After much controversy involving deflated balls in the AFC championship where the Patriots allegedly deflated balls under the legal limits against the Colts, the NFL has taken action. The Patriots have been fined $1 million and Tom Brady has been suspended for the first four games of the 2016-2017 season. The patriots also lost a first round draft pick in 2016 and fourth round draft pick in 2017, which can nearly cripple a team.

After the punishment was released Tom Brady has filed an appeal. The Patriots feel that the investigation was one sided and that they had judged the Patriots before the investigation. They believe that the investigation was improperly performed and didn’t give the team a fair chance.

The real issue with this controversy is Tom Brady not being “cooperative” with the investigators. Under his rights, the refused to speak much of the issue and refused to give up text messages to the league. Many people believe this is why the league was so harsh and one-sided regarding the punishment and investigation. If Tom Brady or the team had been straight up in owning their actions, many of these punishments would most likely not have happened.

Another issue is whether or not the deflated balls really were the reason the Patriots destroyed the Colts 45-7. It most likely was not such a big advantage to allow the Pats to win by so much but yes it did help. Any quarterback would tell you that a “squishy” ball is much easier to throw in wet conditions. But in this case it’s not the fact that the Patriots had such an advantage but that they did violate the rules that were in place for a reason and failed to own up to it the NFL as well as the fans.

FSA Connection Questions

1. What is the tone of the story?
2. What is the author’s purpose of the story?
3. What is the main idea of the story?
4. What is the author’s purpose of the story?
5. What is the context of the word “cooperative?”