Grip on Sports: Air goes out of Tom Brady inflators

Thursday: When the NFL finally decided to release the Wells Report on the Patriots’ cheating, every deflated ball joke that’s ever been written was dusted off and thrown against the wall. On that wall was a picture of Tom Brady, who will have to go the rest of his life with the image of shrunken footballs hanging over his head.

And no, that wasn’t meant to be a joke or a double entendre or anything. That’s how silly this whole mess seems, yet it’s actually serious.

The NFL has rules and a procedure in place to check the inflation of footballs because it has deemed it a competitive advantage. Trying to circumvent those rules is, by definition, cheating. And if you cheat, what does that make you? A cheater, of course. Tom Brady, cheater. 

You read the report, you read the text messages between one guy who was not quick enough to delete them and the equipment room’s connection to Brady and that becomes clear. At least to anyone who is willing to see the truth and isn’t blinded by Brady’s aura.

The quarterback was ticked when there was too much air in the balls, he expressed his displeasure, the guy who calls himself “the deflator” made sure it didn’t happen again and, viola, Brady is signing balls and shoes for the perp. Cheating. Breaking the rules. Whatever you want to call it. The lines are not that hard to draw.

If the NFL was smart, it would suspend Brady for six games, allow it to be reduced to four on appeal and move on. When it was over, Brady’s legacy would be tarnished somewhat, the rules would have been upheld and everyone can put it in the past.

All that Brady will have left is his Super Bowl rings, his millions of dollars and his seemingly perfect family life. Poor guy.

Wednesday: Hope is overrated. As are the M’s this season. Especially at the top.

Let’s face it. This team isn’t built correctly – and it’s managed poorly.

To illustrate the former, we’ll use this week’s scapegoat, Brad Miller. If anyone in the lineup not named Nelson Cruz had reached his potential in the first month of the season, it was probably Miller. In his 76 at-bats, he has 19 hits, including six for extra bases. More importantly, he has eight RBIs, third-most on the team.

Let that sink in for a moment. On a team with Cruz, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Logan Morrison and a whole bunch of bought-on-the-cheap outfielders, Miller was your third-best run producer. Yet, when the manager or general manger or whomever decided to shake up the lineup, your best option is to bench Miller and call up Chris Taylor? Really?

A guy who may have trouble hitting his way out of a wet paper bag is your savior? And now you are trying to make Miller an outfielder? Because that worked so well with Dustin Ackley (hitting a robust .182 right now) and Rickie Weeks (hitting right at the Mendoza Line)? You move Miller from shortstop because his defense is suspect, right?

He’s made four errors, the same as Gold Glove third baseman Seager. And Miller has handled a lot more chances.

The M’s need every run they can score these days, because the bullpen isn’t what it was in the good old days. By that, I mean last season. They made Lloyd McClendon look like he knew what he was doing in the only winning season of his career.

Now the big change is to move Miller to the outfield. Yep, that will make all the difference in the world. And we all thought this was going to be the year.

I feel like a sucker.

Friday: Jack Zduriencik  spoke about the Mariners’ slow start yesterday. There is one sentence that would give me pause if I were the manager: “I think we’ve kicked ourselves a few times with fundamental mistakes that we’ve made, whether it be running the bases or defensive issues.” 

It seems to me that’s what well-managed teams don’t do.