Deflated Punishment: Why It Doesn't Matter If Brady Did It

Deflategate.  Interesting that the Wells Report came back with a wonderful non-answer answer about the probability that the Patriots, no wait, Tom Brady is culpable for deflating footballs below regulation air pressure prior to the AFC Championship game against The Indianapolis Colts.  But, even with this not so new information that Brady and two underlings are probably guilty of the act, months after the incident, talking heads will still devote hours to drive time radio analysis of one of the more humorous discussions about balls.

In the end, what does it matter?  Brady and Belichick played through and beat the Colts 45-7 with or without underinflated balls.  Brady and Belichick went on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.  Brady and Belichick have four championships.  Brady has Giselle.  Brady poops rainbows and cries dollar bills.   WHO CARES?!?!?

I guess Steelers’ fans do.   They get to play New England to kick off the 2015 season.  They get to play it in Foxborough.  They get to play it without their star Running Back, Le'Veon Bell, who was arrested for marijuana possession, with New England’s LeGarrette Blount during preseason.  (LeGarrette Blount is suspended for the game, too, but he gets to sit at home with his Super Bowl ring to keep him company.)   So, add all that together and sprinkle in the spectre of not being able to beat the Patriots during the post season and you get a tonic of vitriol and ire from Pittsburgh.

But, again, it doesn’t matter what happens to Brady and Belichick in light of the report because any punishment is moot.

“He could be fined.”  

So, what?  I’m sure he’ll be broke in a week, no longer able to wipe his tears with $100 bills or cry softly into Giselle’s bosom.

“He could be suspended for the opener.” 

Ooooh, except it’s the opener and not even against a division rival. 

“His legacy could be tarnished.”

I’m sure he’ll wring his hands with all four Super Bowl rings clacking like crazy.

“The Patriots could lose a draft pick.”

A: Kraft and Belichick were found not "probably" guilty.

B: Draft picks do not equate loss of good players… especially when you pick LAST!

If there were to be a punishment for the Patriots for directly affecting the outcome of a game, regardless of how well they would have done without cheating, it would have been for the next game, The Super Bowl.  Seattle almost beat New England, despite Tom Brady.  An interception at the goal line tanked their chances of overcoming the odds and beating the Pats.   And, quite frankly, it would have been a better story had the Patriots beat Seattle without their golden boy at QB.   That would have at least put to rest some of the controversy surrounding this team’s mounting questionable winning strategy.  After all, this is at least the second time the Patriots have been called on the carpet for cheating.  Remember Spygate?  Barely anyone outside of Pittsburgh does.   Spygate resulted in a $250,000 fine and loss of their first round pick… which was 31^st since they lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl.   Surely, they were impacted as they missed out on drafting such greats.  Then again, they could have had Ray Rice in their ranks to compliment Aaron Hernandez.   In the end, they still won their division six out of the next seven years.

Again, my point is, it does nothing for credibility and accountability to suspend Brady the first game of the season or any other punishment.   Look at this perspective.

In 1992, at the age of 17, I had a part time job delivering newspapers.  I made maybe $20 a week delivering 54 papers, six days a week.  My friends and I spent our hard earned money on tickets to a concert.  It would have been my first live concert, ever.   Tickets were a whopping $24.95.   Not sure if that’s the going rate for concerts or the going rate for Def Leppard in 1992.  In any case, it was a week and quarter of pay. 

However, right around Halloween, my friends and I decided to be jackasses and go on a pumpkin smashing and egging tour of the neighborhood.  Well, we managed to egg the one house that everybody egged and they were tired of it.  They chased my friend’s Chevy S-10 until they got the plate and turned us in to the police.   The next weekend, my parents received a call from the police.  My friend had already given all of us up.  I was grounded.   The weekend before the concert and I was grounded.   I pleaded with my parents that I would accept my being grounded but that I had spent $25 of my own money on a concert.  It didn’t matter.  I missed the concert, I was out $25, and I learned a lesson.

Now, how much of a teachable moment would it have been had my parents said, “OK, you did something wrong and you will be punished.  How about a week night in the middle of next January when you have absolutely nothing important or fun going on?”

That’s what suspending Brady is.  It is a hollow action by a hollow commissioner that gets paid for making the owners money, and the owners make money when their top performers are playing in games like the Super Bowl.  Jerseys and ticket sales and concessions and fans with their butts in the seats put money in the pockets of the Kraft’s and that’s what a commissioner does, gets the owners money.  It doesn’t matter what is right, what is moral, or what is a good example for fans.  They don’t care because they’re addicted to the product the NFL is selling.

If you want to make a point suspend Brady for the first game... of the playoffs.

