ascension of twitter, among other things.

I am not back to writing because I really need to tell you the story of how we snowed in in Brighton in early February last year or how embarrassed I was when I faceplanted at Hafjell last September. I don't need to tell my version of the Boston Marathon bombings or how much I miss living in America. If those stories need to be told in this forum, then it will be at a later time.

Initially, I wrote another 200+ words on current racial tensions in America. I'm not sure if I can post it. It isn't controversial, it isn't new. But it's written by a white male from one of the most homogeneous countries in the world. I do have an opinion. I just don't think it matters here.

Week 16 Christmas special picks

Oakland
@ Carolina
Pick: Oakland +9.5

New Orleans
@ Dallas
Pick: New Orleans +3.0

Tennessee
@  Green Bay
Pick: Green Bay -12.5

Minnesota
@ Houston
Pick: Houston -9.5

Indianapolis
@ Kansas City
Pick: Indianapolis -6.5

Buffalo
@ Miami
Pick: Miami -4.5

San Diego
@ New York
Pick: San Diego +1.0

Washington
@ Philadelphia
Pick: Washington -7.0

Cincinnati
@ Pittsburgh
Pick: Cincinnati +4.0

St. Louis
@ Tampa Bay
Pick: St. Louis +3.0

Cleveland
@ Denver
Pick: Denver -13.0

Chicago
@ Arizona
Pick: Chicago -5.5

New York
@ Baltimore
Pick: New York -2.5

San Francisco
@ Seattle
Pick: Seattle -1.0

Augh!

Atlanta -4.0

Week 15 picks

New York
@ Atlanta
Pick: New York +1.5

Denver
@ Baltimore
Pick: Denver -3.0

Green Bay
@ Chicago
Pick: Green Bay -1.0

Indianapolis
@ Houston
Pick: Indianapolis +10.0

Jacksonville
@ Miami
Pick: Jacksonville +8.0

Tampa Bay
@ New Orleans
Pick: Tampa Bay +3.5

Washington
@ Cleveland
Pick: Washington -1.5

Minnesota
@ St. Louis
Pick: St. Louis -1.0

Detroit
@ Arizona
Pick: Detroit -6.0

Seattle
@ Buffalo
Pick: Seattle -5.5

Carolina
@ San Diego
Pick: Carolina +3.0

Pittsburgh
@ Dallas
Pick: Pittsburgh -1.0

Kansas City
@ Oakland
Pick: Oakland -3.0

New York
@ Tennessee
Pick: Tennessee -1.0

Shit yeah!

Schoooooooool's out for winter!!!!

Cincinnati
@ Philadelphia
Pick: Philadelphia +5.5

Must-win game for both teams, although Cincy is more likely to make the playoffs with a win than the Eagles are. I predict a close game and considering last week the spread is way too high. Taking points.

Week 14 picks

St. Louis
@ Buffalo
Pick: St. Louis +3.0

Atlanta
@ Carolina
Pick: Atlanta -3.5

Dallas
@ Cincinnati
Pick: Cincinnati -3.5

Kansas City
@ Cleveland
Pick: Kansas City +7.0

Baltimore
@ Washington
Baltimore +1.0

Tennessee
@ Indianapolis
Pick: -4.0

New York
@ Jacksonville
Pick: Jacksonville +2.5

Chicago
@ Minnesota
Pick: Chicago -2.5

San Diego
@ Pittsburgh
Pick: Pittsburgh -7.5

Philadelphia
@ Tampa Bay
Pick: Tampa Bay -7.5

Miami
@ San Francisco
Pick: San Francisco -10.5

New Orleans
@ New York
Pick: New York -4.5

Arizona
@ Seattle
Pick: Seattle -10.0

Detroit
@ Green Bay
Pick: Green Bay -6.5