The Patriots’ response was so absurd that I’m taking it as a roundabout admission of guilt.

I guess I’m just too cynical. I wholly believe that Kraft was sitting on a conference line with the league office when the initial suspension/fine was devised. I figure there was some exec-level VP piping up to say, “OK, Robert, we’re going to leak some stuff saying you’re pissed at Roger, do us a favor and release a…

Do they make refugee camps for victims of sports related smugness?

I think the Patriots insane and unbelievable response (eg the deflator was called the deflator because he wanted to lose weight) suggests they would have gone full bore to clear Brady’s and their name, no matter what. Either way, this will be fun.

It is not insane. The PLAYERS agreed to that system! They are millionaire adults and they made that choice, presumably for something good in return.

How many people are watching NFL Network coverage of all this, who otherwise would never watch NFL Network in May?

Your husband is a huge obnoxious Patriots fan and this is the first time you’ve cried out for help? Either you’re the most patient spouse ever or you got married this week.

I think there are plenty of egotistical fuckwads to go around here. Tom brings ego to the level of sarcastic art form.

Tell him to have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up

Sometimes, I can’t help but think this is all intentional. Goodell might be an egotistical shithead, but he’s not stupid. I feel like the league probably has data that show that every time Goodell does something that appears idiotic and power-hungry, it generates a slew of blog posts just like this, which do nothing…

Guys, I need to start a support group. My husband is a HUGE, obnoxious Patriots fan and he wont fucking shut up about how Brady is being framed, is a scapegoat, how the texts were taken out of context, and blah, blah blah. I can’t take it anymore.

A bullet point from a story this morning on the details of the Patriots’ rebuttal:

Even Franco Harris thinks these people are insane.

Seems a little harsh to fire the guy who was just deflated

In related news, Pats report Aaron Hernandez only killed a tackling dummy.

They forgot the first rule of being in a hole: stop digging!

Jesus, these people don’t have a shred of shame or dignity do they?

So basically their defense is that a New Englander was very fat?

When all you have is the hammer of lies, everything looks like a nail.

so why are they suspended if they were just discussing weight loss?