Tank Spencer is the host of a weekly sports talk show, “The Sports Tank,” on Asheville’s News Radio WWNC (570-AM) that airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Spencer also serves as WWNC’s news anchor, reporter and afternoon producer. This column features posts from his blog.

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The following was posted May 12:

The NFL came down “hard” on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for their involvement in DeflateGate.

The quotations are necessary because the penalty, in my opinion, should have been more severe. But, it was a statement in comparison to other suspensions handed down by the league. Do you remember the two game wrist slap the league tried to pass for Ray Rice’s little game of punch-out? 

Tom Brady has been suspended for the first four games of the 2015 regular season. The New England Patriots as a team are fined $1,000,000 and lose their 2016 first-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick in 2017. That’s basically the punishment I expected.

The social media discussions of the punishment have been entertaining to watch over the last 20 hours. The reactions range from “the entire New England team should be banned” to “they are just tired of the Pats winning all the time.” Of course, one should not expect rationality on the internet, but it would be a nice change of pace.

Deflated Ball

My biggest issue with the Patriots’ latest cheating scandal is the constant lying about who knew what and why it was being done.

FACT: The balls were under inflated for the AFC Championship Game.

FACT: The tampering was done after the referees had inspected them.

FACT: A Patriots equipment manager was caught on tape taking the balls to the bathroom where no referees were present.

FACT: Equipment staff exchanged text messages referring to the deflation of the balls as far back as Week 7 of this past season.

FACT: Once the DeflateGate story broke, Tom Brady began feverishly texting and talking on the phone with an equipment manager he hadn’t contacted by phone for at least 6 months.

FACT: It is easier to catch and hold a ball that is deflated.

Those indisputable facts show that the cheating DID happen, it was going on for SEVERAL games, it DOES impact the outcomes, and it HAS tainted the entire season.

If the Patriots played every game with a tampered-with football (which is highly likely), then that means close games could have been decided by the very fact that the turnover rate very well could have been higher. You could deduce that they possibly would have lost the three one-score games they won. That would mean a 9-7 record and they might have missed the playoffs altogether.

I would have no problem with vacating the title.