An Indianapolis-based sports writer had a hole slashed in one of his car tires several months ago after he wrote a story criticizing Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and he does not believe the timing was a coincidence.
During an appearance on The Big Lead’s weekly football podcast, Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star was asked about reports of members of the media receiving death threats from Patriots fans over their Deflategate coverage. Doyel said he has not been threatened, but he shared the story about the tire.
“The morning after one of my harshest stories several months ago, someone went into my driveway and stuck a knife in my tire, slashed my tire,” Doyel explained. “Did they leave a card to say, ‘This was done by a Patriots fan?’ No, but my tire was deflated within eight hours of me writing the story that got the most attention.”
Doyel posted a photo of the slashed tire along with a link to the piece back in January:
Hours after my story on cheating Patriots, someone knifed my car. Story http://t.co/TE4R7Q3eX5 pic.twitter.com/TLkVwfN7yW
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) January 21, 2015
You can’t blame Doyel for assuming it was a Patriots fan, although he has no proof. Fans in New England have gone to great lengths to defend Brady, with one well-known sports blogger even holding a sign during an ESPN broadcast that labeled an ESPN reporter a liar. Pats fans also taunted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in unison during their Week 1 win.
Expressing your opinion is one thing. Slashing someone’s tires because you don’t agree with theirs is pretty childish and also a crime.
