Removing the rose colored glasses from a New England Patriots fan’s face, July twenty eighth looks pretty bad. Four game suspension upheld. Tom Brady reportedly destroyed his cell phone on the day he was was asked to turn it in. Everybody outside of New England thinks Tom Brady is a cheater. The opportunity for an injunction being granted allowing Brady to play until a definitive judicial decision can be made, is in doubt. The sky is falling in the six states of New England.

It is fitting that the day after Shane Victorino leaves the Red Sox that the song “Three little birds”, by Bob Marley, in which Victorino is so closely identified with, encapsulates so much. In actuality, even though the thought seems ridiculous, every little thing is going to be alright. Tom Brady will always be one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football. No amount of tuck rules, spy gates or deflated footballs will stop that from being fact.
Is Tom Brady a cheater? Perhaps. Destroying his phone doesn’t scream innocent but what if he did bend the rules? What if Tom Brady knew that the footballs were being tampered with after the officials checked them? What does it change? In short, not a thing. In essence it makes him human. It paints a picture of a man willing to cut corners in order to achieve ultimate success. Winning is clearly everything to him. Has Patriot nation not lauded this man for this very reason over the last fifteen years?
What pains many people in the New England area is the very idea that their quarterback is looked at as less than perfect. It’s as though acknowledging that all this drama could be fact, suddenly allows for Peyton Manning to cease choking in big game situations or the New York Jets will be more respected. Skill and precison make Brady a fantastic quarterback, not the opinions of NFL message board trolls.
Facts need to be admonished. Regardless of what can be overturned, thrown out or proven in a court of law, the court of public opinion believes that Tom Brady is a cheater. If it were Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger in the same situation, New England fans would feel as the rest of the country does about Brady.
Although this situation stings quite egregiously at the moment, history looks back on athletes in a filter which usually represents them in the best possible light.Nothing Tom Brady may have done will ultimately change his incredible legacy.
My advice is to weather the storm, embrace the hate because if it wasn’t “cheater” fans in other regions would have another name or excuse to prod Patriot nation with. In the end, every little thing truly will be alright.