Brady: Deflated balls scandal doesn't taint Super Bowl win

[webfact]

Brady: Deflated balls scandal doesn't taint Super Bowl win
By HOWARD ULMAN

SALEM, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Thursday night the scandal surrounding his use of deflated footballs in the NFL playoff last season hasn't detracted in any way from his Super Bowl title.

"Absolutely not," Brady told a friendly university crowd in his first public appearance since an NFL investigation concluded Brady likely knew Patriots employees were cheating.

"We earned everything we got and achieved as a team, and I am proud of that and so are our fans," he said.

Brady declined to discuss his thoughts about the 243-page report that said that he was likely at least aware two team employees were breaking rules by deflating footballs for him.

"I don't really have any reaction. It has only been 30 hours. I've not had much time to digest it," Brady said. "When I do I will be sure to let you know how I feel about it. And everybody else."

Brady said he will address things more once things play out and he is more comfortable. Brady is still waiting to see whether the league will discipline him with a fine, suspension or both.

"There is a process going forward and I am involved in this process," he said.

Asked whether public backlash is bothering him, Brady said he accepts his role as a public figure and has people who support him and help him get through it.

"As a human you care about what people think. I think also as a public figure you learn not everyone is going to like you," he said. "Good, bad or indifferent there are a lot of people who don't like Tom Brady, and I am OK with that."

The report by Ted Wells, an independent investigator hired by the NFL, found some of Brady's claims implausible in explaining why balls were underinflated during the Patriots' 45-7 win against Indianapolis in the AFC title game.

The superstar quarterback spoke at a Q&A session moderated by sportscaster Jim Gray during a previously scheduled, sold-out event at Salem State University. He arrived by helicopter for the talk on leadership, avoiding a long line of fans outside and media waiting for him to enter. The event was delayed more than 30 minutes to allow fans to file in, including some wearing Brady jerseys. During the wait, the crowd chanted "Brady" and "MVP," then gave him a standing ovation as he walked in.

Gray said the session would largely stick to subjects they planned previously when they arranged the talk four months ago. But he acknowledged the difficulty in avoiding one of the hottest topics in sports.

"There's an elephant in the room," Gray said.

"Where?" Brady responded.

Gray shot back: "You might be the only one in the room who does not see it."

Gray did not ask Brady directly whether he cheated or about specific issues raised in the report, including text messages and phone conversations that indicated the employees were trading autographed footballs and sneakers for doctoring the balls for Brady.

The first four minutes of the hour-long session were devoted to Brady's reaction to the report. The subject did not come up again.

Brady seemed at ease throughout the event, which included questions about Seattle coach Pete Carroll's ill-fated call for a pass that was intercepted in the end zone by cornerback Malcom Butler in the final minute of the Super Bowl.

"It was more of a great defensive play than a bad offensive play," Brady said.

He laughed when asked about a recent online video showing him jumping off a cliff into water in Costa Rica.

"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing," he said. "I'll never do it again."

And he reiterated that a "family commitment" kept him from the recent White House ceremony honoring the champion Patriots.

"Did the team go?" Brady said to laughter. "If we get that opportunity (next year) there's no doubt I'll be there."

Earlier Thursday, Brady's agent, Don Yee, said the NFL was determined to blame Brady for deflated footballs, while the investigation omitted key facts and buried others.

The team didn't respond to requests from The Associated Press seeking comment about the report from Brady and Patriots coach Bill Belichick. The Patriots didn't make anyone available on Thursday, canceling prior plans to allow two players to be interviewed during voluntary team workouts held at the team's headquarters in Foxborough.

The report didn't find any evidence that Belichick or the coaching staff knew anything about deflating the balls.

