The DeflateGate report is out.

And it doesn't look good for Tom Brady. 

The NFL's report, which took four months to complete, determined that three people in the New England Patriots organization "more probably than not" knew and/or took part in the efforts to lower the pressure in the Patriots' game footballs so as to make it more to the starting quarterback's liking: equipment assistant John Jastremski, locker room attendant Jim McNally, and quarterback Tom Brady himself.

Beyond the physical data verifying that the footballs used by the Patriots in the AFC Championship game were indeed significantly below the NFL-required pressure, it also provides enough circumstantial evidence that makes it "more likely than not" that it was not only a deliberate act on the part of Jastremski and McNally (and at the very least tacitly condoned by Brady; more likely suggested by Brady), but that it was a pattern of behavior stretching back well into the regular season, based on such things as text messages between the two employees that certainly appear to confirm that they did exactly that throughout the season, specifically for Brady, who provided them with game paraphernalia as thank you's for doing so.

To clarify, Brady went to great lengths in the week following the original expose' to explain that yes, he much preferred the balls to be inflated "to the lower end of the legal range" of 12.5 to 13.5 psi, because it gives him a better grip on the ball, a better feel for it in cold weather, and allows his receivers to catch the ball more easily. To top that off, it was Brady himself who led the campaign to change the NFL policy on this very subject in 2007, creating the bizarre rule that each team should be in charge of its own footballs that it uses on offense, rather than the conventional notion that the neutral NFL would have control over the equipment used in the game. 

(By the way, if the NFL hasn't changed that policy by August's first pre-season game, they should shut the place down.)

So, yeah, Tom Brady LOVES his footballs to have pressure as low as he can get away with in the footballs he throws. 

Is there ANY way that a rational human being can conceive of a situation where an assistant equipment man and a part-time locker room attendant would contrive to illegally lower the pressure in the game balls WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OR APPROVAL OF THE MAN WHO HANDLES THEM FOR A LIVING?

Interestingly, the report exonerates head coach Bill Belechick and ALL other Patriots players, coaches, and employees. The culture under Belechick has notoriously been to stretch the rules to the point of complete malleability, and sometimes beyond it (see: "Spygate", "Snowplow on the Field") to win football games. 

But this time, it isn't specifically Belechick who's at fault.
It's the win at all costs culture he created.

I understand that the commissioner has no credibility AT ALL on the subject of appropriate suspensions. (See: Rice, Ray, takes one and two.) And I understand that while this affects the validity of the very sport his job depends on, it should NOT demand a penalty as harsh as the one for the scandal in which players' very health and well-being were compromised by bonuses being given for injuring them (i.e., the New Orleans Saints' "Bountygate" scandal - do we HAVE to use the suffix -gate on EVERYTHING?). 

But the penalty seems pretty clear to me, within a range:
- Fire the two employees immediately, with a show-cause for working in the NFL for the next five-ten years. They have no reason to still be attached to the NFL.
- Whatever the Spygate draft/money penalty was, assess something between that amount again to double that amount. This is worse, but of the same magnitude.
- Tom Brady needs a significant suspension. Four to eight games seems appropriate to me - less than the season long suspension Saints head coach Sean Payton suffered, but more than a slap on the wrist. Ben Roethlisberger served six for "circumstantial evidence"-proven crimes off the field; this was less damaging to individuals but more damaging to the sanctity of the fairness of the product the NFL produces. Six games seems appropriate.
- Does it change the outcome of Super Bowl 49? Logistically, I have to say no. But it sure puts an asterisk on it in the minds of a loooooooot of people, including me.

This damages Brady's entire reputation in a way that a steroid scandal does to other players. It puts an asterisk on the 2014 season and Brady's passing numbers for a minimum of last year. Does it keep him out of the Hall of Fame? Probably not, but it's worth asking the question. Brady's interviews following the exposition of the evidence after the Colts game have been proven to be what they felt like at the time - lies, fabricated hastily and imperfectly, surrounding enough of his honesty about why he would want deflated balls to explain his actions in the case. And in particular, for a player whose good looks and aw, shucks image was crafted on his appearance of being a down-home guy who was exactly what he appeared to be, this is a whole set of nails in the coffin of that image. We will never see Tommy in that light again.

Even Bill Belechick will take a small hit - oh, sure, he was acquitted. And he was never the good ol' boy that Brady was, anyway. But it's yet another strike on the culture he created at Foxboro, that win-at-all-cost mode of operation that made the Patriots the villains of the NFL. It's one thing to be the rebels, like the Oakland Raiders were (and still would be, except that they're an afterthought as a hollow (art) shell of a team). It's quite another to be the outlaw. Expect a LOT more scrutiny, New England. Walk far away from that line, because you're going to be judged more harshly than ANYONE else in 2015, whether fair or not.

