Not all lies are created equal. There are little white lies and big ol’ whoppers. Even the Catholic Church differentiates between a lie of omissions and one of commission. And then there’s the question of who’s doing the telling.
The sports world, air waves and Twittersphere have been consumed by Deflategate in recent days — and where you stand on the controversy might have less to do with what happened and more to do with who you root for on Sundays.
“Everybody in life lies, don’t we?” said James, outside a shopping center in East Cambridge. “We all lie in life. So he’s Tom Brady. Why can’t he lie?”
No we may never know the whole truth about Deflategate. But Brady is held to a different standard because he is Tom Brady. Sixth-round draft pick turned NFL superstar. Four-time Super Bowl champion. Two-time NFL MVP. The golden boy with a golden arm.
“I’m just sitting back here stunned by it. It’s really astonishing,” said Steve Fryer, who has been representing and managing professional athletes for 35 years.
Fryer’s not stunned by the infraction in question, deflating balls, which he says by any measure is really pretty minor.
“But because of the players involved — Belichick, Kraft, Brady — it’s assumed this monstrous dynamic,” he said. “It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing.”
Outside a Dunkin’ Donuts in Somerville, Pats fan Herman Manigo backs up Fryer’s assertion with a theory of his own.
“A lot of people live in an 'I wanna be world’ and a lot of people wanna be Tom Brady,” he said. “And when he crumbles, you know, the world gets scared. Tom Brady could not have done this.”
At a barbershop in Central Square, Joe from Weymouth is getting a high-and-tight from his barber, Pete. Both are unabashed members of Patriots Nation…
“Have you seen Tom Brady?” Joe asked. “You wouldn’t envy him? Have you seen his wife? Have you seen his Super Bowl rings? It’s real easy to envy that guy.”
So then why do they love him?
“He’s Tom Brady,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a New Englander, I love my team.”
Pete, clippers in hand, takes it a step further.
“I like him better now,” he said. “How about this: If he did do it, I like him better that he was that good that he decided, 'Let me find an advantage, like Belichick does.’ That’s why everybody else loses because they don’t try hard enough.”
So maybe Brady lied to investigators. Or at least hid the whole truth. So what? Brady is their guy.
“I work with a guy from Pittsburgh, has nothing but bad stuff to say about Brady,” Joe said. “I got plenty of stuff I can say about Roethlisberger, but I’d rather not in the interview.”
Joe’s referring to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was twice accused of sexual assault — in 2008 and 2010. Wouldn’t you know it, in the chair next to Joe is Len, a Steelers fan. He couldn’t help but chime in to defend his guy.
“Roethlisberger, non-football related, accused twice, never charged and got a six-game suspension, he appealed and it was reduced to four,” Len said.
You hear those qualifiers? “Non-football related.” “Never-charged.” Yet when it comes to Deflategate, and a report that leaves at least as much wiggle-room for Brady and the Patriots, Len says the league got it right.
“Just sort of shut up and take your lumps,” he said. “That’s the other thing that I don’t like about the Patriots. They’re arrogant. And I think that’s what people around the country feel, that they’re arrogant.”
“When you’re the best you become arrogant,” Pete said.
“The Steelers have six super Bowls and you don’t see me going around … ”
It’s this kind of debate — one playing out online and in sport bars and barbershops across the country, that Fryer says shows that Brady’s legacy is safe. Despite all the chatter, Deflategate really doesn’t seem to have changed anyone’s opinion.
“People who don’t like Brady and don’t like the Patriots are going to continue to bring it up, you know, 'He was a cheater and played outside of the rules, yadda yadda yadda.’” Fryer said. “But I think down the road, three or four years down the road, people will look back and say what was the big deal?”
Of course that all depends on how you view the man — and the team — at the center of the controversy. After all, isn’t that what sports is all about? Not whether one team is better than another, but whether your team is better than theirs?
