I can’t resist asking this question as I watch the Tom Brady Deflategate saga continue and continue and continue… What is up with Tom Brady’s pit-bull mentality when it comes to this issue?  With the way that he keeps refusing to put it behind him, celebrate with his teammates what a dominate team that the Patriots have been and still are and let the final few seconds run out on Deflategate, I can’t help but to think about an infamous headline from the legacy of the Dallas Cowboys football team.  The headline was something like “Leon can’t Lett it alone.”

The headline was referring to a play in the 1993 Thanksgiving Day game between the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins when Miami attempted a field goal with 15 seconds left in the game but it was blocked and so fell short of the end zone. At the time, Dallas was leading Miami by one point and the rest of the team had begun to celebrate their victory.  But Leon Lett (aka The Big Cat), the starting defensive tackle for the Cowboys, just could not Lett it alone.  Although it was not necessary, The Big Cat attempted to recover the ball, touched it but slipped during the attempt and Miami recovered the ‘muff’ on the one yard line.  With only three seconds remaining, Miami kicked a field goal and won the game.

It seems to me that even though it is not intentional (or necessary), like Leon Lett when he unnecessarily tried to recover the ball from the blocked field goal attempt, Tom Brady is taking a big risk that could result in another loss and beyond that make matters even worse. It further seems that he would want this part of his public life to just go away, or at least begin as soon as possible to slowly disappear in his rearview mirror with the passage of time, so that he could move on with his career without the distraction of Deflategate.  There is no doubt that he is going to end up in the Hall of Fame.

I have no doubt that there are those of you who follow politics that are asking the question; isn’t this blog supposed to be a political blog? Why is he writing about Tom Brady and Deflategate?  Good question my loyal blog readers.  But before I answer that question, I am going to go even further and conjecture that there are sports writers (well, maybe not multiple sports writers but at least one) who regularly read my blog who are bristling and asking that same question and adding; why is he infringing on our territory?  He isn’t a sports writer.

They are right; I am not a sports writer. But I am writing about it because I am firmly convinced that with the latest information that I read on Deflategate, it now falls squarely into my bailiwick.  Why?  Because although the Supreme Court is not a political institution (wink, wink) it depicts an intricate thread in America’s political fabric and that thread runs throughout the political gauntlet, I mean, gambit.

Perhaps I should use the word ‘system’ – since that might be more appropriate than gauntlet, I mean gambit, although maybe not as accurate based on how things are currently conducted in Washington politics. You don’t agree with me on the ‘not as accurate’ part of my statement?  Did you watch the White House Correspondents Dinner held on April 30th?  Did you listen to President Obama’s stand-up comedy routine?  He was joking but it’s all true.  So I offer the president’s White House Correspondents Dinner comments as my key supporting evidence that the term ‘political gauntlet’ rather than ‘political gambit’ or ‘political system’ might not be that farfetched nowadays.

In implying that the Supreme Court in actuality is a political institution, I do so with the knowledge that over the past two and a half decades, The Supreme Court has been involved in the outcome of a number of major politically divisive issues that if they were not greatly influenced by partisan Washington politicians, certainly had the appearance of having been influenced by them…

But I digress. I am not a sports writer.  However, if there is the slightest chance that this Deflategate thing will go all the way to the Supreme Court they (sports writers who write about Deflategate) are already infringing on my territory so I will be d**n – I might as well go on and say it – darn, if I will not infringe on theirs which, by the way, I do not believe that I am!  With the Supreme Court being one justice short and the Republican led senate refusing to even consider President Obama’s nominee to the Court, if Deflategate can even conceive of rising to the Supreme Court level then I am going to write about it.

Besides, I am a big football fan and this Deflategate thing is taking a lot of attention away from football. Let me say it up front, knowing that the wrath of all Patriots fans, especially those who live in and around Boston, will be upon me; Tom Brady seems to think that he is special and should be allowed to get away with whatever he decides to say or do.  He is a great football player that will undoubtedly end up in the Hall of Fame, he is not a whiner (most of the time) except only when things do not go his way in games that are either very close or that he is losing, and he expects his self-proclaimed ‘special’ tag to be honored under all circumstances.

Does this way of thinking make me a Patriots hater? I don’t think so: but I’m not saying that I am not hating on them.  If I am hating on them, it is not just because of Deflategate.  It is because of that and all of the other known and unknown Gates.

I use to feel the same way as Patriots fans do regarding remarks that people make about this Deflategate thing when people said not-so-flattering things about the Denver Broncos. I thought that they were just haters.  But I’m over that now (I think)…

But again, I digress. I think that Tom Brady and the NFL players union should just Lett things alone instead of taking Deflategate all the way to the Supreme Court and forcing me to write about it and make my loyal blog readers and sports writers (well, maybe not multiple sports writers but at least one) who regularly read my blog angry.  Tom Brady should leave this issue alone because it would be the right thing to do.  And for all of those Patriots fans who are making themselves look like a bunch of jackasses by thinking that everyone who says something negative about their Patriots are haters, to overcome that vice would be the right thing for them to do.

Of course, it is a different thing when it comes to those who are trying to besmirch the name of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning or my Denver Broncos. That is a whole different ballgame.  Peyton Manning is my quarterback and he is definitely a Hall of Famer who does not deserve to have an asterisk by his name in the Hall of Fame as does Tom Brady.  The Patriots are known cheaters.  And the Denver Broncos is my team and they are all stand-up guys.  I’m glad that they are or I would look like a jackass just like the Patriots fans.  But like I said before, I’m over thinking that those who say not-so-flattering things about the Denver Broncos are just haters (I think).

But, once again, I digress. It is possible that somewhere along the way you will see (and, I hope, read) another article on my blog site about Deflategate.  But do not worry sports writers (well, maybe not multiple sports writers but at least one) who regularly read my blog, I will only write about sports if it involves Tom Brady and Deflategate or any other person in sports who publicly gets entangled in politics or…

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line