The Patriots are scheduled to play their opener against the Steelers in the kickoff game of the NFL regular season on Sept. 10.
___

AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in New York contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-05-08

[Langsuan Man]

And Pete Rose's betting didn't taint the World Series

And MarK McGwire's juicing up didn't taint the home run record

And Lance Armstrong's blood doping didn't taint the Tour de France

Golden Boy Brady is soon to see a lot of endorsement deals dry up because one thing an advertiser does not want is anyone with the slightest stench of a cheater

And let's not start on the legal shortcomings of the report and concentrate on the if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck and acts like a duck, then it is probably a duck common sense argument

[Dannyboy666]

BS They Get Away With Murder, Belicheat and his Boy Brady...

Edited May 8, 2015 by Dannyboy666

[MikeOboe57]

Slow World News day? Apparently, when deflated balls in the NFL make headlines.

[zydeco]

Slow World News day? Apparently, when deflated balls in the NFL make headlines.

You didn't need to read it and comment on it, then, did you? Not every headline needs to deal with war, revolution, murder, and elections.

[chasggg]

Slow World News day? Apparently, when deflated balls in the NFL make headlines.

This is big news mate, sports cheating always is.......

I'm English with no more than a passing interest in American Football, and I homed right in on this story.

Edited May 8, 2015 by chasggg

[Just1Voice]

If he actually knew that his people were deliberately deflating the footballs, to make things easier for him, then he should face what Lance Armstrong did - A lifetime ban, and stripped of all personal awards, and kiss the Hall of Fame adios.

[usa4079]

Yes it didnt affect the outcome coz they were dominant. But they prepared to cheat just in case the game was more competitive. That is the point. The outcome of the game means nothing. The pr3game cheat preparations is all that is important.brady had to know. He is a smart pro. He had to know. I used to play qb in hs and even i could tell if a ball was underflated. But as brady is just a pawn on the chess board and belicheck is the actual puppet master, belichexk and org must b punished. Brady just doing his job and using whats given him. He surely not gonna turn his team in. Any player on that team that touches the ball had to know the ball was underflated. These guys arnt rookies. They r the best of the best

[FangFerang]

Slow World News day? Apparently, when deflated balls in the NFL make headlines.

The money involved is staggering. Cheating makes the point spreads skew, and worse, it DOES taint their superbowl win.

And everyone knows the injury reports are just for gambling purposes.

[Gandtee]

Disgusting! Playing with their deflated balls!

[NickJ]

My GF agrees.

[Lokie]

Do the Refs not check all match play balls to ensure they are of correct specification for the game, if so and then the balls are deliberatly de-flated to suit the 'MVP's style then that is plain cheating - simple and any matches played and won should be null and void. I like American Football (Im UK) and I lost money on some of these games, don't mind loosing fair but if a Stacked deck then that is not good form... C H E A T S !

Edited May 8, 2015 by Lokie

[Rhys]

simply just too much free time for this type of .........

[MikeOboe57]

I guess I owe the forum an apology. After the mild dressing down I searched the internet and found that this event has been labelled "Deflategate" and "Ballghazi" by the American media. So it looked like the fraud of the century. But sifting through knee deep white noise I found that all the hype is about the unverified allegation by a losing team that a ball they intercepted from the winning team was one or two psi below the minimum of 12.5 psi pressure.

If this were true - the verdict so far is "more probable than not" - it was facilitated by the rather stupid NFL regulation that each offense can use their own set of balls - giving ample opportunity for all kinds of manipulation.

[Chicog]

It is cheating plain and simple.

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. This is definitely not about Manny Paquiao.

[Chicog]

An off topic post has been removed. This is definitely not about Manny Paquiao.

[sirineou]

This is a big deal

I am surprised that no enterprising lawyer has not filed a class action suit against the Patriots yet. A lot of money was invested on this game.

I guess this could happen as soon as a responsible entity has being identified.

also there is the possibility that if found that Brady knew , he could .at the very least, be suspended

Several class action suits have being files against Manny Pacquiao for not disclosing a shoulder injury before the fight.

[cloghead]

what say you, patsfangr???