BRUNSWICK

So it finally has happened. National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell took 35 days to come up with what most in New England had predicted. The four-game suspension to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been upheld.

Shocker!

Since the Super Bowl ended with Brady and his Patriot teammates holding up their fourth Lombardi Trophy, signifying to the world that New England was once again the top team in the NFL, we have been inundated by “deflategate.” We have heard about PSI, cold and warm temperatures causing the football to lose air. For us who listen to sports talk shows, scientists have chimed in to give us all a bunch of information.

For what it’s worth, I along with many that I have had long discussions with about “deflategate,” we can honestly say that we are just plain sick of the subject. Really, there are more important things in the world to be addressing, including the Patriots officially opening training camp on Wednesday as they begin their defense of the title.

In a nutshell, the Patriots are not my first team. Those who know me realize that I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. In fact, I am all about Steel City sports. I love the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and will root for those teams until the day I die.

Hey, Brady suspended for four games, I believe, helps my team when the NFL kicks off the 2015 season on Sept. 10 as the Steelers visit Foxborough, Mass., for a Thursday night showdown with the Pats. Tom Brady is a Pittsburgh Steeler killer. He has lit up the Steelers so many times that I dread the matchup when it comes around.

But, I am not willing to shy away from the fact that this suspension is the most ridiculous thing that has come down the pike in a long time. “Spygate” was the last controversy that I can recall that had GATE at the end of the name. Now, we have “deflategate,” a term that even the most casual fan has come to know all too well.

When the suspension was upheld on Tuesday, I spoke to my mother, who lives 20 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh, on the phone. She is not the biggest sports fan around. She checks the score when the Steelers game has ended, or may even take a peek at the game between gardening or mowing her lawn, shaking her head when the Steelers are behind before heading outside to continue her work.

At the establishment where she works as a bartender, my mom plays in a “33” club. Scores are what matter, for when an NFL team scores 33 points someone wins big money. Most Sundays when we speak during the NFL season, she wants to know if a team scored 33 points on Sunday. That is her level of NFL fandom.

Even my mother, the most casual of casual NFL fans, believes the whole “deflategate” thing, in her words mine you, “is stupid!”

Take a look at the facts. The NFL had a concern. Did the Patriots, actually Tom Brady, order that the footballs prior to the AFC Championship game with the Indianapolis Colts be set at a PSI less than the league rules allow? Did Tom Brady purposely hide the fact amongst a supposed 10,000 texts that he ordered the footballs to fall outside the rules of the NFL? Did Tom Brady cooperate? Did Tom Brady destroy his phone? Did Tom Brady sit in front of Commissioner Goodell and basically tell him to go #$%& himself during his 10-hour appeal?

Many of these facts, to be honest, will go on being disputed. Goodell not only made his decision, but the commissioner’s office has also been in contact with attorneys to come up with a strategy for what I’m sure is a long and nasty federal court case between the NFL Players Union and the NFL over “deflategate.”

I want to say that Brady has a chance of winning this court case, of having his suspension completely thrown out. But, I believe Tom Brady and his lawyers have a long uphill climb here. The NFL is powerful and will throw everything it has on coming out on top, making sure Brady is a bystander for four NFL games to open the 2015 season, or worst case scenario for Patriot fans, drags this out long enough to where the courts decide to uphold Brady’s suspension as the playoffs begin in January 2016. Imagine Brady not in the lineup during a playoff game. It could happen!

Do I care that Tom destroyed his phone? Do I care that the footballs were under-inflated in the Patriots’ destruction of the overmatched Colts? Do I want to keep hearing “deflategate” for the next year or two?

My simple answer is NO to all of the above.

Here is what I do care about. Tom Brady, whether you love him or not, root for him or for another team, is the greatest quarterback to have played the game in this era of a pass-happy league. He has been the face of the NFL during a time when so many changes have taken place, some good and some, should we say, not so good. To destroy his legacy, from a quarterback at Michigan University, to a NFL sixthround draft pick, to a fourtime NFL champion, is quite sad.

The question has been asked, will this decision destroy Tom Brady’s legacy? How can it not? Here is a way to answer this question.

Since Sunday, we have watched with joy as Pedro Martinez was both enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame and had his No. 45 retired by the Boston Red Sox. Let’s say Pedro announces today that he took steroids throughout most of his storied career. How would his image change in your mind? At the very least, I believe fans would be shocked and his legacy would be destroyed beyond repair.

Now, I know Tom hasn’t been accused of taking steroids. He is accused of possibly, maybe, ordering the removal of air from footballs in order to get a better grip.

Plus, in my mind the NFL has a problem when dishing out punishment. Goodell can’t give a two-game suspension to a Ray Rice for knocking the crap out of his then fiancé in an elevator and reduce Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Greg Hardy’s suspension from 10 games to four for domestic violence and look the public in the eye with a “detrimate to the league” speech for allegedly deflating a football. The penalty doesn’t fit the supposed crime. Brady “not cooperating with investigators” for not giving up his personal phone is not grounds for giving him the same amount of suspended games, or more, for someone who commits a violent crime.

The NFL says it believes Tom Brady has destroyed the very integrity of the game of football, that he cheated his way to another win that led to his fourth Super Bowl championship, that once again the New England Patriots have gone from “spygate” to “deflategate” and remain cheaters.

I say this is a sad time if you’re an NFL fan.