Rock: Tom Brady Suspension Is Scandalous

Tom Brady's four game suspension is nothing short of scandalous. I predict a lawsuit from Brady, and an imminent resignation of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, but these are topics for another article.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Tom Brady fan.  OK, I'm more than a fan.  I have a man crush on the 4 time Super Bowl champ.  I have loved #12 since the first Patriots game after the September 11th attacks.  That was the game when Mo Lewis knocked Drew Bledsoe all the way to Buffalo.  The Patriots would never be the same.  They would become a dynasty.

That being said, I believe the Wells report.  I believe that Tom Brady probably did know that the Patriots footballs were being deflated.  I'll go as far as saying that it is more likely than not that this was happening on a very regular basis.  Inconsistency is not a part of the Patriot Way.  I believe Brady knew, and I believe he was less than truthful during his press conference before the Super Bowl.

But FOUR GAMES?  FOUR GAMES for 1 pound of air pressure per square inch?  How does that make sense?  There must be precedent, right?  Let's review:

Ray Lewis was accused of stabbing two of his friends to death the night of the Super Bowl.  He pleaded down to obstruction of justice, and was not suspended by the NFL.  He was fined $250,000.

Ray Rice beat his fiance unconscious, then dragged her listless body from an elevator.  Unlike deflategate, there was concrete video evidence.  For this, the commissioner handed down a 2 game suspension.  After a public outcry, the commissioner suspended Rice indefinitely, then reinstated him at the end of last season.

The Vikings initially suspended Adrian Peterson for a single game after the star running back beat his 4 year old boy's bare legs, back, buttocks, genitals and ankles with a tree branch.  After court battles. Peterson was eventually suspended without pay.

Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault not once, but twice.  The second time, the Steeler quarterback allegedly attacked a 20 year old woman in a nightclub.  He was suspended for 6 games.

Now, to Mr. Brady.  Assuming he is guilty as sin...he orchestrated a plot to leak air from some footballs.  Again...FOUR GAMES??? Plus a MILLION dollar fine to the owner (who their OWN REPORT says is innocent of wrong doing), and the loss of a 1st and 4th round pick??? Jaw dropping.

An accused murderer, an accused rapist, a child abuser, a wife beater...and a guy with a pressure gauge.  One of these things is not like the others. One of these things doesn't belong.