Tom Brady: Did Patriots Star's Super Bowl Comments Spur Live-Stream Crackdown?

Tom Brady opened his big mouth, and then an Internet piracy network was shut down. At least, that is what some are being led to believe, but even the New England Patriots' star quarterback is not that powerful. 

If there is one thing that leagues and networks hate more than anything, it's people getting for free what they can sell for millions. Brady told the world that he has dabbled in viewing illegal online streaming, and did so last year when he was in Costa Rica during the Super Bowl. 

Brady told reporters that he had indeed enjoyed the fruits of illegal services. Via MassLive.com:

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"Last year, I was rehabbing my foot in Costa Rica watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website and now I’m actually playing in the game, so it’s pretty cool."

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The Feds don't think for a second that such things are pretty cool, and a few hours later they proved it. The Boston Globe reports that just hours after Brady admitted he used illegal live streaming to view the Super Bowl, federal investigators went to work. 

Investigators seized 16 sites that stream unauthorized broadcasts of sports events and brought criminal charges against a Michigan man who controlled nine of them. 

It is the kind of strange coincidence that makes you mad at Brady if you happen to be a cyber villain, hell-bent at providing free access to sports worldwide. 

However, this is certainly nothing more than a coincidence. If you want an impetus for the perfectly timed shutdown of various websites, you only need to look at the Super Bowl itself. 

The Boston Globe report does well to state, "authorities said the prosecution was part of a continuing federal effort to target counterfeiting and piracy on the Internet."

If we are looking for far more intriguing angles, it may not rest with Brady, but with the NFL and NBC Sports live streaming the Super Bowl on Sunday. 

The last thing they would want is a good chunk of that revenue to be pilfered by the pirates that suck them dry every year. 

There is also the Freecast.com site that promises video in conjunction with Facebook. If the NFL, networks and behemoth websites are going to go through the trouble of presenting a high-class production, they want to make sure it is enjoyed by the masses, and in the way they saw fit. 

Then again, this may also be a strange case of perfect timing. The report states the crackdown was the result of four months of work and investigation. 

The only thing we could possibly read into this would be the Feds wanting to send a message the Thursday before the biggest game of the year. If you are planning on giving the production away for free, they will find you. 

Consider this a warning and not some example of a quarterback setting off police officials on a pirate hunt. Tom Brady isn't that important. 

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