Tom Brady won his fourth Super Bowl this past NFL season. With Brady winning title number four it placed him in conversation as one of the best quarterbacks if not the best to ever play the game of football. Brady, who was a sixth-round draft pick in the 2000 NFL Draft wasn’t regarded as a top-tier prospect as six quarterbacks were selected in front of him. Fast forwarding to the year 2015, Brady has every accolade imaginable on the NFL level and is on the back end of such an illustrious career. In regards to Brady’s career, there comes question if his legacy should be tarnished with the recent findings in Deflate gate and Spygate in the early 2000’s. Brady, who denied any wrong doing in both occurrences is now under a lot of scrutiny due to him likely knowing about Deflategate.
It’s sort of ironic that Brady has won championships while being tied to some type of scandal. In the dynasty days in the 2000’s the Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 the organization was fined $250,000, and they lost a first-round draft pick. It will be interesting how they will get reprimanded this time around, given the fact that commissioner Goodell served them the punishments for Spygate. Commissioner Goodell is in a tough position as he looks at the major players in the case of Deflategate. With Tom Brady being one of the main culprits it should almost be a given that he should face some type of penalty.
I know the air pressure of a football doesn’t seem like much, but as former NFL Quarterback Mark Brunnell mentioned, it gives the quarterback a huge advantage (see the video below).
Gaining a competitive advantage in sports is a common thing. Baseball players have been busted for PED’s as well as players from other sports. Tom Brady made a mistake about not coming clean from the initial investigation now he’s in deep water with the Wells report confirming his role in Deflategate. With Roger Goodell, honesty and accountability is important. For example, Michael Vick wasn’t up front about his role in his controversial scandal and it ended up backfiring on him.
As a fan of the NFL it’s tough for me to celebrate Brady’s accolades without acknowledge him being tied into one too many controversies. Iconic superstars such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens have tarnished their legacies due to them gaining a competitive advantage in their respective sports, but can the same be said for Tom Brady? Air pressure and the video taping of videos may seem harmless compared to steroids, but when you are the only person under the microscope for committing the act it shines a dark cloud over the great things Brady has done.
Four Super Bowls, three Super Bowl MVP, two MVP’s and and ten Pro Bowl selections are about as it good as it gets when it comes to accomplishments, but some accomplishments may come with an asterisk next to them. Is Tom Brady’s legacy tarnished by the recent events or is it just another obstacle in Brady’s career that he has to overcome?
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