Almost seven years ago I wrote a post about Tom Brady's affection for tender balls (and Aaron Rodgers's preference for turgid balls) and the Deflategate fiasco. I followed that up with another post comparing the NFL to Chotchkie's. As an aside, I think I did a better job summarizing the situation than most other media outlets.
You may recall that Roger Goodell suspended Tom Brady for four games by analogizing deflating balls to taking steroids. The trial court judge scoffed at that comparison, writing that Goodell's punishment:
offers no scientific, empirical, or historical evidence of any comparability between Brady's alleged offense and steroid use. Often, steroid use has to do with critical issues of health, injury, addiction, and peer pressure, among other factors. See Steroid Policy at 1-2 (listing several factors related to the use of "Prohibited Substances," including "a number of physiological, psychological, orthopedic, reproductive, and other serious health problems, [such as] heart disease, liver cancer, musculoskeletal growth defects, strokes, and infertility"). None of these factors is (remotely) present here.
You know what is associated with serious health problems? Covid-19. So if a player violates the NFL's covid-19 policy, I would expect them to be suspended for at least one game because it's analogous to the league's steroid policy.
Predictably, Roger Goodell doesn't see it that way. He fined Rodgers $14,650 for attending a Halloween party without being vaccinated. The fact that Rodgers lied about his vaccination status didn't factor into the fine amount. Rodgers makes $22,364,706 this year so the fine represents 0.0655% of his salary.
This makes perfect sense. You let a little air out of a football, or "it is more probable than not" that you were "at least generally aware" that two baciagaloops let the air out of a football, and the league takes 25% of your pay. If you help perpetuate a global plague that has killed over 750,000 Americans by refusing to take a free, safe, and effective vaccine or to wear a mask and avoid crowds, the league takes about seven hundredths of a percent of your salary.
Player safety! America's game! Nice job Goodell.
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