And the saddest thing is this - like Alex Rodriguez, like Barry Bonds, like Lance Armstrong - the Patriots were going to be good without all of the cheating. But their insecurity forced them into playing beyond the rules, to playing with an ace up the sleeve, because the full house they already had might not be quite good enough. 

And it cost them more than the pot. It cost them their reputations as men.

Essendon Footy players CLEARED of all doping charges

The 34 players involved in the AFL doping scandal at the Essendon Bombers footy club in 2012 have all been cleared of wrongdoing by the Australian Sports Anti-Drug Agency (ASADA), and are free of any sanctions, suspensions, or other penalties that would have been handed down had the tribunal found otherwise. 

That group includes a massive number from Essendon itself, so many that the Dons have been preparing retired players and minor leaguers in case their roster was decimated by a guilty verdict today. It also includes stars Angus Monfries from Port Adelaide and Stewart Crameri of the Western Bulldogs, both of whom had moved on from the club since 2012.

Here are a slough of articles from AFL.com.au that hit the topic from all angles:

Thirty-four present and former Essendon players cleared of all wrong-doing.
Here's a blow-by-blow of the day's events coming out of the courtroom, plus the reactions around the sport...
The actual statement from the ASADA tribunal...
A very important detail, in my opinion: the repenting of Essendon head coach James Hird, who in any reckoning of this sorrowful tale is guilty of no less than atrocious judgment, if not far worse.
The reaction of the players involved, like superstar and Brownlow medal winner Jobe Watson, whose comments include, "I'd forgotten what it was like to play and not have this dark cloud over my head."
Where the Essendon club goes from here...specifically, into round one on Sunday against the powerhouse Sydney Swans.
The statement of Essendon chairman Paul Little, hoping for an end to the nightmare.
And the final word on the subject (from our perspective), from AFL president/CEO Gillan McLaughlin, hoping that there won't be any appeals and that the league and its personnel can get on with the business of playing footy again.

From my perspective, here's what it means: The tribunals got this right. This was not (from all reports) a player-driven cheating scandal, like the Americans Lance Armstrong or Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez. The players involved were given supplements, not unlike the league-approved vitamins and medicines they are often given for strength and pain-relief and the like. This was a club-driven program, with the people who ran the show in the wrong: trainer, coach, and so forth. The penalty for the head medico is still coming sometime in April, but the coach served a one-year ban (I'm not sure it shouldn't have been longer), the club was banished from the playoffs (one week before they started - an unprecedented hammer!) and paid a $2M fine, and the penalties for the others involved from the administrative end seem, from this distance, to have been punitive enough. The players were victims, and the tribunal saw that.

And now, it's time to move on - for Essendon, and for footy.

Ray Rice wins his appeal - CAN play immediately. WILL HE?

The news is breaking just now via the good ol' NFLPA that Ray Rice has won his appeal and is immediately eligible to sign with ANY team in the league. (The Ravens released him pretty much the moment the video broke.)

Here's the question: WHO is going to sign a ticking bomb named Ray Rice?

POST your opinion in the comments: which NFL team is most likely to sign Rice? 

(We'll tell you our choice - the obvious one, in our minds: the Oakland Raiders.)

Read this. Please. For the well-being of every potential victim of assault, read this.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports has one of the most well-thought-out articles we've yet seen about the Jamies Winston alleged sexual assault on a fellow FSU student. 

Read this article. It doesn't tell you whether Winston DID or DIDN'T assault her. But that's not the point.

The point of the article is this: if you knew what the woman went through when she was attacked...and then YOU were assaulted? Would you report the attack, knowing what you were about to put yourself through? 

The Tallahassee police department, the FSU administration, and every person in power involved in this case should be completely ashamed of the miscarriage of justice that continues to take place here, just because the alleged perpetrator is a star athlete. It's not the victim who's being victimized a SECOND time that is the major issue here (as completely heinous as that is!). It's the fact that they've now dissuaded every woman in northern Florida (and possibly well beyond that) from reporting sexual assaults against them. They have essentially given rapists in their region complete free rein to terrorize anybody they want, because their victims will be too frightened of the system to come forward afterwards.

Please: the next time someone argues that sports don't have an effect of the way we live our life? Remember Jamies Winston, the FSU athletic department, and the Tallahassee PD.

The tweet that defines the NCAA...

Jameis Winston is playing today. Todd Gurley is suspended indefinitely. Speaks volumes for @NCAA.

Staci D Kramer  - 12:31 PM - 11 Oct 2014

A Missouri writer, lamenting that Winston, the Florida State quarterback, played at Syracuse on Saturday after being notified he faces a university hearing into whether he sexually assaulted an FSU student in 2012. Gurley, the Georgia running back, was banned from the game against Missouri (and may not play again this year) after being accused of signing memorabilia and getting paid for it by a Georgia dealer.

(via Peter King)