In Boston, both fans and foes divided over 'Deflategate' decision
By Elizabeth Barber BOSTON (Reuters) - Hunched over burgers and chili cheese dogs at a Boston-area pub, a group of friends digested Monday's news of punishment in the "Deflategate" scandal for the New England Patriots and star quarterback Tom Brady. Not surprisingly, there was a full menu of reactions - from praise to disbelief to condemnation - to Brady's four-game suspension by the National Football League for using under-inflated footballs. "The suspension is ridiculous," said Jake McGuiggan, 22, a Harvard University undergraduate. "There's no truth to this. It's just suspicion, which doesn't merit discipline." Meanwhile, his friend, Sean O'Neill, a New York Jets fan who attends Harvard Business School, reveled in the punishment. "I love the suspension," said O'Neill. "If there's cheating, there's cheating and the Patriots should pay, even Tom Brady." The NFL also fined the franchise - reigning Super Bowl champions - $1 million and forced them to forfeit their first-round selection in the 2016 draft and a fourth-round pick in 2017 for supplying under-inflated footballs in last season's AFC Championship game. Not all Patriots fans, however, were against the punishment. "Even as a Patriots fan, I feel like it's not as harsh as it should be," said Derecka Purnell, a 25-year-old Harvard law student, as she and husband Grandon Purnell strolled with their baby in Cambridge. "NCAA titles are stripped away for much lesser things," she said, referring to the college sports governing body. "But Boston would be in riots if the Patriots lost the Super Bowl title." Her husband, not a Patriots fan, argued for a one-year suspension for the team. "They have a bully mentality, the jock-at-school mentality, in that they think they can get away with things," he said. "They need to be sent a message." In Indianapolis, home of the Colts, the team that lost badly to the Patriots in the AFC game, there was a dose of skepticism that the punishment would survive Brady's appeal. "I'll bet a six pack that Brady's suspension is reduced before it’s all said and done," tweeted Bob Kravitz, the Indianapolis sports columnist credited with breaking the "Deflategate" story. Several fans said they thought NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was using "Deflategate" to make up for last year, when he came under heavy fire for initial light punishment for players involved in domestic abuse cases. "I don't think the commissioner knows what he's doing," said John Hansman, 60, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "He was too lenient and now he's trying to overcompensate." (Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Ken Wills)
