The Patriots deflated footballs. The Browns sent illegal texts. The Falcons faked crowd noise? My question is, why do the major media networks run wild with these stories, and what makes us, as fans, have any kind of interest in these seemingly nonsensical controversies? The NFL is full of real, meaningful problems involving domestic violence, substance abuse and gun charges. Therefore, these other issues should pale in comparison. So then why do people care that the Patriots deflated footballs? According to Ed Balint of the Canton Repository, the answer is simple: We love distractions. Adam Earnheardt, an assistant professor of communication studies at Youngstown State University, gave the Canton Repository an explanation.
“We love distractions, and when the distractions are of less importance in the global scope, then we tend to latch onto them because they can pull us away from being concerned about some of the bigger issues,” Earnheardt said in the Canton Repository.

The sports media really does not help the situation. Leading up to the superbowl, all ESPN and Sports Illustrated would mention seemed to involve “Deflategate.” In the end, after a strange and scientifically inaccurate Bill Belichick press conference, a few more angry statements from the Patriots owner Robert Kraft and with Bill Nye chiming in, nothing happened. The Patriots have received no punishment. The Ted Wells investigation has revealed nothing, and the NFL draft is less than a month away. Therefore, it seems the football community seems to have completely forgotten the whole affair in the wake of the Pat’s super bowl win. Interestingly, the Falcons received a $235,000 fine, a loss of a draft pick and the team’s president Rich Mckay will likely face suspension for pumping artificial crowd noise into the team’s Georgia stadium during home games, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Obviously this also seems pretty trivial. More trivial than slightly deflated footballs? Thats up to the individual fan. technically. The crowd noise was not hurting anyone, and it is very unlikely that the false crowd noise gave the Falcons any real sort of advantage (They went 6-10 and did not make the playoffs…). Why the outcry from the NFL head office then? Who knows. It’s not super bowl season, it’s not even football season, so it seems no one outside the NFL’s head office cares, or is even aware that the Falcons are facing such a huge punishment. If you are not an avid fan of Sportscenter or maybe a Falcons fan, you probably did not know this occurred.

Also, the Browns are facing punishments for “Textgate” as coined by Cleveland.com. “Textgate” involved Browns GM Ray Farmer sending text messages from the press box to the sideline about playcalls. Is this on the same level as Spygate, the infamous 2007 scandal that brought down the stature of Belichick’s Patriots? Most certainly not. Was it illegal? No one really seems to be sure. Browns GM Ray Farmer is facing a suspension, so the NFL head office is obviously taking this seriously. Honestly, the Browns went 7-9 and missed the playoffs (again). So who cares?
The major media networks either make these controversies seem like the rapture, or they are hardly mentioned. With all the real problems facing the NFL currently, maybe we as fans need to take a step back and re-evaluate exactly what matters to us.