I was riding home in the car after church on Sunday/Mother’s Day with my husband and two sons. We were listening to ESPN 98.7 sports radio and the discussion was about #DeflateGate. The host asked what should happen to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots team and it was so interesting to hear the various call-in responses. (If you don’t know the whole history of this controversy, you can read about it in this New York Times article.)
I’m not a football fan but I decided to use this time to see what my sons thought about winning at any cost since we were going to be in the car for a while anyway. First, we listened to the callers. Sports radio listeners are passionate, funny and obvious. The answers were divided.
-The haters: There were some callers who (self-admittedly) hated Brady and the New England Patriots. They thought that Brady should be suspended for the season, the team should be fined and that they should lose draft picks. They were also calling for consequences for Robert K. Kraft, owner of the Patriots, and Coach Bill Belichick since the Patriots have a reputation for bending the rules in shady ways.
-The moderates: Other callers (some were Patriot fans while others were not) expressed that the team shouldn’t have done the “crime”/tarnished the integrity of the league by cheating. They thought that both Brady and the team should get consequences. A four game suspension for Brady, the team being fined the cost of the investigation and the loss of a draft pick seemed to be the general agreement for a fair penalty.
-The apologists/excuse makers: This group tended to be fans of the Patriots…and they fell into one of three camps:
1. Tom Brady is innocent. There is no conclusive evidence that he told the equipment people to deflate the balls.
2. Other teams do it too. (Aaron Rodgers, who liked his balls overinflated, was a name that came up multiple times.)
3. It’s a witch-hunt. They are only going after Tom Brady and the Patriots because they are winners.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Then, I asked Reggie and the kids what they thought the consequences should be for Brady and for the team…or even if there should be any penalty. (“What do you think?” is one of my favorite questions to ask the kids because I want them to learn to take input from others but make their own decisions in regards to right and wrong!)
Well, one of my sons was a “hater”. It’s not because he doesn’t like the Patriots. Rather, he has a strong sense of fairness. (Yeah…we’re working on helping him to be more gracious!) The rest of us agreed with the “moderates”. If Tom Brady would have cooperated with the investigation and was found innocent, then he should not have received a consequence. He did not. Not guilty and innocent are two different things and the team definitely should have received a consequence. (We thought that a fine and losing their first-round draft pick was fair.)
Then, we discussed the excuse makers. As I mentioned, we don’t believe that not guilty = innocent (camp 1). As for camp 2, the “everyone else cheats” defense doesn’t work around here. Our kids wouldn’t even think to use that as an excuse if they were to get caught cheating on a test…or at least I hope not! Camp 3 is probably right that Brady and the Patriots are a target. And? As Peter Parker said in Spider-Man:
Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: “With great power comes great responsibility.” This is my gift, my curse.
Personally, I’m glad that the NFL gave Tom Brady and the New England Patriots a penalty for #DeflateGate. On another note, I also think that the NFL needs to reevaluate (read: stop!) their practice of giving teams back their balls after the officials check them. It’s kind of like a teacher leaving the answers to a test in an obvious place on her desk and then leaving the room…a few minutes before the test. Would the kids be justified in taking a peek at the answers? No, but why even tempt their self-control and integrity?
In any event, sports – from Mayweather to Brady – have sparked some great character conversations at the Coleman home lately.
What do you think? Was the Tom Brady/New England Patriots penalty too hard, too soft or was it just right?