For this blog post, I decided to write about something that happened a few years ago but still bothers me to this day. A few years ago, Tom Brady’s reputation was tarnished by the media. It all started when the New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship in 2014. During that game, at halftime, some of the Patriot’s footballs were tested and found to be under-inflated. This lead to the “DeflateGate” Saga. In which, Tom Brady was suspended for four games the following season and the Patriots were fined.
The reason I care about this so much is because of how the media handled the situation, it then led everyone to believe Tom Brady was guilty before any of the facts were even released. Once the facts were released due to the Media leaking false information, the majority of the public already believed Tom Brady was guilty of having the footballs deflated. Now years later, Brady is still labeled a cheater by many. Due to the fact, the media and the NFL had a witch-hunt against him.
The tweet that caused the rushed judgment of Brady was by Chris Mortensen. Who incorrectly tweeted that 11 out of 12 of the Patriot’s footballs were two PSI under the limit. Which later was found to be inaccurate. However, Mortensen never bothered to issue a correction to the tweet or an apology for such a big mistake. His tweet caused a snowball effect, which then led everybody to believe that the balls were, in fact, two pounds under the limit. When in reality, they were only under by .5 pounds.
This topic maybe a few years old. However, I still have people who try to argue that Tom Brady is a cheater because on the impact of that tweets and how the rest of the media covered it.
