Randy Smith
I really wish that "Deflategate" would just go away. Because of varying opinions and the fact that it involves our most popular sport, it's very likely here to stay. That's why I believe that Tom Brady should simply tell the truth. " Okay, I did it. I was involved with the decision to under-inflate the game balls for the AFC Championship game against the Colts. I instructed the managers to take air out of the balls so I could get a better grip. That's it."
If only Brady would utter those words now or even next week, the whole thing would just die and go away. If he mans up and admits what he did, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would probably lighten that four game suspension for this coming season.
Football fans across the country would also feel a lot better about the four-time Super Bowl winning quarterback. As it stands now however, more than two-thirds of those people surveyed by ESPN/ABCNews support the NFL and the sanctions handed down against Brady and the Patriots. Those same people surveyed, also feel the four game suspension that faces Brady when the season starts is also warranted.
The bottom line is this; most of America doesn't trust the New England Patriots. It started with the "Spy-gate" controversy a couple of years ago, and was made worse by the under-inflated game balls. While almost 73% of avid fans feel that Brady should eventually be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 69% of the fans feel that Brady cheated. and had full knowledge of the air being let out of the footballs. Only 52% of those same fans feel that Tom Brady is a good role model.
That brings me to a point I have made time and time again. Brady should not be considered a role model, and neither should any professional athlete. Role models should be policemen, firefighters, teachers and parents who deal with America's young people everyday. Not multi-millionaire athletes who are living a lifestyle we can only dream about.
Brady is getting advice from other NFL players who have faced similar situations. They are saying that he should "lawyer-up" and fight the NFL in court, which would mean that "Deflategate" might never go away. That's the wrong advice. Just tell the truth. Two out of three fans don't trust you now anyway, but your numbers will go up if you just tell the truth.
Just like the New Orleans Saints in the "Bounty-Gate" scandal a couple of years ago, the Patriots are being punished for both a violation of league rules as well as failing to cooperate in the NFL investigation into wrongdoing and concealing the illegal activity. Probably both teams were simply hoping America would look the other way when they were caught with their pants down. That wasn't the case.
So, Tom just tell the truth. You and everyone else will feel a lot better.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.