XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.miami-dolphins, alt.sports.footba   
   l.pro.ne-patriots, rec.arts.tv   
   XPost: alt.tv   
   From: cheaters@nfl.com   
      
   It turns out, Tom Brady's cellphone wasn't the only thing that   
   was destroyed.   
      
   So, too, was any remaining shard of belief in his competitive   
   integrity, every last piece blown to smithereens with 10,000   
   text messages and one giant lie.   
      
   Does anybody still believe the NFL's most celebrated player   
   didn't purposely deflate footballs in an attempt to gain an   
   advantage during last season's NFL playoffs?   
      
   Does anybody still think his legacy should not include the word   
   "cheater"?   
      
   Brady was actually lucky Tuesday when the NFL upheld his four-   
   game suspension. In the wake of the league's accompanying   
   revelation that Brady ordered the destruction of a cellphone   
   that was one of the centerpieces of the investigation, he is   
   fortunate Commissioner Roger Goodell didn't double the penalty   
   to eight games. Or more.   
      
   If the NFL had been willing to take a big hit for the sake of   
   fairness, the investigation could have been completed in a week   
   last January and Brady never would have been allowed to play in   
   — and win — the Super Bowl.   
      
   But at least the right thing has finally happened, and Goodell   
   showed he would not be intimidated by powerful New England   
   Patriots owner Robert Kraft and an organization that has become   
   the modern-day Raiders.   
      
   As quickly as one can pound a cellphone with a hammer, the NFL   
   Players Assn. announced it was going to appeal the suspension,   
   and there is some thought that Brady will seek an injunction in   
   federal court that will allow him to keep playing during the   
   appeal process. That could really be a hoot. Can you imagine   
   Brady playing most of the Patriots season and then forced out of   
   the postseason if the appeal is lost?   
      
   Brady is probably counting on the appeal taking several years,   
   long enough for him to eventually disappear into retirement. And   
   that's fine. He might never miss a game. The NFL could lose the   
   entire case. It doesn't matter.   
      
   By upholding the suspension of its most marketable player — Tom   
   Brady jersey sales currently lead the league — the point has   
   been made that cheaters will be punished, and that arrogant   
   cheaters will be shown no mercy, and that Tom Brady is both.   
      
   According to reports, it was Brady's swagger which caused him to   
   be caught in the first place. Like a street con who had just   
   pulled a fast one on some unsuspecting citizen, the perp just   
   couldn't keep his mouth shut.   
      
   This entire mess was fueled by what happened in the bowels of   
   New England's Gillette Stadium, in the press conference room,   
   after the Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC   
   divisional game, 35-31. Brady had led his team back from a 14-   
   point deficit while directing a four-linemen-and-one-skill-   
   player formation that has since been ruled illegal.   
      
   The Patriots had skirted the rules, pushed the envelope and   
   outsmarted the Ravens. Yet that wasn't enough for Brady. After   
   hearing Ravens Coach John Harbaugh complain, Brady kicked the   
   Ravens while they were down.   
      
   "Maybe those guys gotta study the rule book and figure it out,"   
   he said.   
      
   The quote and the attitude were apparently too much for the   
   Ravens to bear. Soon after, the Ravens reportedly tipped off the   
   Indianapolis Colts about the possibility that Brady was using   
   underinflated footballs, an allegation which was proven when   
   officials tested the ball at halftime of the AFC Championship   
   game in which the Patriots defeated the Colts, 45-7.   
      
   Yet the swagger continued. Brady maintained his innocence in an   
   awkward pre-Super Bowl news conference, saying, "I feel like I   
   have always played within the rules. I would never break the   
   rules."   
      
   Then he refused to turn over his cellphone as part of the   
   league's investigation. Even when that investigation resulted in   
   a 243-page report that revealed evidence that Brady was lying,   
   the quarterback stayed in his stance and vowed to fight for his   
   truth.   
      
   Then the league revealed Tuesday that Brady ordered an assistant   
   to destroy the cellphone that contained nearly 10,000 text   
   messages sent during a time period that covered the deflation   
   incident. It was tantamount to Brady throwing a sucker punch in   
   that fight for his truth, robbing him of all credibility, and   
   pretty much ensuring that even hardcore Patriots fans have to   
   believe their man is a cheat.   
      
   Some people are saying that the league shouldn't have needed   
   Brady's text messages if it already had possession of the   
   messages Brady sent to the phones of Patriots equipment workers.   
   But what if he had contacted others about the deflation? What if   
   he had bragged about it to others? If he was so certain of his   
   innocence, why did he destroy the one thing that could have   
   helped prove it?   
      
   For sure, he was probably worried that league sources would leak   
   damaging personal information unrelated to football after   
   examining the messages. Indeed, in investigations such as this,   
   probable cause searches and seizures can be messy. Too bad.   
      
   Some people thought Goodell would reduce the Brady suspension so   
   it would not be compared to the four-game suspension given   
   Dallas defensive lineman Greg Hardy for a domestic violence   
   case. But the situations are vastly different. Hardy had already   
   been banned from football last season, and the league initially   
   attempted to suspend him for 10 games this season before an   
   arbitrator reduced it to four games.   
      
   In the league statement upholding Brady's suspension, Goodell   
   said Brady, "went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the   
   investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide   
   evidence of his own participation in the scheme.''   
      
   Hide. Scheme. The words paint a picture that even Tom Brady   
   cannot destroy.   
      
   bill.plaschke@latimes.com   
      
   Twitter: @billplaschke   
      
   http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-brady-suspension-   
   plaschke-20150729-column.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)