Granted, they can’t be assured a playoff spot, but when you plan on suspending him for a pointless game, anyways, what does it matter if it’s a "maybe" game?  That not only punishes Brady, but it punishes the organization if they fail to win.  Maybe, playing with a suitable handicap is better than a slap on the wrist.  

And just maybe, the real threat of punishment would start to make the rest of the players and teams realize that on Any Given Sunday… they might just be stuck home watching, like I was, while Def Leppard was playing.  I was a little poorer, but I survived.   Now where's my copy of Hysteria?


FOOTNOTE:
I probably won't be watching this season as I didn't last year.  It's not that I don't love the Steelers anymore, it's that I refuse to give any more time of my life to this league and this commissioner.  Goodell may be the most profitable commissioner of them all, but he's corrupt, cares only about the money, and has turned this sport into entertainment, like wrestling.

WUMF: December 2013 Edition

Hey, I’m still consistent.  It’s after the New Year and I’m just now getting out the WUMF.

Maybe this will be the last one.

Seriously, it’s hard enough to come up with some blog posts let alone a random wrap up of the month, but here it goes, anyway.

Steelers’ Season

I admit, I quietly cursed Succup for missing that field goal but then realized, “I’m blaming Kansas City’s kicker and the refs for the Steelers not getting into the playoffs.”  Really?  They were 8-8 and blew games against New York, Minnesota, and Oakland.   If they had won those easy games, they would have been 11-5 and been in the playoffs.  They just didn’t get it done this year.  And let’s not blame Ben Roethlisberger on this one.  He looked better than ever on paper and on the field.  The first four games were the death of them.  But looking back at the other games, New England is the only team that blew them out on offense.  Otherwise, they were on pace with scoring.  The defense was the culprit on a lot of these losses.  Ryan Clark and Ike Taylor need a good stern talking to.   It also doesn’t help that half of your star players were out with injury throughout the year.   That team had an identity crisis with the revolving roster and no banned table game time is going to fix that mess.  Better luck next year.

YouTube

I’ve actually finished some walkthroughs.  WOW.  With Sims 3 and Minecraft ongoing, I’m looking to start some more.  If I could get the PS3 box to record right, I would have put up me and Bailey playing Little Big Planet or even me playing GTA V.   I still can’t figure it out and there’s no alone time to play those games.  Bailey is kind of getting herself into a lot of vids, which is fine, but I can’t be as bad as I usually am with language or situations.  But she’s doing her own adventure maps for me to play… which is pretty neat for a six year old.  She’s got quite the sense of humor when it comes to this stuff, so maybe we’ll see some humor incidentally from her work.  With Limbo and Little Inferno done, I need to get back on the Design It series since Game of Thrones will be back up in a couple months.  I still have probably 10 design videos to record.  I’d also like to do some shorts.  I got a new phone with a better resolution and video capabilities… so, here’s hoping.

Pandora

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS!?!?!?  I’ve been using YouTube to get my music fix but with the new phone, Pandora has been awesome.   I’m joining the 21^st century, I guess.  The only thing that sucks is well, the ads, and that I can’t get skip too many songs before I get stuck on something I don’t like.  I can thumbs down it, but it may actually be a song I like, but just not at the moment.  I tried I Heart Radio and it’s not bad if I want to listen to my local stations where I can’t.

PNC Float

OK, if you have a checking account with PNC, you’re going to notice that it’s free but it isn’t.  The reason is that you need to have at least $1000 in direct deposit into your account in order to keep them deducting $10 each month.  But, if you do have that, they still deduct it and then put it back in the next day.  So, you get your $10 back and they get the interest off of $10 times their total customer base.  It’s called a float I guess and even though it might be a miniscule amount of cash in that 24 hour period, the number of customers they do this to can add up in terms of total profits. 

I know, people say, “Get a credit union.”  Yeah, well, that would be fine if I could hit up an ATM for my credit union wherever I am.  PNC has that luxury.    They’ve slowly started to strip out all the benefits from being a customer.  I guess that’s the cost of doing business with a bank looking for every available loop hole to make money off its customers.  

This was a pretty easy write up… maybe the WUMF will stick around.  Be sure to post your thoughts on me, my writing, or anything non-spammy.

Happy New Year.

WUMF: November 2013 Edition

Novemburrrr is more like it.  Holy crap!

YouTube Update

It’s been hard to keep up with stuff, but I’ve been trying.   At the time of writing this, I have three series going and possibly revisiting a one off I did with Bailey months ago.

