The New England Patriots were a name that was associated with winning. I say "was," because even though they're still a winning franchise and Tom Brady is only the second quarterback in NFL history with four Super Bowl titles to his credit, the wins feel dirty and tainted by potentially criminal actions that the Patriots and Brady have been accused of. In 2007, then Jets coach Eric Mangini leveled accusations of spying against Patriots coach Bill Belicheck in lieu of the Patriots going a perfect 16-0 during that season before losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The accusations from the SpyGate scandal eventually died down, but were never fully forgotten, and Tom Brady's attitude, which was once viewed as fierce and competitive, was now viewed as nothing more than someone being a spoiled brat when he didn't get his way.

Recently though, the Patriots have gotten more rudimentary with their under-handed tactics. They've gone from spying on signals from the other team to simply deflating footballs. Yes, I'm going to be banging on about the "Deflate-Gate" scandal, and the recent developments that have come to light in Tom Brady's ongoing saga to avoid suspension. So strap in ladies and gentlemen, it's going to be a wild ride.

For those of you who maybe live under a rock, or in a cave, "Deflate-Gate" refers to the 2014 AFC Championship Game where Tom Brady supposedly (and I say supposedly just so I don't get sued) told the game-day equipment managers to deflate the footballs after the officials had already inspected them. Text messages sent between Jim McNally and John Jastremski (two of the equipment managers for the team) were listed in the report and included text messages joking about McNally receiving gifts from Tom Brady, and McNally even referring to himself as "The Deflator." The full 243-page Wells Report (named for leading author, attorney Theodore V. Wells, Jr.) states that it was "more probable than not" that Brady had prior knowledge of this, and even told these people to go and deflate these footballs.

This report was published in May and the results were swift. Brady was given a four-game suspension and even after internal appeal, was still told that he would not play until week five of the NFL season. Recently though, a federal judge overturned that ruling, and now Brady can play week one against the Pittsburgh Steelers, citing that Brady was not given due process and a fair hearing. I want to know where the judge gets that notion. Brady was given every chance under the sun to be cooperative. He could have willingly handed over his phone, but he chose instead to smash it. There is evidence, actual video evidence, that shows a Patriots staff member going into a bathroom with 12 footballs for approximately 90 seconds. The tests and evidence all points to suspicious happenings going on within the Patriots organization, yet they aren't punished for it. I don't understand it, and I never will. If you follow me on Facebook, you undoubtedly saw my initial reaction, and it hasn't changed in the few days since then. Honestly, I think Brady is a low-life, scum-sucking pretty boy. I really hope some day that they invent a time machine so they can send Brady back to the seventies and let him match up against the Steel Curtain defense, and then send him to the eighties so he can face the 1985 Chicago Bears 46 Defense and go to New York and try to not get murdered by Lawrence Taylor. Take him to any decade prior to today's game where quarterbacks essentially are unhittable, and he'd be out of the league within a year, because Tom Brady is soft. Yeah, I said it, and I can feel the ire of New England fans raising as I write this, and frankly, I don't care. I think Brady is soft and a cry baby whenever he doesn't win.

I apologize for that rant, I just had to get that out of my system.

Anyway, Brady gets to walk away scot-free, and the rest of the league can only stand there and shake its head as to why. The Patriots have been caught time and time again with their pants down, yet never seem to get burned by anything. The suspension should have been upheld and Brady should be banned from the league. If you remember a while back, I did an article on why Pete Rose deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Consider this my manifesto as to why Brady should NOT be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. If what Rose did was so terrible that he got a lifetime ban from baseball, what Brady did should be seen as nothing but abhorrent and terrible. However, much like those Spygate accusations, when it comes time for him to be nominated, I bet we won't even hear a word about the way he basically stole an AFC Championship win. On that note, I really hope James Harrison and the rest of the Steelers defense makes Brady miserable in week one.

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!