FOXBORO, MA – JANUARY 22: New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady talks to the media during a press conference to address the under inflation of footballs used in the AFC championship game at Gillette Stadium on January 22, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
By Matt Yoder on

I have a confession to make – outside of a live sports event, I haven’t watched a minute of a sports network in over a week.  No SportsCenter, no Fox Sports Live, no Dan Patrick Show.  Nothing.  Why?

Because I can’t risk hearing one more thing about DeflateGate.  If I do, I would light a Q-tip on fire and jam it into my ears so I would eliminate the risk of hearing one more thing about DeflateGate ever again.  Sure, we’ve covered the media angle a bit here at AA with the controversy surrounding Chris Mortensen, but thankfully that leaves us far enough removed from the eye of the storm that we don’t have to get down in the DeflateGate muck each and every day.

It’s the perfect storm – take one of the biggest stars (Brady) and biggest brands (Patriots) in sports, have them get in trouble with a commissioner everyone hates (Goodell), find a catchy moniker that easily has the gate suffix attached (DeflateGate), and have it take place in one of the deadest periods on the sports calendar (July-August).  It’s the exact blueprint for 24/7 around-the-clock coverage.

But it’s not just that – we’ve been living this nightmare for EIGHT MONTHS.  HOW IS THIS STILL A THING?!?

Honestly, do you even know what we’re arguing about anymore?  I would rather go through the Chappelle’s Show episode of Fear Factor than actually sit down and read the DeflateGate transcripts.  And what’s are endgame here?  Roger Goodell and the league office screwed up on an investigation?  Isn’t that where we were after BountyGate and Ray Rice?  Now we’re onto the thrilling, captivating topics of who really tipped off who and what Tom Brady’s boring e-mails about nothing and what brand of cell phone is he really using.

Last night I watched martial arts and arm wrestling on ESPN2 and all I could think to myself was thank God Tom Brady isn’t going to show up here.  At least I found one refuge that was safe.

But is DeflateGate the most annoying, overblown, overhyped, over-saturated, make-you-want-to-bludgeon-your-brain-with-a-tire-iron sports story of all-time?  That’s where you come in.

We’re asking for your votes to rank the most annoying sports stories of all-time.  You can vote for up to five stories and you can vote till midnight tonight as we’ll reveal the results on Friday.  Recency bias might suggest DeflateGate will be the runaway winner, but is it more annoying than Brett Favre’s retirement dramas?  Or the Dwightmare?  Or TEEEEEBOW?  You decide….

 

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