The Loop
Pittsburgh TV station graphic refers to Tom Brady as a "Known Cheater" ahead of Super Bowl LIII
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't make this season's NFL Playoffs, but a local TV station still found a creative way to show its support for the black and gold. By taking a shot at Tom Brady ahead of Super Bowl LIII.
Check out how KDKA described the Patriots quarterback earlier this week:
"Known Cheater." Boom. Roasted.
Of course, this is a reference to Brady being suspended four games in 2016 over "Deflategate." Or maybe it's also a reference to "Spygate," when the Patriots were accused of cheating by the Rams (then in St. Louis) and others for secretly filming practices. There are so many "gates" to keep track of with this slippery franchise!
And if you're the team leader of a team who is cheating, are you by default a cheater also? Even if you don't know about said cheating? Has a college offered an ethics course built around the Bill Belichick Patriots yet? These are deep questions.
Of course, if the Steelers defense could ever hit Brady one-tenth as hard as this TV station, they'd actually have a chance to beat the Pats in a big game.
UPDATE: Sports Illustrated reported the employee behind the graphic has been fired.
“While fans are entitled to have personal opinions, we have a journalistic responsibility to provide unbiased reporting,” KDKA said in a statement to SI.com. “The graphic that appeared Monday violated our news standards. The individual who created the graphic no longer works for KDKA-TV.”
In related news, I take back everything I said about Brady or the Patriots possibly cheating. Totally clean franchise. A model franchise, really. Yep. A totally clean, model franchise. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.