No Signs Of Moving On From Deflategate

We don’t move on from pieces of our history that become legend. We can try to put them in the past, but this is sports – the past and the present have a funny way of mingling, growing together. People in sports have very long memories.

So when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that “we are moving on from that” – referring to Deflategate, the Tom Brady suspension, the rift with the New England Patriots as a whole, the rift with New England as a whole, he may be moving on by himself.

He did not attend either Patriots’ home playoff game, but made it sound as if he hadn’t been invited. Pretty sure he wouldn’t have been welcome. He will surely be in an odd spot if, on Sunday, he is presenting the Lombardi Trophy to Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Brady. In the aftermath of the Brady suspension fight and on the first day of training camp, Kraft said the league’s decision to ban Brady for four games was “unfathomable” and added he was “wrong to put my faith in the league.”

Remember, the Patriots paid a $1 million fine and were docked two draft picks, which Kraft agreed to, likely hoping the Brady suspension would go away in a messy dispute about how much air was in the footballs the Patriots used.

The suspension did not go away. Brady did not go away. He came and led his team to the Super Bowl. The Patriots did not go away, winning three of four games with a pair of backups, neither of whom will ever be Brady.

Moving on? Noooo. Not until Super Bowl LI is over. And probably not even then.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman