Eli Manning – the New York Giants’ quarterback and two-time Super Bowl MVP, at Tom Brady’s expense no less – was at Mulino’s restaurant in White Plains, N.Y. May 11, ostensibly to talk about his role as host of next month’s 38th annual Guiding Eyes for the Blind Golf Classic.

But as often happens, there was breaking football news right before the cocktail party-press conference: Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, has been suspended four games without pay for his “more probable than not” awareness that two lower-level employees had deflated footballs before the Pats’ AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. The implication being that locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski doctored the balls according to Brady’s tastes to make them easier to throw and catch, particularly in inclement weather. (The two have since been indefinitely suspended by the team.)

The Patriots were fined $1 million and will lose a first-round draft pick next year and a fourth-round one in 2017. Brady has said he will appeal. ...