The True Meaning of Deflate-Gate: Part II

Tom Brady's Legacy

“He’s a system quarterback.”

“He would be nothing without Belichick”

“He had all of those great defenses.”

“Anybody could do what Brady did with Randy Moss.”

“He would be nothing without Adam Vinateri winning those Super Bowls.”

“If Chad Pennington had what Brady had...”

As you can imagine, I have heard it all throughout the years. Brady-haters have clouded my world, in which Tom Brady, has been the center of. Now perhaps I do not help the situation when my retorts to such outrageous claims by #ShadyBrady World consist of:

“Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever.”

Or

“They should change street names, to honor Tom Brady. Now raise your hand if you are interested in making it ‘1600 Brady Avenue’?”

In my world, I have had nothing but absolute love and admiration for the greatest human being to have ever lived. Now my world is being invaded by words like ‘shady, liar’ and worst of all ‘cheater’. These words are proving to be sharp daggers in the bubble I have apparently, lived in. I just never knew that Tom Brady was just so devious, so despicable so…. dastardly (I have always wanted to use that word, but I have never been able to use that in a sentence until now.). But throughout this entire ordeal, among the dozens of reports that either defend or attack Brady’s character I seem to be  surprisingly on the same side I have always been. And that's 'The Brady Side!' (If you are unsure what side that is, all you have to do is just flip your pillow over in the middle of the night, that cool, refreshing feeling you will feel against your face, that’s what we call ‘The Brady Side’).

And no matter how overly biased or convincing (depending on how you look at the glass) my argument seems to just fall on deaf ears to certain people, while sing like the angels of heaven to others (and living in the Hudson Valley, in up-state ‘ish’ New York, its like singing in hell!).

But when I have been asked about how this impacts the legacy of Tom Brady my answer is much simpler and less poetic…

It doesn’t change a thing.

Regardless of how this entire situation closes out, there are two incontrovertible realities that will exist. 1) There are a lot of people who do not like Tom Brady and 2) There are a lot of people who really like Tom Brady. And while my argument may seem to be overly simplistic consider the following question: Prior to deflate-gate, has your opinion of Tom Brady truly changed?

In a recent poll conducted by ESPN/ABC News… (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12881342/poll-shows-fans-support-nfl-sanctions-tom-brady)

Over 70% of fans believe that Tom Brady is guilty of cheating and believe that the NFL’s ruling was fair and just. But the poll also shows that over 80% of fans believe that a majority of teams cheat in the NFL, and 6% of fans believe that cheating is only limited to the Patriots (let’s just call that 6% Jet fans). So what do the polls  mean?

Its pretty telling that such a large number of NFL fans believe that cheating in the NFL is so rampant. We all assume that they’re teams that are bending and stretching the rules, but according to majority of NFL fans Tom Brady clearly broke the rules and deserve to be punished. You cannot doctor the balls, the line has been drawn in the sand.

But what about this: http://espn.go.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/11218/nfl-aware-of-game-ball-incident-during-panthers-vikings

So maybe the line is not so clear. But I’m sure those who have been some vehemently against Brady will doctor their own arguments to meet their agenda, as Brady-lovers will continue to throw every example of cheating back in their faces and say “SEE THEY DO IT TOO!!!”

The ESPN/ABC poll also showed that a majority of NFL fans think that Tom Brady is still a Hall of Famer, and the Patriots Super Bowl win is not tainted.

So as much as ESPN and other sport networks continue to air this story at nausea, trying to find a different angle to cover it, or find a new bulletin to break one thing is very clear… Tom Brady is still the greatest quarterback of all-time.

Disagree? Of course you do! And of course you don’t! Because no matter what the polls, the media, ESPN, Jimmy the Jet and Pat the Patriot, the legacy of Tom Brady is in the eye of those who want to see Brady the way we want to see Brady. He did not murder, abuse, steal someone’s pension, or jack somebody’s ride. He did not try to physically hurt someone one the field, gamble, or take performance-enhancing drugs. Brady did what most NFL fans acknowledge most of the league does. In the end we all accept this and the fate that awaits Brady at the end of his career. He is a Hall of Fame, MVP-winning, multi-Super Bowl winning, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time. Every poll, shows exactly that. So it is logical for those to damn Brady as much as it is logical for those to defend him like your eldest son, on the night of Passover, when you run out of lamb's blood.

So we can all rest easy in this Brady World of haters and admirers. The legacy of Tom Brady has not been deflated. At least to those of us who really like him.