Celani: With Patriots On Trial, Kraft Essentially Pleads 'No Contest'
BOSTON (CBS) - The Wells Report and its findings on DeflateGate would never hold up in a court of law. "More probable than not" and "generally aware" are phrases that would never be strong enough for a conviction.
But opponents have argued that in the NFL bylaws and constitution, all that is needed to issue punishment is a preponderance of evidence, which is a fancy way of saying that 51% of the evidence or more favors the investigation.
Despite everyone saying, This is NOT a court of law, and the NFL doesn't do the "innocent until proven guilty" thing, make no mistake about it: the Patriots were on trial for the past four months.
The Patriots parked in an illegal spot, and the ticket on the dashboard might as well have read LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE. With their backs up against the wall, Patriots fans organized. They started a #NoBradyNoBanner movement, they set up GoFundMe pages to pay for the $1 million fine and even protested outside the NFL offices in Manhattan.
They fiercely defended the team on sports talk radio and every medium possible, and then Patriots owner Robert Kraft raised the white flag.
The man in charge of leading the rebellion, who was the staunchest critic of the NFL and its sham investigation, gave up. He reluctantly accepted the NFL's discipline, and in essence, pleaded "no contest" to the charges.
(No contest, while not technically a guilty plea, is basically a guilty plea. You can read up on it at your own leisure)
Personally, and I know many Patriots fans feel the same way, I am dumbfounded.
Just last week Robert Kraft and his legal team launched a website to fire back at the league and to provide more context to the Wells Report.
On Saturday, when interviewed by Peter King on the telephone, Kraft said he was "disturbed" at the Wells Report and simply stated "You'll have to ask him" when pressed about his current relationship with commissioner Roger Goodell. Later that night, reportedly, Kraft was seen at a birthday party hugging it out with Goodell after a long solitary talk on the couch.
What happened between then and now?
Did Goodell order Kraft to stand down, because the league has more damning information than what was revealed in the Wells Report?
Do they have some sort of secret agreement to have Tom Brady's suspension reduced?
Is Kraft's obedience at present a bargaining chip in future league dealings?
Or more simply, as he stated on Tuesday, did he call off the dogs because the collective good of 32 is greater than the agenda of one team?
On page 3 of the Wells Report, it explicitly states that there was no wrongdoing by Patriots ownership or head coach Bill Belichick. So why accept the punishment?
What happened to going rogue and taking the NFL to court?
Robert Kraft assembled an army of loyal supporters, and as soon as the muskets were loaded he called for a retreat.
I don't get it.
Read more from Andrew Celani by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @CelaniSays!