NFL's Deflategate Could Go On Forever

Accuse. Leak. Investigate. Mull. Leak. Discipline. Appeal. File lawsuit. Investigate the investigation. Negotiate. Exhaust all legal options. Settle. Rinse. Repeat.

That about covers the steps in the NFL's unwieldy and wholly inefficient method for dealing with the internal conflicts that all businesses experience. As much as we would love to bid farewell to Deflategate, a dubious scandal whose primary victims are the perpetrators, we should know by now that we've simply reached one of many mile markers in this episode. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady already has announced he will appeal a four-game suspension, and a blistering statement from Patriots owner Robert Kraft left open the possibility of an unexpected and perhaps unprecedented action by a franchise against the league.

And in the absence of a successful appeal, Brady figures to follow in the footsteps of fellow players and union members Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice, who over the past year sought aid from a federal court and a former judge, respectively, to facilitate reinstatements from suspension. Brady's agent, Don Yee, said in part: "The NFL has a well-documented history of making poor disciplinary decisions that often are overturned when truly independent and neutral judges or arbitrators preside...."

That history includes not only Peterson and Rice but also the 2012 investigation into an alleged bounty program run by the New Orleans Saints and even the 2010 suspension of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. If anything, the league's disciplinary approach can be interpreted as a bargaining tool: Start high, appear tough, fight hard and accept less in the end.