PATRIOTS: Deflating sportsmanship hopes
When asked about the under-inflated balls during the AFC Championship game, Tom Brady said he couldn’t tell the difference.
From Bloomberg News: Brady said he thought that 12.5 PSI provided the “perfect grip” but that he never knowingly broke the rules. If he has a preference or can identify a ball with a specific inflation rate as being his “perfect grip” then he damn well knows the difference when one isn’t spot on.
As for the coach, that guy micromanages every little detail to the nth degree and his Sgt. Schultz act is making me even more suspect. Here’s two of his quotes.
“In my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player or staff member about football air pressure.”
“With regard to footballs, I’m sure that any current or past player of mine would tell you that the balls we practice with are as bad as they can be: wet, sticky, cold, slippery, however bad we can make them, I make them.”
But air pressure has never come up? Never? Ever?
The outcome of the game had nothing to do with the balls and everything to do with how bad the Colts played. But this isn’t about that game or the Colts or even the Super Bowl. It’s about a coach/player/team suspected of breaking the NFL’s written rules (cheating) and about what really goes on behind our television screens.
They’ve been caught cheating before and the coach is (in)famous for scanning the rules with a microscope looking for “an edge.” If this happened to any other team in the NFL do you think it would be the lead story on the NBC Nightly News? No. But this is the Patriots. It’s Bill “Belicheat.” If there was anything we’d jump to conclusions on quicker than this, let me know.
I don’t know what the truth is. I don’t know if we’ll ever know the truth. I don’t think the NFL wants us to know the truth. We’ve seen how they deal with real rules issues before. You know, elevator and nightclub stuff. But this is different. Is this just an NFL rule that can be bent? Is this OK, like tweaking the rules when playing Yhatzee and adding the “two pair” roll? (We do.)
This is not about a game. This is about the integrity and credibility of the NFL in general and the New England Patriots in particular.
What if we really have caught them cheating? Then we will wonder how many times have they NOT been caught cheating. And if true, Belichick should be banned for a full season (Sean Payton rule) and like Pete Rose, barred from the HOF.
But if they didn’t cheat, then how the heck did this become front-page news? Perhaps the whole thing is just a publicity stunt, like they needed any more promotion. Would we start to look at Professional Football as nothing more than a television show? Are Roger Goodell’s lines written by the same guy who writes for Pawn Stars?
So much intrigue, so much mystery, what exactly is the truth? And if we can’t find out the truth about this, how will we ever know the truth about Tiger Woods’ front tooth and Robert Allenby getting roofied and rolled in Hawaii?
I guess lying and cheating, real and accused, have become so commonplace Americans just sit back and watch it. But what should we expect in a country where those very traits have become a standard when we look to our politicians? GO SEAHAWKS!
DAVE WALKER
Coeur d’Alene