The NFL Has No Business Suspending Tom Brady

Those who don't like Tom Brady or his Patriots are gloating about his four-game suspension over under-inflated footballs, but Sean Gregory at Time thinks they ought to stop celebrating the penalty. "Because it's ridiculous," he writes. The league doesn't have the evidence to back it up. The main incriminating element from the NFL report is that Brady made lots of calls to equipment manager John Jastremski after the story broke. "Were they getting their stories straight? Maybe," writes Gregory. "But is it plausible that Brady was just insanely curious to find out what Jastremski knew, given the story was spiraling out of control, and many people were labeling Brady a cheat? Totally."

Roger Goodell is taking the "convenient" way out here by getting tough with Brady, despite the "thin" evidence that proves guilt. "It’s actually pretty easy to pick on the cool kid." It's ironic that a league that looked the other way on issues such as concussions and domestic violence is suddenly sanctimonious about pounds-per-square-inch. Let the patrons of sports bars debate Brady's legacy, "but don’t keep him on the sidelines to send a hollow message, when you just don’t have the goods." Click for Gregory's full column. (More Tom Brady stories.)