The Deflategate controversy just won’t end, even after New England Patriot Tom Brady’s four-game suspension was upheld. If anything, the NFL’s recent decision added fuel to the fire, especially after the league alleged that the Super Bowl-winning quarterback had ordered that his cell phone be destroyed rather than turn it over. The announcement was met with what you’d expect of any big (and somewhat ridiculous) news: priceless Internet memes.
Grantland created a parody that we find particularly entertaining and comical, in large part because it manages to brilliantly tie the scandal in with an excellent TV show: Breaking Bad. The video is billed as “surveillance footage of Tom Brady destroying his cell phone in the wake of Deflategate” before Grantland admits, “OK, fine, not really.” In actuality, it uses a clip from the show and edits the heads of Brady, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell onto the bodies of Breaking Bad characters.
In the snippet, the three men are in a room together as Brady talks on the now-famous phone. After he hangs up, he crushes his phone between his hands, as Goodell sits unfazed in a papasan chair. With his phone destroyed to his satisfaction, Brady reaches for his jacket, and then addresses the commissioner, saying, “Well, you know how they say ‘it’s been a pleasure’? It hasn’t.” With those parting words, he makes his exit.
So many things make this video great, from the intentionally terrible editing to the photos used. Perhaps best of all, though, is that we can envision parts of it happening in real life. After all of the tension of the past months, it’s not hard to imagine Brady saying exactly those words to Goodell while Belichick stands by in annoyed silence. If Deflategate means more memes like this, we’ll tolerate it a little longer.
