For “more likely than not” knowing something about soft footballs, Tom Brady and the Patriots lost $1 million, a quarter of Brady’s season and two draft picks.
What should be the penalty when an Amtrak employee kills eight people, injures a couple hundred more and does millions of dollars in damage?
If we let the punishment fit the crime with any degree of proportionality, the Amtrak employee should pay trillions of dollars and spend several lifetimes in prison, but of course he will not.
If the NFL front office hoped to buy some integrity by correcting several past dumb rulings with yet another dumb ruling, they have failed.
They’ve left themselves with nowhere to go the next time there’s proof a player took illegal drugs, knocked out his fiancée in an elevator or killed another player on the field with an illegal hit. A 15-yard penalty just won’t be enough.
Allan Neff
South Portland
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.