Just End Deflategate

By: Connor Lenahan

News reports say that Tom Brady is offering up a potential settlement to end this Deflategate ordeal once and for all. Other stories are reporting that the NFL isn’t listening. More say that some “influential owners” are standing behind Roger Goodell and telling him to uphold the entire four game suspension.

Stop it. Just stop it. No one cares anymore.

Okay, that’s more than inaccurate. ESPN will care as long as they can report the story. Patriot fans want Brady to play. People will have a vested interest in the story until it finishes.

Here’s the issue: This is now month 7 of Deflategate. We are coming dangerously close to a new season since the first story was reported. In those months only one thing has become clear: The entire story and the handling of the investigation was mishandled and largely blown out of proportion.

The Patriots won the game in question handily and then won the Super Bowl. Even people I know that despise the Patriots are with Brady here. I’m not going to play dumb and think Brady didn’t know the balls were deflated. He had to, no doubt.

My problem, and many others’, is that the infraction he committed has been largely blown out of proportion. They don’t have definitive proof of how deflated the balls were, making the offense even less able to be taken seriously. But still, Brady is going to be suspended four games for an in game violation. This is done with the fact that no one has been suspended for something like this before, only fined, and that people like Greg Hardy, who was convicted of domestic assault was given a reduced suspension of four games.

That’s it. I’m sorry. This entire situation is FUBAR. Just get it over with and let the chips fall where they may. I am finished with Deflategate, and I’m especially finished with Goodell.