So who's the REAL villain in "Deflate-Gate"?

Generally speaking, I like teams that win with class, and lose with class, and compete with class. That's one of the reasons I despise the Seahawks--because I don't think they do anything with class. It's also a reason I've hated the Patriots through the years. I think Bill Belichick is rude. I think he's an egomaniac who feels like he’s so far superior to you that he doesn't have to talk to you. It's one of the reasons I can't stand New England. Yet somehow, I find myself continuing to defend the Patriots in this whole issue.

For one thing, I just find it so hypocritical that so many people are so judgmental right now about one guy or a couple guys bending the rules a little bit in their favor.  As individuals, we seem to be just fine with bending the rules when they work in our favor, yet we’re outraged when somebody bends the rules and it's not in our favor--or our team’s favor.

Take the Lions and Cowboys wild card game for example. Cowboys fans wanted Lions fans to shut up over the picked-up flag on the pass interference call. They were just fine with a rule being broken by Anthony Hitchens. As long as the refs were okay with it, they were fine with the rule being broken and the opposing team being screwed.

Then, the next week, when the Dez Bryant catch was disallowed, they were screaming that they had been cheated by the officials and by the rules. So one week, Lions fans are just bitter losers who don't like the rules, and the next week, Cowboy fans want the rules changed.

It just seems like we are only worried about the rules when the rules go against what we want to do. How many people, when driving, find themselves in a long line of cars backed up trying to exit the highway, see somebody else speeding up in the left-hand lane and trying to cut somebody off and sneak in front of 40 or 50 other cars to get off the exit first. We’ll sit in our cars and we’ll yell at the cars in front of us, “Don’t let him in! Don't let him in!”

But how many of us have actually done the same thing when we find ourselves in a position—and in a hurry—to cut in front of a bunch of other cars? The rules don’t matter if they’re broken in our favor.

It's almost tax time, right? What happens if the IRS gives us more money back than we're supposed to get? Are we outraged that we got more than the rules said we were supposed to get? Not likely.

But if the IRS takes too much from us? It's ON! How dare this corrupt government keep more of my money than the rules said they should! Where's my lawyer!

You see--we have selective outrage when it comes to rules violations. I'm looking for consistency.

Finally, I think I have figured out who the real villain is in this entire Patriots controversy. The villain isn't Bill Belichick. The villain isn't Tom Brady. The villain isn’t the Patriots franchise, and it isn’t the Colts for calling them out.

The villain here is the NFL rulebook. It's the competition committee. At the end of the day, why does anybody care at all how much air is in the football? As long as the league is providing the same standard size football to both teams, why can't each team inflate or deflate the ball as much as they like? Why is there a minimum or maximum PSI allowance?

It would make a lot more sense if they would just tell each team that these of the balls you must use; inflate them or deflate them however much you want. If your quarterback wants to throw a flat pancake ball, and your receivers can actually catch it, good for you. If your quarterback, like Aaron Rodgers, wants to inflate the thing so much that it's round like a basketball, so be it. The balls must start out in the same shape for everybody, but you can put them in the clothes dryer if you want, you can soak it in water if you want, you can run over it with your car if you want, and you can pump it up or let some air out if you want. You can do whatever you want to it, since you’re the only one using it when your team has the ball.

Wouldn't that make a lot more sense, since each QB is the only one throwing and catching the ball when his team is on offense?

Now, I would not say the same thing about baseball, because when a pitcher doctors up the baseball, it directly impacts an opponent’s ability to hit it.

The same thing would be true in basketball, because both teams are using the same ball at all times, so the ball must be uniform.

But in football, only one team can be passing it at a time, so why don't they let them do whatever they want with the ball, which it seems like they've already started to do anyway, since quarterbacks are allowed to rough up the balls, rub them up, scuff them, practice with them, and do whatever else they want to. If they're allowed to change their consistency by scuffing or soaking them, why aren’t they allowed to change the amount of air inside of them?.

I think the entire rule is unnecessary and stupid, and the NFL should announce the very same thing. They should announce that they are no longer going to track how much air is in a football, and that quarterbacks can pump as much or as little as they like…and let’s play ball.