Campaign Asks Goodell to Put Asterisks on All Brady-Belichick-Kraft Era Wins
Photo via AP
You thought Deflategate was over. You thought just because a federal judge punched holes in the NFL’s trumped-up case you could drive a Buick through, it would all be tied up nicely. You thought just because the Patriots handed the tattling Indianapolis Colts yet another embarrassing loss in Week 6 with presumably immaculately inflated footballs, after starting their revenge tour with a spotless 6-0 record, there would be little room for doubt.
Hey, you thought wrong.
The Asterisk Project, a self-described “national grassroots movement” using the domain “footballcheaters.com,” is asking NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to place asterisks in the “record book” beside every Patriots win during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick-Robert Kraft era, which, by our estimates, is 165. The campaign also seeks asterisks on all awards and accomplishments garnered in that time.
“We need your help so the NFL hears from their fans that we don’t want the Patriots cheating ways to fade away like Tom Brady’s punishment for deflategate did,” the campaign’s site says. “This campaign aims to go to NFL cities throughout the country the rest of the season to raise awareness and collect signatures.”
The Asterisk Project is seeking 10 million signatures for its petition, which reads:
Due to the two verified instances of cheating involving almost every aspect of the Patriots organization (Spygate 2007 and Deflategate 2014) and in order to protect the integrity of the game, the undersigned urge Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL to place an asterisk alongside all Patriot victories, individual and team records and other accomplishments attained during the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady/Robert Kraft era noting that all accomplishments, individual and team records and all victories were attained during a period when the organization was known to have violated league rules by cheating on multiple occasions.
The campaign is also asking for $2 from 5 million “Patriots skeptics” or $1 million from 10 of Kraft’s fellow NFL owners. “I’d say the likelihood of the latter happening is extremely slim so I’m hoping we end up with you someplace in the middle,” the site says.
The Asterisk Project’s GoFundMe page indicates it’s raised $1,925 from nine people in a week, and that it’s based in Indianapolis. Surprise, surprise.
