NFL, Brady Press Suits

The NFL filed in federal court in New York to uphold its discipline of Tom Brady. The NFL Players Association filed in Minneapolis to overturn the discipline of Tom Brady.

(Editor’s note: The Minneapolis suit was transferred to New York on Thursday morning.)

The owner of the New England Patriots, who accepted some heavy penalties in DeflateGate, now says he regrets doing so. And that man, Robert Kraft, who did so much of the heavy lifting to end the lockout of the players in 2011, adds that, in regards to the Brady suspension, “I was wrong to put my faith in the league.”

Great. As training camps open, the focus is on one player and two courtrooms.

Did anyone handle this properly?

The NFL had enough ways out of this in its early stages and even after Ted Well’s investigation. There were enough questions about the pumps that inflated the footballs, how they were handled and their subsequent loss of air to find a less destructive path. Maybe Kraft, who on Tuesday mentioned that he has “been negotiating agreements on a global basis my entire life,” could have withheld his assent to penalties against the club. And Brady clearly could have done more in the way of being forthcoming.

Instead, there is scorched earth. Brady is a three-time Super Bowl MVP and the Patriots defending champions. Now the season opener – the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Patriots – carries a tarnish and will prompt further reexamination of all that has transpired (most of which has worn we mere mortals to a nub) whether or not Brady can play in it.

The game has so many real problems – domestic violence issues, concussions – that two pounds of air in a football hardly seem this important. And yet it is a game of rules, many of which the Patriots wink at.

Think of Brady as an honor student who gets caught during an exam with a crib sheet. He doesn’t need it and he hasn’t used it. Has he cheated? The crib sheet has given him no advantage, yet possession of it violates the academic rules. Flunk him? Excuse him? Or, in the NFL’s case, simply fine him and move on?

This should not be the scandal it is. This should not be our focus. But when the parties involved don’t find a better way to work through the issue, they burn down not only their playground but ours.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .