There are a lot of people who say that the PSI of the footballs is not really that big of a deal. Some will say it doesn't change the fact that Brady beat up the Colts. All of that is true and I can see why some would come to that conclusion. I do think it's a big deal because it's more then just about the Pats. In today's Sports Landscape, the NFL is big money. Like 45 Billion Dollar industry worth. Now think about how much money is bet on the NFL. That is a huge industry and that, IMO, is why this is being taken so seriously.
If we are honest with each other, the simple truth is probably that New England is not the only team that uses this practice. I'd bet that there are a lot more teams who doctor the footballs. Doctoring Footballs has been around for as long as Footballs have been, in the game of Football. However, it's the Pats who got nailed. If you drill down far enough, everything is about money in the NFL. The sport stopped being about Football a long time ago. It's perception and how it relates to revenue. This drives virtually everything these days. This is why I look at a lot of the language used by the League in a lot of situations and just chuckle to myself. Is it wrong to hit women? Of course it's wrong. It's wrong to beat anybody who is weaker then you IMO. Are there situations where temper gets the better of you? Of course it does and it happens. However, it's still wrong and when that happens, most people know it. It's also wrong for women to hit mean and think it's OK to do so. Yet, you hear the NFL coming down hard on this now, as if it has never been a part of the game before. This type of behavior has been around for a long time and the NFL knew of this but until somebody came to the conclusion that it's costing the League money, it was never that big of an issue. It's always been wrong but it's only important now.
The League has looked past a lot of transgressions from other teams because they were making money and that's what the NFL is about now. Is Goodell a good guy or a bad guy? I don't honestly know but I know that his job is to protect the League and make money for the League. Everything he is doing is about that. That's his job. For all I know he doesn't personally agree with a lot of what the policy may be but then again, he may agree 100%. None of that matters because his job is to grow the NFL.
For some of us, the game is more important and that's how we tend to look at things. I can completely understand that. Don't really have a problem with it. The problem is that the NFL stopped being about the game a long time ago IMO. The integrity of the game we hear so much about is still important but not because it's about the game. It's because the NFL can not afford to have the perception of the game not being fair or on the up and up.
Anyway, just some of my own personal thoughts on the subject.
