By Gio DiFazio

The Hippocratic standard has continued to run amok within the National Football League. Kansas City found itself on the short side of a wet, cold, miserable, late January NFL Playoff game. Pittsburgh outgained the Chiefs by a wide margin, but the fatal mistake came within the fourth quarter: after a Kansas City drive that marched 75 yards down the field, a holding penalty on the ensuing 2-point conversion let the only chance of winning slide away.

In the locker room after the game, arguably the most dynamic athlete in the world decided to share a sacred part of the game — the locker room, and Tomlin’s post-game speech. The locker room is the ultimate human replication of a lion’s den — where insecurity is sniffed out faster the Joaquin Guzman gets extradited to the States. It’s a very unique dynamic within a locker room, and it’s very difficult to describe. It’s one place where traditions and customs are put forth over anything else. Ask any rookie reporter that has set foot on the “B” in the Bruins Locker Room.

What slid under the rug were the underhanded comments made by Coach Tomlin: indirectly threatening to trade a player, for the livestream, after a long-fought game, which ended in a win via the right foot of Chris Boswell.

It’s hard for me not to dive into ridiculously hypothetical comparisons in situations like these. So please envision with me that this Facebook live post was carried out by a member of The New England Patriots. Take it a step farther into fantasyland and imagine it’s being carried out by Tom Brady. Impossible, right? (Try and ignore the Uggs, ridiculously overpriced  sleepwear, and “Make America Great Again” hat.)
Twitter would break. Every ESPN anchor would salivate like a police K-9 in a meth raid. It’s not ridiculous to realize that the fanbase (including myself) would go into the barn to grab their pitchforks without putting a single ounce of thought into the issue.
It’s been about a week since it happened, with more recent developments in the story, such as the fact Brown received payment from Facebook in return for streaming the video. Institutional punishment from the league should be handed down at any time now, but if that was a New England player streaming that video, you could bet your ass they would have a $75,000 fine — at the very least — hanging over their heads before one of the biggest games of their lives.