Displaying the expected amount of righteous indignation upon learning that his client's four-game suspension for Deflategate had been upheld by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, sports agent Don Yee said of New England quarterback Tom Brady's failed appeal:
"(This) decision alters the competitive balance of the upcoming season."
On that singular point, Yee is 100 percent right. Goodell upholding his own decision to suspend Brady for four games does, theoretically, alter the competitive balance of the upcoming season. Let the Patriots stumble to a 1-3 or 0-4 record out of the gate in Brady's absence, and many will argue that the defending Super Bowl champs were robbed of a realistic chance to defend their crown.
But what about the Pats' manipulation of the game balls for their AFC championship win over Indianapolis? Was that not attempting to alter the competitive balance of a contest in which the winner went to the Super Bowl?
Solely because the Pats trounced the Colts 45-7 that wintry evening in New England, everyone wants to dismiss what supposedly happened to those footballs as inconsequential. And in a 45-7 game in which the balls were supposedly changed at halftime after Indy's complaint, it was much ado about nothing.
Roger Goodell and the NFL have agreed with Yahoo to stream a regular-season game this year online.It also doesn't help those conspiracy theorists who hate the world champs that New England crushed the Colts 28-0 in the second half, after NFL officials made certain only legally inflated balls were used.
Still, if Tuesday's news is true that Brady destroyed a cell phone that may have contained phone records and text messages regarding Deflategate, it doesn't look good for the 38-year-old QB with the four Super Bowl rings. Continuing to fight this could cost him far more than four games. It could cost him his already diminished reputation as one of the game's good guys.
As first reported by The Associated Press, Brady (according to the NFL) told his assistant on or shortly before March 6 - which also just happened to be the day he was interviewed by Ted Wells - to destroy the cellphone the quarterback had been using since early November. Goodell's belief is that Brady wanted to wipe away any evidence that could have been used against him in the investigation.
For a guy who's supposedly as smart and crafty and smooth as Brady, this would be akin to telling the IRS that your dog ate your tax records the day before you were to be audited.
Even legendary Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan, who has stood by Brady and the Pats throughout Deflategate, told ESPN on Tuesday: "A bad, dumb move that connotes guilt to the nth degree."
Naturally, Brady's camp already has said that he routinely destroys his cellphones every four months. And the timeline for this particular phone would have been - drum roll, please - about four months.
But really? As Ryan said, could Brady be that stupid? And let's let the air out of the notion he could be attempting to cover up something else that he didn't want leaked to the public. The guy's married to a super model, so he probably wasn't having an affair. His only real money pit is apparently the homes he lives in, so he probably wasn't gambling or insider trading or anything else a cellphone might reveal.
No, all logic states that he destroyed the phone to cover up incriminating Deflategate evidence.
And let's drop the argument that that suspension is laughable when compared to domestic violence issues plaguing the NFL. Yes, Goodell's highly questionable and uneven handling of every disciplinary issue that comes his way has made him about as popular in the public eye as head lice.
It's also hopefully true that no decent, reasonable person would ever elevate over- or under-inflating a football with striking one's spouse or girlfriend.
But however horrific, domestic abuse of any kind doesn't alter the outcome of a professional football game. If altering a football can, then it's a serious issue. Especially for a sport whose immense popularity is heavily tied to gambling. It's why the league insists on obscenely accurate injury reports. It's why Goodell, if he truly believes that Brady and the Pats attempted to circumvent the rules to gain a competitive advantage, must come down hard on the New England franchise.
Beyond that, what if the Patriots had beaten the Colts 21-20 instead of 45-7? What if Brady's three touchdown passes had all come before the balls were inspected? Yes, science seems to side with the Pats that none of this really mattered. And science is tough to argue against.
Yet in the court of public opinion and among rival NFL owners - where Goodell is already seen as too close a friend to New England owner Bob Kraft - the fallout of lessening Brady's suspension, particularly in light of the destroyed cellphone, could eventually cost the commish his cushy $44 million job.
It also doesn't help Brady's case that his coach is Bill Beli-Cheat, the supposed mastermind of Spygate seven years ago. Or that New England's defense strategy for that scandal and this one - Deny, deny, deny, then defiantly declare, "We're moving on, that's in the past, we're moving on" - appears not only arrogant and unsportsmanlike but downright dishonest.
Yes, Brady might still prevail in a court of law. But in the court of public opinion, thanks to his apparently destroyed cellphone, the quarterback may have already lost his competitive advantage, as well as his once sterling reputation, forever.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.