Deflategate

The point is to take something away that the person wants, so yes, the feelings do matter.

 

Precisely. Think it won't matter to Adrian Peterson when he comes up 1,200 yards short of the NFL rushing record? Or if Greg Hardy comes up 4 sacks short of the sack record? Keeping guys off the field, paid or not, is punishment.

 

No it doesn't. Christ, if a player is benched or deactivated do we take his "feelings" into account?

 

Feelings don't matter a bit in doling out punishment. You just can't say that as long as the player is paid, he is not being punished. The idea that if the player is being paid, he shouldn't be upset makes no sense to me.

 

He can be upset all he wants, it's completely irrelevant.

 

I wouldn't mind being suspended with pay for the next, oh, 12 to 15 years.

 

The only thing that matters to Brady is playing. He says he completely innocent, but also indicated he'd accept paying fine as a penalty, which is a complete contradiction of the innocence defense. Granted, he could pay any fine out of the spare change in the junk drawer of the kitchen at any one of he and his better half's mansions.

 

Of course. I wouldn't either. But if you're in a job you love and you are a competitor, you feel punished if you have to sit out. Anyone who is passionate about a job, be it a police officer, teacher or even some journalists, wouldn't want to sit on the sidelines for any reason, paid or not.

 

Not to anybody who understands the goal of a punishment.

I get that some people desperately want to equate Hardy and Brady and that leads to some of these ridiculous arguments, but the fact that Hardy has already gone through some punishment is just part of why the comparison does not hold up.

 

The transcript of the hearing, among other things, was released today as part of the lawsuit. Deadspin is dissecting it and has it posted in its entirety if you want to read all 456 pages.

Here Is The Transcript From Tom Brady's Appeal Hearing [UPDATING]

Every time I hear about this farce, I think of the "Band of Brothers" scene where the inept Captain Sobel is trying to drum up a ridiculous charge against Lieutenant Dick Winters. Goodell, of course, is Captain Sobel, almost word for word.
GOODELL/SOBEL: Dick Tom, you spend most of your weekends on the base anyway. Be a man and take the punishment.
WINTERS/BRADY: Here's my endorsement. I request trial by court martial.

 

I don't think I'll ever see Tom Brady as equal to Dick Winters.

 

Fair enough, but Goodell does make a perfect Herbert Sobel. You can practically picture him charging across the wrong field yelling, "Hi-yo, Silver!!"