News Article: Tom Brady likely knew of 'inappropriate activities,' Deflategate report says

Bamaro

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CNN)The evidence listed in Wednesday's "Deflategate" report is eye-catching:

-- Text messages between a part-time New England Patriots employee and an equipment assistant with talk of cash, free shoes and autographs.

-- The part-time employee -- a locker room attendant responsible for 12 footballs before the AFC title game -- spending 100 seconds in a bathroom after game officials had approved the balls for play.

-- Measurements taken at halftime after a team that is losing tips off the league about footballs that appear to be too soft.

-- The Patriots' star quarterback and the equipment assistant suddenly exchanging phone calls in the days just after news of underinflated footballs blew up.

The report, prepared by attorney Ted Wells, found that "it is more probable than not" that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was "at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities" of locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski, who has been with the team since 2001.

The report also found that "it is more probable than not" that McNally and Jastremski "participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee" in violation of NFL rules in the AFC Championship.

"Based on the evidence, it also is our view that it is more probable than not that Tom Brady ... was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities ... involving the release of air from Patriots game balls," Wells wrote.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/06/us/nfl-deflategate-report/

Everybody seems focused on how the Patriots didn't need to do this as they blew out the Colts in the playoffs but seem to forget how close the Ravens game was, 35-31. Brady's soft balls could have been the difference. If Flacco had done the same thing he may not have thrown 2 int's in the last 4 minutes.


He called himself the deflator. A longtime locker-room attendant for the New England Patriots, Jim McNally, was responsible for controlling the air pressure in the footballs that quarterback Tom Brady would use on the field.
But investigators implied that Brady had lied when he denied any knowledge of the operation or of McNally’s name and role. They found that Brady had spoken to Jastremski on the phone for more than 13 minutes starting shortly before 7:30 a.m. the morning after the A.F.C. championship game, their first phone conversation in six months. At Brady’s behest, for the first time that Jastremski could recall, they met in the quarterbacks’ meeting room later in the morning.
Continue reading the main story

Brady told investigators that he wanted to discuss how the Super Bowl balls would be prepared and that the subject of the previous day’s underinflated balls and the growing scandal “may have come up.”

The report said Brady had declined to provide documents or electronic information, such as text messages.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/s...ed-footballs-on-purpose-report-says.html?_r=0
 

CrimsonForce

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And Jerry Rice has admitted on camera to using stick em. Baseball pitchers put tar pine on their gloves to get a better grip on the baseball. Boxers/fighters put Vaseline on their body to make them more slippery and hard to hit. If people think that players/athletes don't do everything they can to get a competitive advantage then there are a lot of naive folks out there. I'm not saying I agree or endorse what happened with the footballs but I just can't believe how many people are shocked that players would do something to gain an advantage.

The game the footballs were supposedly deflated in the patriots won something like 45-10. Also, all this came out before the super bowl so the footballs during the super bowl were 100% in compliance with NFL regulations. The patriots still won the super bowl. I'm not a patriots fan but I just think there is being way to much made of this..
 
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selmaborntidefan

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Years from now it will come out that 1/2 the players on both teams were on PEDs, so who cares?
 

Bamaro

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Good one Baz. Really don't think anybody cares.
The NFL might.
No argument that Brady is a great QB. Makes you wonder though why he felt he needed to get an edge by doing this. Too bad.
He now has one more ring probably because of this.
People tend to be much more forgiving when those involved admit to the wrongdoing. Brady has not.
 
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RTR91

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Statement from Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee:


"The Wells report, with all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment. It’s omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later. One item alone taints this entire report. What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game? This suggests it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetrating a sting operation. The Wells report buries this issue in a footnote on page 46 without any further elaboration. The league is a significant client of the investigators' law firm; it appears to be a rich source of billings and media exposure based on content in the law firm's website. This was not an independent investigation and the contents of the report bear that out – all one has to do is read closely and critically, as opposed to simply reading headlines. The investigators' assumptions and inferences are easily debunked or subject to multiple interpretations. Much of the report’s vulnerabilities are buried in the footnotes, which is a common legal writing tactic. It is a sad day for the league as it has abdicated the resolution of football-specific issues to people who don’t understand the context or culture of the sport. I was physically present for my client’s interview. I have verbatim notes of the interview. Tom made himself available for nearly an entire day and patiently answered every question. It was clear to me the investigators had limited understanding of professional football. For reasons unknown, the Wells report omitted nearly all of Tom’s testimony, most of which was critical because it would have provided this report with the context that it lacks. Mr. Wells promised back in January to share the results of this investigation publicly, so why not follow through and make public all of the information gathered and let the public draw its own conclusions? This report contains significant and tragic flaws, and it is common knowledge in the legal industry that reports like this generally are written for the benefit of the purchaser."
 

CrimsonNagus

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If Flacco had done the same thing he may not have thrown 2 int's in the last 4 minutes.
How do we know he doesn't do the same thing? When all this "news" first broke many months ago I remember reading plenty of accounts from current and former NFL players that said this is a common practice in the league. I think this story has been blown way out of proportion by the media and Twitter babies.


I like that statement from the Brady camp and I hope he continues to fight back. I'm sick and tired of groups like the NFL and NCAA having "independent" investigations that aren't really independent. Everything is just a media game and circus these days thanks to social media.
 
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Bamaro

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How do we know he doesn't do the same thing? When all this "news" first broke many months ago I remember reading plenty of accounts from current and former NFL players that said this is a common practice in the league. I think this story has been blown way out of proportion by the media and Twitter babies.


I like that statement from the Brady camp and I hope he continues to fight back. I'm sick and tired of groups like the NFL and NCAA having "independent" investigations that aren't really independent. Everything is just a media game and circus these days thanks to social media.

Yeah, and how do we know that Flacco didn't knock out his wife on an elevator.
:rolleyes:
 

2003TIDE

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Seriously though i hate that guy. With his hot wife, millions of dollars, and all those Super Bowl rings. Hate him.
 

Bamaro

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Seriously though i hate that guy. With his hot wife, millions of dollars, and all those Super Bowl rings. Hate him.
I dont hate the guy. He is a great QB with a bit of an ego issue although this many times goes with the territory. He's a bit too smug and and it appears that he was caught in a lie. Past scandals have always shown that people tend to be more forgiving when a person admits their mistakes rather than lying about them. IMO, he knew all about it and did nothing to stop it.
 

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