Would you rather….
- Win, no matter the price? OR
- Never win, but always do it the right way?
Sports fans are passionate. We root for and back our teams and players. They are OUR guys, OUR team, and OUR city. They are so much a part of the fabric of our lives that we refer to them (team/players/etc.) as ‘we’, indicating ownership. And with as much as we invest in our teams emotionally and financially many people buy into a sense of ownership. We will defend them to our deaths!
But at what cost?
Or, better yet, do we rationalize actions because of our fandom?
The New England Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX in a fantastic game that came down to the final play. Yes, I was rooting for the Patriots. Mostly because I had picked them from the beginning of the year to win the Super Bowl (over Seattle no less) and wanted to finally get one right.
And then I came into school Monday. The air of devastation, as Colts fans walked the hallways, was palpable. You could see the grief in their faces. The ‘enemy’ had won. I saw it all over social media the night of the Super Bowl and into the next few days – “I guess cheaters do win” and “I hate the Cheatriots” were some of the most common responses. And I found myself wanting to begin to defend the Patriots. Of course, being a Bears fan, there was no skin off my back with New England winning the Super Bowl. In fact, four University of Illinois alumni won Super Bowl rings on Sunday which is another reason I was rooting for the Patriots. But the bitterness of Colts fans began to rub me the wrong way. In my opinion, they were riding the “high horse” as the moral standard for the NFL and it left a bad taste in my mouth,
Let’s go back to 2007. The NFL sent a memorandum to ALL 32 NFL teams about videotaping procedures because the practice was getting out of hand. Team would video the opposing teams’ defensive signals and then try to decipher them in order to beat them. It reminds me very much of the old baseball practice of sign stealing. It happens ALL the time. Does that make it right? No. Am I condoning cheating? No. All I am trying to say is it was commonplace in 2007. Did the Patriots throw caution to the wind by continuing the practice AFTER the memo was sent out? Yes, and they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. But AGAIN – they weren’t the only team doing it before the memo and if you truly believe they were the only team trying to do it after the memo I have a bridge to sell you.
The Patriots got caught, paid the hefty price and moved on. But this city skewered them and labeled them as cheaters. I get it – it’s the rival…well, not really, but that’s a different conversation. It’s the ONE team that prevented the Colts themselves from becoming a dynasty. At the same time, the Patriots were in the midst of the greatest salary cap run in NFL history, winning three titles in four years. So now they become the Evil Empire to ALL of the NFL fans who aren’t Patriots fans and are labeled “cheaters”. (Oh, by the way, did you know the Broncos got fined in 2010 for doing that very same thing? Bet you didn’t. Neither did I.)
Let’s go back to 2007. The NFL sent a memorandum to ALL 32 NFL teams about videotaping procedures because the practice was getting out of hand. Team would video the opposing teams’ defensive signals and then try to decipher them in order to beat them. It reminds me very much of the old baseball practice of sign stealing. It happens ALL the time. Does that make it right? No. Am I condoning cheating? No. All I am trying to say is it was commonplace in 2007. Did the Patriots throw caution to the wind by continuing the practice AFTER the memo was sent out? Yes, and they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. But AGAIN – they weren’t the only team doing it before the memo and if you truly believe they were the only team trying to do it after the memo I have a bridge to sell you.
The Patriots got caught, paid the hefty price and moved on. But this city skewered them and labeled them as cheaters. I get it – it’s the rival…well, not really, but that’s a different conversation. It’s the ONE team that prevented the Colts themselves from becoming a dynasty. At the same time, the Patriots were in the midst of the greatest salary cap run in NFL history, winning three titles in four years. So now they become the Evil Empire to ALL of the NFL fans who aren’t Patriots fans and are labeled “cheaters”. (Oh, by the way, did you know the Broncos got fined in 2010 for doing that very same thing? Bet you didn’t. Neither did I.)
