Mike Mravic writing at *MMQB*:
> My favorite team won the Super Bowl on one of the most exciting plays in NFL history, but that play that has barely been viewed as a success of the Patriots and largely seen as a failure of Pete Carroll, because the media love counterintuitive angles. And now the Patriots have been dismembered and destroyed by the media and the league for one of the most absurd accusations of all time. The only positive note for Pats owner Robert Kraft outside the Boston bubble has been praise for his capitulating to the league’s disciplinary process. Fans around the country take glee in his decision not to pursue an appeal rather than seeing it for what it was—a savvy business decision in an unwinnable scenario. Those same fans are trying to reinforce false narratives about both Spygate and Deflategate
> …
> I hope this is Roger Goodell’s legacy. He’s freed an obsessive fan from a trap. Like any addict, there will be bumps along the road and people trying to enable my return. (For instance, DirecTV’s last-ditch offer of an enticing array of free programming including the NFL package, or NFL.com doing an about face to praise the Pats dynasty.) Maybe if someone like Adam Silver helms the NFL at some point, I’ll return. But as of right now, I’m out.
I’m kind of in the same boat. I assume I’ll tune in if the Patriots make the playoffs, but I’ve been losing interest in the NFL for years, and this has just accelerated things.