I'm not much of a
It's all about Deflategate, a rather ridiculous name for a cheating scandal involving the credibility of the multibillion-dollar
Some sports moralists seem obsessed with Brady's supermodel wife, and many stories about Deflategate reference the wife's stunning beauty and their lovely children and Brady's own rather handsome mug, which my wife and just about every other grown woman in America thinks is cute.
If the lovely Mrs. Brady had bad teeth and a face that resembled a dump truck made entirely of meat, I doubt that her looks would be an issue.
Still, it it's not difficult to pick up the resentment: It's irritating to see the Bradys' smiles, the star quarterback and the lovely wife looking like those perfect alpha couples you hated in college, or perhaps like two tiny figures on top of the
Money, riches, his and her dimples, fame, mansions, luxury cars, it doesn't seem fair when others get it all and we don't.
So here's my sports fan question. And then I'll hang up and listen to comments:
What's the difference between Brady and the
The Jackie Robinson West All-Stars, remember them? They were America's darlings at last year's Little League World Series, a team of African-American kids with talent and class, a team surrounded by love, from their parents, coaches, neighbors.
And when they played ball, people all over the country -- and not just baseball fans -- stopped what they were doing to tune in on TV.
They're just kids who love baseball.
But there are rules in
Sadly, politicians from
But most Americans figured, properly, that rules are rules. JRW was stripped of its title, and some of us thought the kids were learning a valuable but painful lesson.
Which brings me to the
Were the
No.
The balls were deflated before the AFC championship game, and the league's investigation pointed a finger at the equipment men, Jim "The Deflator" McNally and equipment assistant
The
And
"What drove the decision in this report is one thing: It was the evidence. I could not ethically ignore the import and relevancy of those text messages and other evidence," Wells told reporters in a conference call.
The text messages, he said, referred to texts between the equipment men suggesting Brady knew what was planned for the AFC title game with the
The equipment men rushed into a restroom before the game and, in a little over a minute, deflated the
Are Brady's fingers so weak that he's in such need of soft, grippable balls? Or perhaps his running backs and receivers find it easier to hold on to and not fumble the squishier balls? Either way, the
Back then, Brady's team whipped the
You might tell me that
Already, the
But sports isn't sold as politics. It's not about sleek guys from
And sports isn't sold as big business or situational ethics. Americans just won't spend hundreds of dollars to sit in a situational ethics seminar, even if they're good seats.
Sports, we're told, is about fairness, it's about meritocracy, where the best players succeed and are celebrated and their efforts are protected by rules.
If the
But that didn't happen. And all this drama is about covering the
When we expect more of our children than we do from champion athletes, then we're sending the kids, and the country, a confusing message:
We're telling them sports is just politics by another name. We're telling them that if they don't believe it, they're suckers.
You ready for that?
Comment by clicking here.
John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune who also hosts a radio show on WLS-AM.