As the sun set over Salem State University on Wednesday evening, the area outside the school’s Rockett Arena looked more like the Gillette Stadium parking lot on game day — with scores of Patriots faithful waiting in long lines — enthusiastic, and chatty. The number one topic of conversation?
“Tom Brady,” one attendee said. “We love Tom Brady! Brady! Tom Brady! Tom Brady’s a god, so nothing’s gonna happen to him!”
What brought thousands of fans, and folks from CNN, ESPN, the Washington Post, and others to Salem State on this evening was the fact that the man everyone’s been talking about was himself here in person to talk.
Tom Brady finally broke his silence yesterday on about the NFL’s somewhat inconclusive — but still damning — findings surrounding Deflategate … sort of. He appeared on stage at Salem State University in front of a packed house of supporters.
At the start of this long-scheduled, sold-out, and now precariously-timed Q&A hosted by sportscaster Jim Gray, Brady addressed the elephant in the room: Deflategate and the NFL’s 243-page report that concluded that two Pats employees likely deflated footballs, and the Pats three-time Super Bowl MVP most likely knew about it.
“We’re going to deal with it and then we’re going to move on with the evening. What is your reaction Tom to the Ted Wells Report?” Gray asked.
“I don’t have really any reaction Jim, our owner commented on it yesterday,” he said. “It’s only been 30 hours so I haven’t had much time to digest it fully but when I do I’ll be sure to let you know about it — and everybody else.”
That clearly satisfied the packed house, but Gray pushed gently for more. Brady nimbly deflected, pointing to the unconditional support of his loved ones, and the fact that when you’re a public figure, you won’t always be liked.
And then Gray asked: “Has this, however, detracted from your joy of winning the Super Bowl?”
“Absolutely not,” Brady replied, to huge applause.
They moved on. And so during Brady’s first public appearance since the NFL’s findings sent shock waves through the sports world. In front of a sympathetic, adoring crowd, the embattled quarterback chose to continue his strategy thus far: Leave the talking on the matter up to others, including Pats owner Bob Kraft, who called the findings “incomprehensible,” and Brady’s own father, who told USA Today, “The reality is they had no conclusive evidence; this was 'framegate’ right from the beginning.”
Just hours before Brady took the stage, his agent offered the most defiant statement on Deflategate so far. Among other things, he accused the league and the Indianapolis Colts of joining forces and “perpetrating a sting operation.” Them’s fightin’ words. So how’s that one playing in Indy?
“Did the Colts also somehow find a way to alter the texts from Jim McNally and John Jastremsky, the two Patriots employees who were going back and forth about deflating the footballs?” asked Derek Schultz, an afternoon sports talk host on WNDE in Indianapolis. While he admits there is no shortage of distain for the Patriots, and Brady, in his town, he said that doesn’t color his reaction to the controversy.
“This story is not about the Colts,” he said. “It’s not about Indy. It’s not really even about that AFC Championship game. This story is about 'Did the Patriots break the rules, even a minute rule, and how that should be addressed.’”
Of course, how the NFL addresses the matter is exactly what this bourgeoning war of words in the press — and Brady’s reticence to weigh in Wednesday night — is all about. Will Touchdown Tom be fined? Suspended? Will the organization be disciplined? You think people are talking now? Just wait until that news drops.
