An article in the Boston Globe says that the Patriots have been taping for a long time.
That brings up some questions:
- A technical question: Was it illegal to tape before this year?
- Does it really matter since the Patriots ended up choking when it counted?
- Should Specter or anyone in the the federal government involve themselves in such sports controversies? Why do politicians involve themselves in these matters?
- Should Commissioner Goodell step down? Why?
- Does this make you less of a Patriots fan (if you are one) or less of an NFL fan?
It’s funny — I never minded the Patriots until this year. I even kind of liked them. But the perfect season hype just began to turn me off. It was different than the ’85 Bears who seemed to be having fun. The Patriots seemed to be getting even — probably for the penalty leveled by Goodell. But the topper for me was this appearance by Brady.
As everyone has noted — 17 points wouldn’t have felt too bad.
I welcome your comments. Just keep them clean.
I don’t think it was a very big deal at all. I remember an NFL Films thing about a playoff game back in the nineties, Packers vs. 49ers. Brett Favre said that he was calling fake audibles because he knew the Niners had stolen their signals. Now I saw this not as much to say “everybody does it”, but that everybody knows that everybody does it. Good coaches know about this going on, and take steps to counter any advantage gained. Certainly any coach that didn’t completely change their signals when playing the Pats this season, after they were caught in the first week, doesn’t deserve to be in the NFL.
With that said, I think there is some advantage to it, and Belichick is the kind of guy who will take any advantage he could get. But he was punished (very severely), so I think it should be a closed book. With regard to the third question, something feels all fishy about Specter’s involvement. His case is that the NFL is protected by federal anti-trust legislation, but come on. Are we going to have congressional inquiries the next time the refs blow a call? He needs to get his copy of the Constitution off the bookshelf, blow the dust off of it, and read up on the responsibilities/limits of the Federal Government once again. I hope that after his next touchdown, Chad Johnson holds up a sign that reads “Don’t subpoena me, Mr. Congressman!” and gets a big fat fine.
One more thing. As you know, I rooted for the Pats in the SB this year. One thing, I wanted to see 19-0. It would have been a good story for our old age, because I don’t think it’s likely anyone will ever get to 16-0 again. But there’s another reason. There’s a whole industry devoted to an constant analysis of the sport. The guys who are involved in this don’t want to admit that they are paid top dollar to talk andlessly about how far someone can throw a ball, so they need to make the game seem more important than it really is. They need to have it be human interest story, and there’s no bigger human interest story than Good vs. Evil. And the Pats were the best, they were always the favorite, they had an unlikeable, socially-backward coach, and they had a sort of dynasty going. Who better to play Evil? And I really sensed that I was being manipulated in this direction, and I chose to root for them to push back against that. That said, of course the Pats have some creeps (including the coach), but so do the Steelers and everybody else. It’s not Good vs. Evil, it’s not David vs. Goliath, it’s just a game.
Are you thinking Chad will be holding that sign as a Bengal or as a Redskin?
Or as a Steeler?
He’d go well with those “creeps” you mentioned the Steelers having. 🙂
Well, I think his days as a Bungle are over, but I don’t think we’d be able to win the bidding war to get him, unless he really wanted to play here. He’s no worse than that clown we put in at strong safety last year.
Wait, in fact he’s a lot better.
I actually like Chad. He’s entertaining — like Joey Porter was. And he backs up his mouth with talent. That was Smith’s problem — he couldn’t back it up. But I think Smith will come around — he’s pretty young.
I couldn’t agree with you more concerning Specter’s role here. I never understood why congress thinks involvement in sports is something worth their time and effort. It’s just a game. I don’t think Specter’s interest is in the game. I think it’s all about getting in front of the camera and making folks from PA like him. He’d have to do something other than this to make me like him. Doing this just makes me wonder what we are paying him for.
A side note on Chad, when he got the TD and played the camera man
— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWXRjN7A4_g —
Dan Rooney said he thought that was great and hoped he would not get fined.
