OK, enough already.

Enough with the elementary jokes about (foot)balls.

Enough with using the letters “G-A-T-E” at the end of “deflate” to refer to this ordeal.

Enough with making what happened with the footballs in Sunday’s game seem unique.

Enough with making what happened with the footballs in Sunday’s game sound more important than domestic violence.

Enough is enough is enough.

To where have we descended in our society that we have elevated the amount of pressure in a football to newsworthy status?

I’ll admit, I have struggled with this question mightily this week. This very publication has given as much ink and web space to this situation as any other in the country. Front pages, sports pages, TV newscasts at the local, national and international levels, and more websites than Bill Gates could imagine have played the issue of the New England Patriots’ game footballs in the AFC title game being under-inflated at the top of whatever list determines whether an item is newsworthy.

Admittedly, the Patriots are an easy target. The team was fined and penalized a draft pick after being caught spying on other teams with video footage. They broke the rules once, putting them on unofficial probation with most of the game’s fans who reside outside of New England.

Since then:

• The Broncos were caught with salary cap violations.

• The Carolina Panthers were ordered to stop using heaters on balls on the sidelines.

• The Minnesota Vikings, in the same game, were doing the same thing.

• Several Seattle Seahawks were found in violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

• The Dallas Cowboys confessed to a similar ring of spying on opposing teams.

• The Indianapolis Colts were investigated for amplifying crowd noise inside their stadium.

• The New Orleans Saints were punished for levying a bounty on opposing players.

• The Baltimore Ravens were accused of faking challenges to rest the defense.

• The New York Jets were investigated for roster tampering.

The list is longer. And I do not mention this list to justify what may have happened in New England. It’s all wrong, including deflating footballs on purpose, if that is what truly happened.

I mention it because none of these stories prompted live cut-ins from CNN.

Nor, for that matter, did much more heinous crimes.

Ray Lewis was implicated in a murder in his early days with the Baltimore Ravens. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and was not only allowed to continue playing, but did so at a high level, and eventually won a Super Bowl.

More recently, the Ravens’ Ray Rice was originally suspended for two games by the NFL for knocking his girlfriend (now wife) into next week. Then came the video. Then came a season-long ban. If a report circulating the interwebs Thursday is to be believed, the coverage of the under-inflated footballs in the AFC title game has surpassed — in volume and in fervor — the issue of Rice’s blatant and extremely public display domestic violence.

That is sickening.

From the perspective of any journalist, that any scandal in any topic that is laced with the suffix “-gate” should make your hair stand on end. It is the ultimate disrespect to one of the finest moments in the history of the craft. And it’s also utterly inaccurate.

For those of you who don’t know, “-gate” was not indicative of scandal. “-Gate” happened to be the final four letters of the hotel where a break-in occurred that ultimately tore down a Presidency. The Watergate Hotel begat the “Watergate Scandal.”

Thousands of people have died in Africa in the past month. Ebola hasn’t gone away. The price of oil is falling like a lead balloon, and the President of the United States just delivered his state of the union address.

And we’re all talking about the science of inflating footballs like it has anything to do with anything.

When an official verdict is delivered, the unfortunate reality is that this won’t end. Those people who want to believe the Patriots are innocent will continue to believe it. Those who want to vilify the club and its players will continue to do that. It’s either a conspiracy or a validation. Either way, nobody wins.

Instead of spending time writing and posting and blogging about that missing 2psi, spend that same amount of time and energy on a worthy cause.

Like educating yourself on the latest in local, regional or national politics.

Or the prevention of domestic violence.

You know, things that matter in the real world.

Enough is enough.

Copy the Story Link