Fast forward 8 years to 2015. The Patriots won their first Super Bowl since 2004 but it couldn’t go without some controversy, right? Deflategate, as it’s called now. Is it possible for more hot air to be wasted on a few measly PSI? Heck no! Colts fans were leading the charge because it was against OUR team. How dare they? Puh-lease! It has since come out that the starting QB of a Super Bowl winning team bribed someone to alter the footballs before the big game. At the same time, the NFL’s “golden boy”, Aaron Rodgers states that he likes the football inflated to more than the rules allow.
To which I answer – who cares?!?!? A few measly PSI is not going to allow the defensive back cover the wide receiver more closely. It’s not going to afford the WR the opportunity to run a better route. Who cares?!?!
It was just another opportunity for the Patriots hates to climb on board the bandwagon claiming of their cheating allowing them to…..what’s that word? Oh yeah, WIN. It’s jealousy, all jealousy. Remember, I’m a Bears fan. Do I think the umpteen victories Aaron Rodgers has over the Bears are tainted? Not in the least. So quit crying about deflated footballs and let’s move on to more important issues….
Like police activity. In case you missed it, and I think you haven’t, the Colts have had a laundry list of players/team personnel arrested by local police. They’ve had EIGHT personnel issues in the last 12 months alone. THAT’S a problem. And we haven’t even discussed the owner, who gave the franchise a black eye with his DUI arrest last year. What Colts fans fail to realize is how lucky they became when the Ray Rice controversy played out right after Irsay’s arrest. The bungling of the Ray Rice incident completely overshadowed a large problem with the Colts owner and it would have been the biggest NFL story at the time.
To which I answer – who cares?!?!? A few measly PSI is not going to allow the defensive back cover the wide receiver more closely. It’s not going to afford the WR the opportunity to run a better route. Who cares?!?!
It was just another opportunity for the Patriots hates to climb on board the bandwagon claiming of their cheating allowing them to…..what’s that word? Oh yeah, WIN. It’s jealousy, all jealousy. Remember, I’m a Bears fan. Do I think the umpteen victories Aaron Rodgers has over the Bears are tainted? Not in the least. So quit crying about deflated footballs and let’s move on to more important issues….
Like police activity. In case you missed it, and I think you haven’t, the Colts have had a laundry list of players/team personnel arrested by local police. They’ve had EIGHT personnel issues in the last 12 months alone. THAT’S a problem. And we haven’t even discussed the owner, who gave the franchise a black eye with his DUI arrest last year. What Colts fans fail to realize is how lucky they became when the Ray Rice controversy played out right after Irsay’s arrest. The bungling of the Ray Rice incident completely overshadowed a large problem with the Colts owner and it would have been the biggest NFL story at the time.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The off-the-field episodes cannot outweigh the success on the field. Promote a great kid like Andrew Luck all you want (and he is great) but facts are facts. The Colts have to get their house straight – pronto.
And Colts fans need to look in the mirror. As much as you’d like to believe it, videotaping and deflating footballs are not in the same hemisphere as DUI’s, assaults and using PED’s. They just aren’t.
My older brother and I used to get into scraps growing up. It was all about competition. But we also played the blame game when we got into trouble. My Dad, when talking to us about our discretions, would always use the adage from the Bible, “take the log out of your own eye before you remove the speck from your brother’s”.
Maybe Colts fans should get some Visine before slinging arrows at the Patriots…
And Colts fans need to look in the mirror. As much as you’d like to believe it, videotaping and deflating footballs are not in the same hemisphere as DUI’s, assaults and using PED’s. They just aren’t.
My older brother and I used to get into scraps growing up. It was all about competition. But we also played the blame game when we got into trouble. My Dad, when talking to us about our discretions, would always use the adage from the Bible, “take the log out of your own eye before you remove the speck from your brother’s”.
Maybe Colts fans should get some Visine before slinging arrows at the Patriots…
1 comment:
I LOVE TOM BRADY
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