[Grumble]

Tiste Simeon, on 06 September 2015 - 09:43 PM, said:

Regardless, the Pats were still better than the Seahawks and that's what matters more to me.

I don't think even you believe that, yes they won but only because of the worst choice of play imaginable.

Tapper, on 07 September 2015 - 05:35 AM, said:

Grumble, on 06 September 2015 - 08:08 PM, said:

I guess the integrity I'm thinking of is mine and yours.

I just want to know that the game I love watching is being played fairly and that the contest is an even one decided by the better team on the day.

I think too many things have happened around the Patriots organisation now, over the years, for me to be sure that they are sticking to the rules.

Oh, they're definitely one of the least sporting franchises - The Patriot Way that quite some sports writers worshipped and heralded as an example for all also was exposed as bullshit with the whole Hernandez affair. At the same time, I can't help but admire the way Belichick manages his roster and adapts his playbook and tactics to each and every opponent.

Surely every coach in the league has the same problem and challenges only we don't have doubts over the integrity of the other 31 teams.

[Tapper]

Grumble, on 07 September 2015 - 05:46 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 06 September 2015 - 09:43 PM, said:

Regardless, the Pats were still better than the Seahawks and that's what matters more to me.

I don't think even you believe that, yes they won but only because of the worst choice of play imaginable.

Tapper, on 07 September 2015 - 05:35 AM, said:

Grumble, on 06 September 2015 - 08:08 PM, said:

I guess the integrity I'm thinking of is mine and yours.

I just want to know that the game I love watching is being played fairly and that the contest is an even one decided by the better team on the day.

I think too many things have happened around the Patriots organisation now, over the years, for me to be sure that they are sticking to the rules.

Oh, they're definitely one of the least sporting franchises - The Patriot Way that quite some sports writers worshipped and heralded as an example for all also was exposed as bullshit with the whole Hernandez affair. At the same time, I can't help but admire the way Belichick manages his roster and adapts his playbook and tactics to each and every opponent.

Surely every coach in the league has the same problem and challenges only we don't have doubts over the integrity of the other 31 teams.

Yes and no. Each front office/ HC has to deal with the realities of roster management. But NE seems to lack a clear philosophy on offense or defense. Belichick seems capable of completely changing looks and tactics against key opponents, pounding the Colts with six linemen and a running game one week, then airing it out the next.

Full disclosure: I really don't like the Patriots. But I am fascinated by Darth Hoodie, even reading Halberstam's biography on him (The education of a coach, which I can recommend).

[Obdigore]

Grumble, on 06 September 2015 - 07:08 PM, said:

In what other job would you be allowed to break rules .... cheat in this case ..... but get let off because your employer didn't inform you that your particular form of rule breaking was punishable by a suspension.

Guilty as hell ..... walked on a technicality.

The League didn't show me their evidence ... boo hoo ... I on the other hand destroyed mine !!!

Total disgrace ..... has ruined the integrity of the sport.

It wasn't that the League didn't inform whoever blah blah blah. It's that the League violated the terms of its contract with the players by how it handled the situation, and that contract is the only reason this private body has any power to enforce anything.

Goodall can appoint himself judge and jury in these kinds of cases, but when he is acting as that position he is required, by the contract, to allow the player(s) to present their case. He refused.

Honestly, Goodall needs to be gone and they need to bring in a Commissioner who people, both the players and the owners, (and by extension, the fans) feel they can trust.

[Brujah]

This thread should win the award for most retarded arguments. It just gave me the biggest headache. How can these posts have so many words yet say so little.

Edit : I felt the need to add that I wasn't saying every single post was bullshit, because a few were decent. I liked the one by Daser that HD went off on, and the last one by Obdi pretty much sums up how I feel, but some of you act like you're actually part of some teams coaching staff.

PS: Speaking of Brady, if anyone got stuck with an average or sub par QB and wants Brady, I'm willing to trade. I grabbed him thinking he'd be out until week 5 and that I'd use him week 10 when Luck was on bye, but now I think he's worth trading and I don't want to debate each week if Brady or Luck will have the better game. I'd rather just use Luck and prevent the second guessing. Plus I'm needing a decent RB, and Brady is worth something to someone who's deep at RB.

This post has been edited by Brujah: 09 September 2015 - 07:18 PM

[Nevyn]

Tiste Simeon, on 05 September 2015 - 04:29 PM, said:

Nevyn, on 31 July 2015 - 05:51 PM, said:

If he beat up his fiancee on the field during a game it would bring the game into disrepute.

There is a criminal justice system to protect the fiancee, actual laws and actual police and actual courts. The NFL tacking on punishment is simply about PR, which means they also have to collectively bargain their rights to even do anything about it.

So your comparison is like an employee complaining that he got fired for allegedly embezzling "a few hundred dollars" when Larry the wife beater still has a job.

By all means, we can argue about what Brady did or did not do. We can argue about whether there should even be a rule. We can argue about whether the standard for evidence is high enough, whether it is met. We can argue whether the punishment is appropriate.

But can we please stop comparing this to punishments under the personal conduct policy. The personal conduct policy exists because these are high profile athletes and their misdeeds are very visible. If the commissioner ignored these types of acts, the owners would get far more pressure to cut ties with the drunks and addicts and wifebeaters and brawlers and dogfighters. Giving them a league suspension lets the league look like it cares and is doing something. It is PR (and PR they handled very badly in the last year).

Those suspensions should never be viewed as the entire consequence of the crime, nor of the punishment befitting the crime. That's what the legal system is for.

On the other hand, cheating (whether steroids or ball tampering or really anything else) is entirely within the realm of the league. They need to enforce it so people believe their games are above board and fair. And their punishments are the only punishments those people are subject to.

Irrelevant. The league need to say "we abhor this action so much that on top of whatever the police do, you guys aren't playing football again."

Why?

If you work at Denny's as a waiter and beat your wife, should Denny's say you can't work there anymore? Or is it only certain jobs that qualify for mob justice. I mean, if I don't want to see a wife beater on TV playing football, do I want to see one serving me eggs?

What evidenciary standard and burden of proof needs to be applied before you take away a person's livelihood forever? There was video so the mob is happy, but note that Rice was never convicted of anything. I am sick to death of phony outrage for the sake of outrage. Football players are mostly crappy people. Athletes are mostly crappy people.

Many americans have cheered for and bought the jersey of racists, drunk drivers, assaulters, murderers, rapists, and wife-beaters going back a century or more. The teams want to sell things so if they think you won't watch/buy if that person is working, they won't hire them. But there is not nor has there ever been a moral bar for how good a person you need to be to have to be to work in football or any other sport. And there should not be.

[Slow Ben]

Nevyn, on 09 September 2015 - 07:24 PM, said:

Football players are mostly crappy people. Athletes are mostly crappy people.

So, just so i'm clear, if you're an athlete, its more than likely you're a crappy person?

This post has been edited by Slow Ben: 09 September 2015 - 07:57 PM

[Brujah]

Grumble, on 28 July 2015 - 11:21 PM, said:

Your guilty Tom just admit it and take your punishment !

Hey Grumble, you still thinking about possibly playing with us next season if we can make room or make a second league?

Anyway, I'm being serious here, and I know that questions like I'm about to ask often come across as snide, but the way last year's Superbowl ended had to leave you with that "what the fuck" thought for the rest of the night.

I'm not big on the Seahawks, but I hate the Patriots, and even I was flipping shit. Anyway, I couldn't remember if you ever made a post about your thoughts, feelings, and comments on 'that play', but if so, I missed it.

[Grumble]

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game Deflategate suspension has been reinstated, a United States appeals court ruled Monday.

Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season for his alleged role in a scheme to deflate footballs before the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 18, 2015. Brady’s suspension was overturned in federal court last September and he was allowed to play the entire regular season.

In October, the NFL appealed the court’s decision, arguing commissioner Roger Goodell was within his bounds to suspend Brady based on the 2011 collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA

Time to man up Brady and take your punishment !

[Tapper]

Grumble, on 25 April 2016 - 08:04 PM, said:

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game Deflategate suspension has been reinstated, a United States appeals court ruled Monday.

Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season for his alleged role in a scheme to deflate footballs before the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 18, 2015. Brady’s suspension was overturned in federal court last September and he was allowed to play the entire regular season.

In October, the NFL appealed the court’s decision, arguing commissioner Roger Goodell was within his bounds to suspend Brady based on the 2011 collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA

Time to man up Brady and take your punishment !

Yeah. And guess what? Outside of you, hardly anyone cares about Brady being suspended. Instead, the focus will probably be on the next CBA in football, when I expect the players association will try to restrict this, backed up by several owners. At the very least, the commissioner will not be allowed to decide on appeals against his own earlier judgement. This is a pyrrhic victory for the NFL's disciplinary procedures at best.