As someone who’s been, for most parts of
her life, away from the realm of American football, the past few months have
been a rich learning experience. First, I learnt the game – in fact, am still
learning the subtleties and nuances; and now, I have had the chance to follow
the developments on a controversy that had gripped not just the sport’s fans in
the US, but also across the world.
In all honesty, I have to admit the ‘Deflategate’
incident, as it had started to be called, left me amused and bemused in equal
parts. Amused because I have a background of watching a sport – cricket – where
players have been known to use special kind of chewing gum to affect the ball
so as to impact the play in their team’s favour. And bemused because I really
didn’t understand what the fuss actually was about.
It was said that New England Patriots deflated the balls
used in their game against Indianapolis Colts, but the team was primarily
cleared – with Tom Brady’s claims that he had had no idea about the balls being
deflated – and allowed to contest the Super Bowl. To top it off, in the Super Bowl,
Brady ended up putting one of the most brilliant performances of his lengthily
productive career that saw him being lauded and fêted in most parts, across the
length and breadth of the country. Brady and Co.’s efforts not only saw them
take the team through to victory in the dying seconds over Seattle Seahawks, but
Brady was also awarded with the MVP to acknowledge his contribution in that
game.
Now, close to four months that the Super
Bowl was played and NEP won it, is where facts blur with expectations for me. In
the past one week, there seems to have been a sudden conflagration in the ‘Deflategate’
story with such sharp revelations and turnabouts that they look partly surreal as
they are agitating.
As it’s pouring out about Brady’s
first-hand knowledge about deflated balls being used in the game, he’s become a
pariah. I don’t understand why, as I don’t understand why the hullaballoo about
the mire that’s come to be unearthed? Brady’s been given a four match ban in the
new season – a season that’s yet to start – even as there calls about him being
a player who’s accustomed to serially bending the rules and getting away with
it.
All of this look quite hypocritical.
To me, what he chose to do – I don’t want
to get into the specifics of why he chose to do such a thing – is a decision
that’s already been taken. Nothing, not even a four match ban can bring about
restitution to this antecedent. If he
indeed has a past of coasting the line of expected sportsmanship;
why such ballyhoo now, as if his behaviour was extremely surprising?
Also, if Brady’s committed one act
against the realms of all that’s sacred in NFL, it’s not as if he’s the only
man who’s done such an underhanded deed. The sport’s dotted with players in the past, who have set
worse examples of gamesmanship as there are bound to be players in the future,
who wouldn’t hesitate to bend the line as they see fit to suit the needs of the team, over everything else.
Condemning Brady isn’t exactly the answer
to what the NFL management, at its heart, left open to exploitation in the first place.
This isn’t to say that I believe Brady wasn’t
wrong. Rather, I would term it as being ‘not right.’ Not because he was a known
party to the balls being tampered, but rather because he chose to hide his
involvement instead of accepting it.
The staunch cricketer follower that I am,
having experienced and heard about many-a sly tactics used by cricketers, I
believe that Brady should have accepted his role in the ‘Deflategate’ saga, before it mushroomed to such proportions. To
correlate from the cricketing world, there have been examples of captains and
leading players opting for manoeuvres best suited for the team, but which were
equally detrimental to the other side. When the backlashes followed, none of
these players tried to shy away from their role in effectuating such strategy.
And much as it made them villains, they are still considered to be legends in
the sport’s history, going down in its pages for the same reasons that cast
them out of the mould of the ‘gentlemanly cricketer.’
In his lack of acceptance firsthand, Brady looked
to be lacking something vital. Often times it’s not just about taking a
decision, it’s also about how one presents oneself in its aftermath. Unfortunately
for Brady, he’s come out to be less-than appeasing in this inferno when he
could have well been the grey-shaded hero in the whole showdown to further add
to his existing fandom.
