It is more probable than not you’d rather not revisit this topic.
It is safe to say that to this day you are at least generally aware of the details surrounding the saga.
It is the reason why Ted Wells, John Jastremski and Judge Richard Berman, among many, became household names in New England. Why everyone locally became an expert in The Ideal Gas Law. Why friends would call each other “Dorito Dink” and “The Deflator”.
It is an ordeal chock full of “Where were you when _____?” moments, from the beginning to the end.
It is widely considered one of the biggest sports soap operas of all-time. One of the most divisive topics of conversation in the nation. And one of the greatest football farces ever; an equipment violation leading all the way to a federal court battle, dominating the news cycle in sports, and beyond, for nearly two years.
It is the five-year anniversary of Troy Vincent’s Deflategate ruling, suspending the greatest quarterback of all-time four games, smearing his good name in the investigative process, fining the team he played for $1 million, docking them two draft picks -- including a first-rounder -- and forever entrenching said team as league scoundrels, elevated to their competitive capacity only through a series of rule manipulations and infractions.
From NFL Executive VP of Football Operations Troy Vincent's letter to Tom Brady. pic.twitter.com/kbddAeCfok
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL)
May 11, 2015 It is the reason why you hate or defend the New England Patriots to the degree you do.
And it is ... something I’ll be eternally grateful for.
Yes, you read that right. I’m grateful for Deflategate.
Now before you call Exponent to run a series of tests to see if my Pats super fandom has been hacked or altered with nefarious intent let me say that we’d all have likely been better off without DeflateGate. We'd collectively be just fine had the NFL treated the perceived deflated football issue from the 2014 AFC Championship Game the way it would normally handle any routine equipment violation; with a small fine and a sternly worded letter sent via FedEx. Nobody could possibly believe that DeflateGate was good for football, good for sports or good for our country. The media will disagree gladly. It was a polarizing news goliath that fed the airwaves and fueled the hot take masses for months, years even. It inspired all sorts of response, content, emotion, humor, drama and nonsense. Full disclosure: I might only be here today thanks to the impassioned inspiration it gave me.
But the chance to flaunt my Patriot Pride and dig deep into my townie well of defiance isn’t the primary reason why I look back with any appreciation on Deflategate mania. There aren’t enough clicks, likes or RTs to make up for the initial frustration of having to hear your favorite football team be accused of cheating again, and that by rooting association you were a bad person as well. Been there already as a Pats fan, didn’t need to go back. Not especially when, at the time of the accusation, the Pats were headed back to the Super Bowl, hoping to turn things around after two Giant defeats. We were having too much fun! We were all in awe of what the Patriots were doing. How Brady was playing so well at an age well past when most QBs call it a career. How Belichick kept the team consistently competitive in the age of free agency. This was their time to do the unimaginable. And they did. It’s just that before they did it on the field with an unbelievable fourth quarter and the greatest play in Super Bowl history from some rookie out of West Alabama, they unknowingly did it off the field with press conferences, PSI numbers and Mona Lisa Vito references.
We didn’t want this, any of it, in the least. That run was too much fun. Brady and Belichick in their sixth Super Bowl. Gronk back, healthy, a star again. Revis about to win it all with the Jets sworn enemy. America's worst nightmare! Oh, you could almost taste the tears. But then came an early second-half stoppage in play, some odd whisperings from the sidelines, and of course the next day, Mort’s infamous tweet.
Chris Mortensen reflects on his Deflategate tweet: https://t.co/sb95tBwbcW pic.twitter.com/wa9TpU52LY
— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS)
October 27, 2016 What really started it all? Who knows. Was it spite following Brady barking at John Harbaugh to study the rule book after a wild AFC Divisional Round game? Was it just from a random interception by D'Qwell Jackson (there's a trivia answer for you)? Doubtful on the latter, considering the heavy presence of NFL baddies -- (where is Mike Kencil these days? Asking for a few friends) -- that night. But whatever the impetus I remember my stomach dropping after reading Mort's tweet. Oh no, not again! Another scandal! Could the Foxboro Impossible only have been possible this long for the wrong reasons? This one seems almost indefensible. Here we go again.
But we as fans knew better, right? We’d watched Brady lead the team back from the brink, orchestrating unthinkable comebacks time and again (with his best yet to come!) It was coaching, talent, skill and will! They were just better than everyone. Not better rulebreakers! While the Pats may have thrived by living on, near or dangerously adjacent to the edge for some time, they weren’t only great for being rulebreakers, right? They weren’t the Cheatriots. And above all Tom Brady was not the bad guy. No, you can say what you want about Belichick. His skin is calloused with indifference. He’s programmed only to know football and not to care. But Brady? This is our hero they were coming for. He’s the regional treasure, the most masculine icon since JFK. The man who’d already brought more joy to the region than anyone with the last name of Adams, Claus or Skywalker. Nope! Say what you want about the coach or the team. You’re not defaming Brady. You can’t have Tommy for your slanderous Patriot games. If you say the Pats are bad guys, fine. Plenty of teams are hated that have good fans. The Yankees were the original Evil Empire, but that didn’t mean every Yankees fan was a louse (just, like, 97 percent of them).
Deflategate led people over the edge of reason into venomous envy territory. Brady drove everyone crazy by beating their team, leading a superstar life with his supermodel wife, looking ever the ageless movie star in the process. And now a couple of allegedly underinflated footballs made him Public Enemy No. 1. And by vicarious idyllic association we, his fans, were bad people for cheering for and defending him. And that’s where we drew the line. That’s where the rest of the world made its biggest mistake, doing the unthinkable; uniting the most incorrigible, hard-headed, opinionated yet ferociously loyal region. We "tolerate" each other, but we love Tom Brady. And we’ll do everything to defend him to the end. That spirit of antagonistic defiance. That revolutionary throwback vibe. That call to emotional arms. That’s like my favorite thing about New England. Aside from craft beer, fried clams and lobster rolls. And now it was out in full obnoxious force.
