Tom Brady cheated. He got caught. He is being punished. And that’s a very good thing.
There are some who contend the superstar quarterback of the NFL’s New England Patriots did nothing out of the ordinary. They claim it’s likely that most, if not all pro football quarterbacks, have deflated or over-inflated footballs over the years to improve their performance, or at least their own comfort level while throwing a football.
There are other people who contend the punishment, a four-game suspension for Brady next season, and a $1 million fine for the Patriots franchise (including the loss of two draft choices) is too severe.
And there are others who simply believe the publicity generated by Deflategate is inflated far beyond reason.
People cheat. That’s a simple fact. And I have witnessed a lot of that during my lifetime.
As a student in school, many of my classmates cheated. Some were very good students and got away with it. They went on to successful careers, became good parents and likely warned their own children, who ignored their advice, not to cheat.
People cheat in their personal relationships with such regularity that divorce, once socially unacceptable, is no longer considered taboo in the worlds of politics or business.
And in the world of sports, it seems, cheating has almost become a way of life. Track stars, baseball players, and one of the most famous bicycle racers in history, have used drugs to improve their performance.
Too often the publicity focuses on those who cheated rather than those who did not. I often find myself admiring the integrity of Major League Baseball players during the 1990s who refused to use steroids while those all around them were using drugs to gain a competitive advantage.
The careers of those who refused to cheat suffered as a result, no doubt. Their batting averages went down, their home run totals were lower and, for pitchers, their earned run averages skyrocketed. I doubt Greg Maddux, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was diminutive in stature, ever used steroids. He is considered perhaps the best pitcher of his generation and one of the best of all-time.
Yet, how much better might Maddux have been had he not had to face hitters who had a chemically-enhanced advantage?
The better case for admiration might be made for a marginal player, one who struggled to stay in the Big Leagues, and was sent back to the minor leagues. The temptation to ingest some pills, or take a few shots, to guarantee a multi-million dollar contract and a career in the sport an athlete loves is almost beyond imagining.
I can’t give you the names of those players. They are unknown to me. Yet, these are people of such integrity that they resisted the temptation to cheat, and paid a heavy price, while all around them others were breaking the rules.
We never give those people the credit they are due in business, politics or our everyday lives.
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And that’s one of the reasons it’s important to punish those who are caught breaking the rules. We owe it to those who refuse to take the easy way out. To reinforce their belief that it’s not stupid to do the right thing while those around you are taking the path of least resistance for personal gain.
Despite all the novels and movies with themes about good winning out over evil, in real life it often doesn’t work out that way.
In fact, those who break the rules are often admired for their guile, courage and ability to outwit those who are not risk-takers.
Bankers and financial industry leaders made fortunes selling bogus mortgage-backed securities resulting in the Great Recession and few paid any price while thousands of Americans lost their jobs and the country was pushed to the brink of economic collapse.
Politicians who use their positions to enrich their buddies, raise millions in campaign cash and promote policies detrimental to the people they represent rarely go to prison and are often cheered at public gatherings. A relatively small percentage are forced to resign from office due to scandal and fewer still actually go to prison.
And far too often, as in the case of Deflategate, the people who suffer the stiffest punishment are the underlings, the little guys who followed orders just to keep their jobs. Does anyone think an employee of an NFL team who handles equipment would do anything to a football without the encouragement, if not the outright blessing, of the quarterback or other important people who control their jobs?
Yet, the assistant equipment manager for the Patriots and a locker room attendant who handled the suspect footballs have been suspended indefinitely, while Brady faces only a four-game suspension, likely to be reduced on appeal (which Brady’s agent has said he will file on the quarterback’s behalf).
That’s not fair. But that’s life.
Scapegoats are always found. Examples are made of people who were merely trying to hold onto their jobs, make a living, while the people who actually are responsible, or at least created the atmosphere that encouraged the cheating, go unpunished.
As for the football scandal receiving too much publicity, a complaint I have heard repeatedly, oddly enough, on sports talk radio, everything that has to do with athletics in our society receives too much public attention.
But that public attention makes the athletes wealthy, sells billions of dollars in consumer goods and is meaningful enough that NBA and NFL stars have become high-prized and very successful marketing pitchmen.
People really do want to be like Mike, although not so much like Tiger Woods any more.
So when cheating occurs in sports it receives so much attention because the fans care, especially those who bet on the games.
I heard sportscaster Bob Cestas say that Brady could have mitigated the damage to his image and perhaps reduced his penalty, by admitting whatever role he may have had in influencing the decisions that led to the scandal.
Yep, fessing up is what Americans love. Doesn’t much matter what you do, or who you do it to, if you admit your mistakes people will not only forgive you, but likely find additional excuses for your behavior.
If there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it was likely the result of an intelligence failure.
Americans don’t torture people. We just waterboard them. Or pipe loud music into prisoners’ cells as they are forced to stand naked in rooms where the temperatures hover around 50 degrees.
It’s just bending the rules. Not really cheating. It’s not lying. It’s just a matter of interpretation.
I don’t believe that punishing the cheaters, the rule breakers, the liars, will stop such behavior. There’s too much to be gained, from a promotion at work, to vast fortunes that can be made. Sadly, often all the motivation required is a momentary feeling of putting one over on all the idiots who follow the rules.
Most of us have given in to such temptations at one time or another. And I would not deny anyone subject to human frailty a second chance.
Pundits have repeatedly noted that Brady didn’t need to cheat on the day in question, when his team ultimately defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7.
No, he didn’t. But he did it anyway. Because everyone else was doing it. Because the rules did not apply to him. Because he didn’t consider it cheating at all .
There’s always an excuse to be made. A defense for their behavior.
Brady, a superstar, cheated. He has been punished. And in a world where wrong is too often justified and applauded if it produces success, this is a good thing.
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