BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Deflategate

Tom Brady has been suspended for four games and the New England Patriots fined a record-equalling US$1 million (the fine equals the largest ever dished out by the NFL since they went after San Francisco 49ers owner Ed DeBartolo Jr when he pleaded guilty for his role in a Louisiana gambling fiasco in 1999) as the NFL came down hard on its marquee player over the "deflategate" scandal. The National Football League not only suspended the two-time NFL MVP without pay but also stripped the Patriots of both their 2016 first-round draft pick and 2017 fourth-round draft pick for deflating footballs in a key AFC play-off contest. The idea is that a deflated and thus softer football is easier for a quarterback to handle and pass. The Patriots' chairman and chief executive, Robert Kraft, has called the investigation "one-sided" and said the punishment did not fit the crime. "Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs, it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league. Today's punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable expectation," said Kraft. "It was based on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence." Brady's agent, Don Yee, also slammed the suspension, describing it as "ridiculous". He said four-time Super Bowl winner Brady would exercise his right to launch an appeal to commissioner Roger Goodell within three days, and it would be in his best interests to do so because if his appeal is successful, he won't have to sit out four games in which he could prove crucial in the quest for one of the two spots going in Super Bowl 50.