The region that started a war of independence when wildly outmanned wasn’t about to let a bunch of jealous football fans ruin our Brady/Patriots love affair. We helped kick Kong George to the curb and gave America the right to call them fries not chips. We’re not backing down from this fight, either. Sports has an uncanny way of uniting us. And nobody does “F**k you, don’t tell me how to feel!” better than New England. The more the world came down on Tom the stronger they made our bond over Brady. From this came some of our favorite phrases, like “Hate Us Cuz They Ain’t Us’, and of course “New England vs. Everyone”, a variation on another region's coat d’arms, and forever appropriate.
Trey Flowers at the podium Tuesday. He was wearing a New England vs. Everyone T-shirt. pic.twitter.com/GNmNGDSgzs
— PatriotMaven (@PatriotMavenSI)
January 15, 2019 And best of all, “Free Brady!” No matter where you were or what you were doing, when you saw another Pats fans during the Deflategate drama, a simple “Free Brady!” let them know that no matter who you were or what else you stood for you were Pats fans, and that was good enough. It was the “Roll Tide!” of Pats Nation. It was a movement with legs and breadth the likes of which the team nor its detractors could have ever predicted.
NOW: Gov. Charlie Baker is wearing a "Free Brady" T-shirt while taking the Ice Bucket Challenge #7News pic.twitter.com/gIX3EjXMGP
— 7News Boston WHDH (@7News)
August 10, 2015 From the ashes of accusation came America’s worst nightmare; a unified Pats Nation. In bars. Online. Outside courthouses. Everywhere. As if we weren’t impossible enough, now you gave us a cause. Even during the most frustrating moments, we could take comfort in our shared appreciation for what the team, and Brady, did for us and truly meant to us. Just think of some of the iconic moments of Patriot Pride, like Kevin Faulk at the 2016 Draft, once Brady’s appeal had been overturned and he was to serve his four-game suspension to start the 2016 season. Still gives me goosebumps.
Kevin Faulk dons Brady shirt next to Troy Vincent. Announces pick "the New England Patriots AND Tom Brady select..." pic.twitter.com/NGr0cfjEdX
— Sean Leahy (@leahysean)
April 30, 2016 How about the creativity of Pats Nation on full display in public? We all knew the science behind Deflategate didn’t add up, mostly because New England is full of world-renowned learning institutions and know-it-alls, many of which became overnight experts in a basic scientific principle.
Jersey Of The Day: Patriots fan wearing Brady jersey with ideal gas law formula on the back (H/T @DaveJMiller17) pic.twitter.com/MwhZI0cfVz
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell)
November 8, 2015 And the media. All the opinion pieces. The takedowns. The defenses. The blogs. The science projects for and against Brady! How many thousands of hours were spent on radio and TV, arguing over whether Brady was to be believed. The cell phone smash. The white pool cover. The text messages. Truly sports theater of the most absurd. We had former Patriots arguing with each other on national TV! And remember Mark Brunell crying? Even through your clenched fists and angry social media defenses of Brady you had to find that pretty funny.
Or those courtroom sketches of zombie looking Tom, aka Zom Brady?
This is the worst we've seen Tom Brady since a courtroom sketch artist was his biggest foe: pic.twitter.com/Imd284Nv5U
— Michael McCann (@McCannSportsLaw)
January 24, 2016 Deflategate: a series of surreal images after indelible moments, for better or worse, in victory and defeat (mostly victory). In a 20-year run of unforgettable accomplishments, Deflategate could well be the most unforgettable of all. It wasn’t just part of it. It WAS the zeitgeist of New England for two whole years. Thanks to people like Troy Vincent (who happened to play on the Eagles team that lost to the Pats in Super Bowl 39, but I digress). And Roger Goodell, who got his pound per square inch of flesh, and in the process forever entrenched himself as Public Enemy #1 of Pats Nation.
Many say the excessive punishment was due to not punishing the Patriots enough for Spygate. But that’s for a different retrospective. In the end it all worked out for Brady, like it usually did. Oh sure, he paid financially, existentially and emotionally. And he did have to serve the four-game suspension but returned in spectacular fashion to a sea of adoring fans by the lake. But somehow, again, Brady was the biggest winner when everyone framed him up to lose. Because in campaigning against his good name and peerless accomplishments his detractors somehow further inspired Pick #199 to prove them wrong and reach for greater heights. And did he ever. He won as many Super Bowls post-accusation as he did prior, and best of all his stats improved. All while under the watchful eye of his peers, league and millions of haters. And in the season where he was forced to sit out 25 percent of his regular-season games he made it back to the championship and silenced every critic and doubter forever with the greatest comeback of all-time. Twenty-eight-to-three was one hell of punctuation to a scandal full of what was allegedly missing in the first place, hot air.
In September 2016 Brady got what others thought he deserved, and in February 2017 he got what we thought he deserved. Along the way, a nation of allies was formed that, even in his departure, remains united in defense and appreciation of everything he did. Brady brought us together for nearly twenty years, but the way he unintentionally brought us together in Deflategate, helping forever unify us as fans and region, is something we’ll never forget, and that I find myself surprisingly grateful for.
I mean, the three Super Bowls helped us get over it, too. You know what they say; revenge is a dish best served on a duck boat.