Of course, there is the main series, Mongo Smashes:  Minecraft.  Additionally, I am still navigating a Sim Mongo through Sims 3 and side scrolling through Limbo, an indie game.    While it’s been loads of fun playing these, I just don’t have talent big name Tubers have in attracting viewers.    Also, I don’t have the time.   Because I’m not just doing  a straight play through of a game, the recording process is hard.  I hate to waste recording of gameplay when I’m not “feeling it”   This is something I hope will change in the next few months with some bigger changes in the works.  

It’s also very hard to pull this off with a shoe string budget.   For any of you who have ever edited video with Windows Movie Maker, it’s a process.  I don’t whether my PC just doesn’t have the capacity to handle the demands of the application.  There are several starts and stops due to excessive processing going on in the background OR it’s just a crappy application that comes out of the box with Windows.   In any case, I can’t afford to get Vegas or some other top notch editing program.   

I’ve heavily relied on the editing process and music to really create a better quality product and frankly, I think I’ve done quite well in that aspect.   Yeah, the comedy is a bit dull and I have a harder time proactively “making the funny” vs. reacting to something but it’s getting better.  Really do check out my Sims vids for some hilarity.   The pre-outro jokes added some great moments to the videos.

Mongo Smashes: Sims 3 

 

Mongo Smashes: Minecraft

 

Mongo Smashes: Limbo

This one is finally finished.

Mongo Smashes: Skyblock 1.1

Lesser Man Project

I have a post in the hopper for my recent trip to Virginia and I’ll have you know, I was on the treadmill almost every night while staying in a hotel.   I recently cracked the minus side of 260 and took steps to help keep trending in that direction.   It’s going to be harder heading into bad weather and holidays. 

That being said, I’ve upped my game by walking a mile almost every weekday on a hill behind my work.  It’s about 0.2 of a mile long and I do the hill three times up and three times down.  It takes the full 20 minutes to complete the circuit back to my car, so I am not caving like I would some days just circling the parking lot.

My legs hurt but I have more energy than I used to which makes for a better quality of life.  I just need to avoid going nuts with the holiday food.

My Mood
In case you've been wondering and I'm pretty sure you haven't...  I'm fine.  The posts have had a somewhat reflective, emo quality to them and that's bad.   Sorry.

Maybe the weight loss is affecting my mood.  Maybe it's other things.  Some days it's hot and cold running meh.  Next year I might clue you all in but I don't know.  It's not cool.  Just know, I'm fine.  I'm healthy.   I've got two certified professionals who can attest to that, so no worries.

Steelers

Holy crap, we got a shot at the playoffs?  WTF?!?!?!
Obviously!

 

"Obviously" at Skreened

WUMF: September 2013 Edition

Where the hell did September go?

The Steelers

WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF

How can a team put up such great offensive numbers still be 0-4?

Turnovers

Defensive Suckage

Lack of cohesion

Take away all the games for the whole team, not just the rookies.

You can’t sit there and blame the rookies for not doing things the Steeler way if the rest of the team isn’t doing it either.

The Pirates

In the past, I have tried to temper my bandwagonning with the reminder that it has been 20 years since I was able to proudly call myself a Pirates fan.  The last three years I have been sucked back into being enthusiastic, only to be hurt again like a battered spouse.  But this year was finally the year.   The curse of Bonds/Bream is gone.  The 20 years of losing are gone.  The “We only put a profitable team on the field, not a winning one” is gone.  So, now the question remains… is this one game playoff series with The Reds going to be a step towards St. Louis or a step towards Moneyball when Minnesota trounced the A's?

The Penguins
The long road back to Lord Stanely begins.  Still not sure about Fleury. Vokoun nearly died from blood clots.  I've already forsaken the Steelers for Pirate games.  Will the Pens take the place on Thursday?  I kind of hope not...until November.

The Duck

Look at it.  The Duck has cometh.  The thing is huge and it needs to be moved to be in order to be seen on camera during tonight’s game.  My hopes is that only Pirates will be launching the long ball in hopes of connecting with the Quacken.

That being said,

RELEASE THE QUACKEN!

 

Get your own "Release The Quacken Shirt"
Redbubble Shirts From $24.54

Cafepress Shirts From $25.99

Zazzle Shirts From $26.95, Magnets $3.85

Skreened Shirts From $27.95

Redbubble Stickers $2.40

YouTube Update

Because this month has been so damn busy I have been remiss in putting up some videos.  The Sims3 is still being worked on as is Minecraft.   The problem is, with Minecraft I’ve been involving my daughter in some videos because she’s so stoked to see the stuff I’m doing.  That means a lot of footage has to be edited and I can’t be my normally vocal self.  So, be patient and get some views in so I can keep doing this.