Rooney said something about the NFL needing to be careful not to take the fun out of the game. I agree.
The reason for the Anti-Trust exemption was for the AFL/NFL merger to be authorized by the 89th Congress. That’s when the “fun” was taken out of football….no more Geo. Blanda, Lance Alworth like wideopen football. Everything became “plain vanilla”. No more Joe Namth poking his index finger into the eye of the established league. And, why the merger? Because of the competition in spending $$$$. [All of which paled in comparison to what goes on today!] So, Congress, at the behest of the owners on both sides ,made pro football a “business” subject to government regulation and review. That being said, I do not believe that the Spygate issue is anything more than grandstanding by the Sr. Sen. from PA…the kind of grandstanding Ocho Cinco would be proud of! How about some real issues like: part of the anti-trust legislation was that no team would be moved from the cities they were in in 1970. Hmmm. Has that been violated? What was done? When I was a boy my Dad took me to see the Rams play the Stillers in Friendly Forbes. The Rams of Elroy Hersh and Bob Waterfield…the Black and Gold of Ernie Stautner and One Eyed Jack Butler. It was no contest…but it was fun…footbal without the pretect of big business. In my view 1970 took the fun out of the game and made the game a business. Nevertheless………Go Stillers!!!!!
“Should Specter or anyone in the the federal government involve themselves in such sports controversies? Why do politicians involve themselves in these matters?”
They’re involved for two reasons: They don’t have anything better to do, and they think the government needs to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
I think the government needs to get its nose out of this and the baseball doping. Is it a shame? Yes. Is it the government’s business? No.
wck – I laughed out loud (a literal LOL) when I read your words:
Yep — My mom (who turns 88 today) always said that prayer in schools is nothing more than a political football the politicians throw around to get attention. Now Specter is using football to gain some political yardage. (Man — I love playing with words that way!!!) 🙂
I love the good vs. evil stories in sports — and in everything. I think the reason I love it is because they serve as snapshots — not types 😉 — of the ultimate Good vs. Evil story. When I see something that serves to illustrate that, I enjoy it. It doesn’t matter that there is good on both sides of the ball and evil on both sides of the field. The sensation that there is an evil to be overcome reminds me that such is true in life. So I don’t resist it so much. In fact, I take pleasure in it for that reason and I, perhaps ironically, find it a nice diversion from the heaviness of the real struggle against evil.
While I don’t watch professional (?) wrestling, I often wonder if in a strange way our desire to cheer for good or evil (depending on our disposition) is satisfied in that. Even in fiction — whether it’s Superman taking down Lex Luther or a reformed Vader tossing the Emperor into the shaft — I often wonder if we’re taking satisfaction from what might be very small glimpses of Revelation 20:10.
Steve said:
I agree with that, and I feel the same way when I root for a team, like the Steelers. To put it another way (that I hope clarifies things), I would say that the Steelers are “righteous” and whoever they happen to be playing is “unrighteous”. By “righteous” I mean “right with me”, or “on my side”. My people triumphs over your people, which is a good picture of the judgment at the end of the world.
My problem was that to some, the Pats weren’t just “unrighteous”, as in “not being the team I associate with”, but they were actually evil. Take this article, for example. I felt like I was supposed to root against the Pats because they had wicked hearts and motives. And I don’t think that i want to make that judgment based on some sportswriter’s opinions/biases.
So for me, it was like how the Pharisees lied and manipulated the crowds to get them to believe Jesus was a bad guy. Really, he was the good one, and the “media” was out to set him up. Just like the Pats.
P.S. That last paragraph was just to provoke you and Esther.
Unprovoked. While some may be manipulated by the sports media, neither Esther nor I will be manipulated by anything beyond our Steeler Passions 😉 . I really should not speak for Esther, so I take that back about her. However, it was not the media that made me feel as I felt about the Pats. It was the Pats. Just like Dallas of the late 90’s and the Ravens since conception. It’s like you and the…. what do you call them? The Bungles 🙂 .
I have disliked the Pats coach since this: