The bosses were not laughing.
The latest light-hearted (to anyone outside Boston, at least) shot at Tom Brady came from Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA on Monday, which did not describe the 41-year-old on its chyron as “Patriots quarterback” or “Five-time Super Bowl champion” or even “QB who is not Ben Roethlisberger.”
No, the TV network in Steelers town went with “Known Cheater.”
The internet had a hearty chuckle as it made its rounds on social media over the past 24 hours, but it ultimately cost the person responsible their job.
“While fans are entitled to have personal opinions, we have a journalistic responsibility to provide unbiased reporting,” KDKA told SI.com in a statement. “The graphic that appeared Monday violated our news standards. The individual who created the graphic no longer works for KDKA-TV.”
Brady’s Deflategate role will follow him the rest of his life, always the critic’s wet blanket to the greatest career in football history. As he tries for a sixth ring, against the Rams on Sunday, even more love and hate is thrown his way. It earned a science fair victory for Ace Davis, the 10-year-old grade-schooler who confirmed his hypothesis of his project, “Is Tom Brady a Cheater?”
This is the backlash you get when you get accused of ordering footballs deflated before the 2014-15 AFC Championship and wind up being suspended four games — and for being the best quarterback in history.