When the Patriots were accused of deflating footballs, the league launched a huge multi-million dollar investigation to supposedly protect the integrity of the game. They completely bungled it by making a boneheaded decision to tamper with their own evidence so it was completely useless. Then they cherry picked data to make a pseudo-scientific case, but ultimately made their decision on a supposition of guilt based on some ambiguous but damning text messages from a Patriots staff member. They chose to apply the maximum penalty possible on Tom Brady claiming that he had impeded the investigation by destroying his cell phones rather than allow the inept investigators to have access to all of his personal data. They claimed they needed to make an example of Brady because it was such a high profile situation and they needed to make sure nobody ever again would even think about juicing some equipment to get a slight advantage. Around the same time, you had players who beat their wives and girlfriends in public places, tortured animals, and even abused their children, who received lesser suspensions.
To his credit, Brady played along, kept his mouth shut, fought it as far as he legally could, and then submitted to the league’s authority, so that he could extend his career another 6 years and counting, win 3 more championships and continue proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he never needed to deflate footballs to win games. If anybody has a legitimate grievance with the NFL and it’s commissioner, it’s Tom Brady. But to this day he has barely spoken about it in public at all. I think once he allowed himself to be seen with a Goodell clown shirt, but even then he was just giving the fans a laugh, without actually undermining the league in any serious way.
Then you have Antonio Brown who was always in trouble for violating rules in Pittsburgh. He posted an audio clip on social media of his coach telling the team to stay off social media. He skipped practices whenever he wanted to. He fought a losing argument with the NFL about keeping his old helmet that was no longer considered safe. He demanded a trade, gets a trade, and again posts audio of another coach trying to help him. He forces his way out of another team and gets yet another chance. He then makes intimidating comments to a woman who accused him of rape, and only then does he actually face any consequences for his actions. Of course, that punishment came from the team, not from the NFL. After finally seeming to have worn out his welcome in the NFL, his personal life falls apart, a second rape accusation is made, he gets arrested for battery and burglary, and then settles the lawsuit with a gag order for the first rape allegation. Somehow, he is still given yet another chance on another team by showing them he hadn't changed. He seems to be back on the right track, but then blatantly violates the league’s rules by submitting a fake vaccination card, earning an actual suspension. Finally, on the day when most people are trying to make a fresh start and resolving to do better at something, he has another melt-down, strips off his uniform, and walks off the field abandoning his team in the middle of a game, while drawing as much attention to himself as he possibly could.
I don't claim to be capable of making a clinical diagnosis, but it is totally obvious that Antonio Brown has some serious mental health issues. I have nothing but sympathy for people suffering from mental illness, and the people around them who care for them. I think everyone needs to be more tolerant of people that struggle to conform to all of the superficial dictates of society. I’d be willing to completely ignore all of the petty events, like the social media posts and all the ridiculous things he did to draw attention to himself that violated the team or the league’s rules. Those rules exist solely to maintain some kind of fake aura of discipline - and I don't consider violating such rules to be even worthy of condemnation. But his actions went way beyond morally defensible. Even if he was completely innocent of the rape allegations, that doesn’t give him a right to make threats. The legal process was still playing out, and he was allowed to continue in his very lucrative chosen profession while the system was being followed. All he needed to do was keep quiet about it, maintain his innocence, and respect that a woman has a right to tell her side. He could not do that. I don’t even know where to begin on the other violent issues - but he obviously couldn’t prove his own innocence, since he didn't even attempt to defend himself.
But all of that was off the field - a sports enthusiast could argue that the only thing that matters is what he does on the field. This brings me to the COVID situation. The league never required players to be vaccinated - they just have a different protocol for vaccinated players and non-vaccinated players because the risk factors of each situation is quantifiably different. In order to avoid those extra restrictions he forged a document and lied. The issue isn't even about about COVID. Maybe he thinks it’s a big government conspiracy. Or maybe he think it’s all just blown out of proportion and these restrictions aren’t really necessary at all. Or maybe he just thinks that nobody should be forced or coerced to get a vaccine in order to remain employed. Or maybe he just thinks the league’s rules aren’t all that logical or effective and that they're not really about keeping the players, staff and fans safe, they’re just about making the NFL look good so the fans keep watching. Fine - I can accept all of that, and have a peaceful, respectful discussion about why I think he is wrong. If that’s how AB felt, then he has a right to say it and use his fame to make that point. He also has a right to try to take a stand in some way. He could have done what Kyrie did, and just refused to get vaccinated and then dealt with the limitations that incurred on him. Or he could have just formally retired then and explained why he did so.
But no, AB decided that he was going to cheat so that he could play without those restrictions he objected to. When caught, he received a lesser penalty than Tom Brady did for allegedly deflating footballs. That is completely insane! What AB did was entirely selfish and did nothing to protect anyone from anything. When TB refused to turn over his cell phone, he was actually taking a principled stand and suffered the consequences for it. Brady's refusal to expose himself may have also been self-serving, but I can also make a strong case that his refusal to comply was to protect other players in the future from having all of their personal life revealed to the public by an overzealous commissioner. Brady's actions were to defend his fellow players from the league itself. Antonio Brown did nothing to help anyone but himself. Throughout his entire career, it has always been him putting himself first, and then lying through his teeth claiming to care about his team.
I don’t ever want to hear the phrase “integrity of the game” from NFL officials ever again. If they honestly think that what Brady did threatened the integrity of the game more than players submitting fake health data about themselves in order to avoid safety protocols, then they have absolutely no clue what the word integrity really means.
What also completely baffles me is why Brady still keeps defending him. It can’t be just about personal loyalty - Brady has tons of friends. Is TB12 just so obsessed with winning that he will tolerate any player that helps him do so, no matter how immoral they act? Even with all of the things I admire about Brady, and all of the years I’ve supported him, this makes me wonder just how far he actually would go to be the GOAT. What is the line he won’t cross? At the moment it looks like Belichick, the supposed mastermind of "Spy Gate" is actually the one with more integrity, since he made the decision to cut him, and never looked back.
Lastly… to me, the biggest disgrace in all of this is what happened to another player years ago who never actually violated any of the league's rules. He was pilloried, released and then never picked up by another team. His only crime was taking a purely symbolic but principled stand to draw attention to an issue that he was personally passionate about. The issue wasn't just about him and his personal convenience, and his goal was to protect people from violence and intimidation. He never cheated, never forged any documents. He never put any other player, staff member or fan in any personal danger. He accepted all of the criticisms and the consequences of his own actions willingly. But for his purely symbolic gestures that violated no written rules whatsoever, he became one of the most hated people in America, even called a son-of-a-bitch by a sitting president. Rather than defend him, the NFL tried to put in new rules to stop him from “threatening the integrity” of a symbolic piece of cloth. Then years later when the price of that decision would have cost the league some actual fans, they flipped completely, and now make a big spectacle of supporting a cause they obviously don’t really believe in.
I love football. I will keep watching because I still believe that sports matter. Football in particular helped teach me as a kid how to face physical and mental pain in order to be my strongest self. The NFL wants to be seen as a path forward for troubled and under-privileged individuals to find success and redemption through hard work and self-discipline. But giving people like Antonio Brown endless opportunities while denying the same opportunities to less politically popular players sends a very different message. The NFL needs to evolve. It needs to move beyond these purely symbolic performative acts of discipline and actually hold their players to some standards of ethics and morality again. Until then, all they are teaching our kids is that there are still 2 sets of rules, one for those who can run faster or hit harder … and don't offend authoritarians … and another set of rules for everyone else.
