The New England Patriots are heading to the Super-Bowl scheduled for February 1st once again. Not without
controversy however, the Patriots Organization , no stranger to unethical allegations are saddled with League Investigations dubbed “Ballgate”. and in some quarters “Deflategate”. The incident came to light after the Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 45 – 7. Soon after that win, Bob Kravitz of Indiana’s WTHR TV tweeted: “A league source tells me the NFL is investigating the possibility the Patriots deflated footballs Sunday night, as reported by npr.
This is not the first time the Organization is facing allegations of impropriety and unethical behavior. In 2007 the Patriots faced league sanctions in what was monikered “Spygate” when it was discovered they videotaped the New York Jets signals. The Patriots and coach Bill Belichick were found to have videotaped the New York Jets’ signals.The spying incident resulted in the NFL stripping the Patriots of a first-round draft pick and fining Belichick.
“Under NFL rules, the home team supplies most of the balls used in games; the visiting team brings footballs for its own offense to use. All the footballs must be inflated within a range of 12.5−13.5 pounds per square inch and weigh between 14 and 15 ounces.
“In wet and slippery conditions, an under-inflated ball could be easier to grip and catch. And in last night’s game, an NFL official reportedly took at least one ball out of circulation after suspecting it didn’t meet league requirements.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick says he had “no knowledge” about the controversy surrounding his team and deflated footballs.
“In my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player or staff member about football air pressure,”
As I prepared to leave home for work this morning I overheard sports talking-heads on Television discussing the story. One particular sport talker could not find enough words to try and absolve Patriots head coach Bill Belichick of wrong doing, he claimed the poor coach may not have had any knowledge of anything that transpired.
Disgusted by this flagrant attempt at rationalizing away this latest scandal I left home for work. I could not help thinking to myself how savage the verbal onslaught was after Ray Rice knocked out his fiancé Jenae in an elevator. I also recalled some of the adjectives they used to describe Adrian Petersen . Petersen plead guilty to spanking his son, the spanking left welts on the child. I was not proud of Petersen’s methods . Notwithstanding, I understood how a father could have seen the need to discipline his own child, the methods he used were once sacrosanct now they are viewed as barbaric.
I thought to myself , how ironic it is that Petersen was all apologetic for spanking his own son albeit the marks, was punished like a common criminal, yet the state will not lift a finger to to punish criminal cops who summarily kill innocent unarmed people without batting an eye. I certainly was not about to give Rice a pass for his actions , which by all accounts were clearly criminal.
On arriving at work the subject center stage was once again “Deflategate”. The team at the table Mat Lauer, Al Roker and Tamron Hall was aghast that one viewer dared to ask whether the Patriots would be banned from the super-bowl. I switched the channel out of disgust.
Whether the Patriots coach and it’s Quarterback Tom Brady, knew that the balls were tampered with is immaterial. From all accounts some pressure was reportedly removed from eleven of the twelve game balls. It defies common sense that Tom Brady would not have realized he was better able to grip the balls during the game against the Colts played in rainy conditions. Brady is no new comer to the game, his experience is enough to cause anyone with a brain to say “he knew the balls were tampered with”.
This brings us to the question of why we play sports. Different people, players, coaches and spectators have varying reasons why we spend so much of our time preparing to play or preparing others to play. There must be a reason why we shell out hard earned cash to pay for seats to watch our favorite teams play. Why do we take our little ones to little league or other pee-wee pickup leagues ? We do so because we are convinced that despite the desire to see our little ones dominate their peers, we know that sports build character. We believe that sports helps us prepare for life, it shows us when we get knocked down we don’t quit, we don’t turn away and cry, we pick ourselves up try to be better and continue to compete. And if we loose we dust ourselves off, go back to the drawing board, do what we must and come back better next time. We compete knowing when we do our best and our opponents do their best, and we win, That makes us the best.
What happens if we destroy the purity of sports? What happens if sports become about those who can cheat the best? Where is the purity and character in winning by being the most dishonest? Is it really winning? Whether or not one believe the Patriots Organization through the protestations of it’s coach and star quarter-back is immaterial. This is one more black-eye, not just for the NFL , but for sports itself. This football fan will not watch the super-bowl this year. My not watching will not change a single thing about football, it will not bring a dollar less to the game or the competing teams. It will certainly bring satisfaction to me though, that at least in my small way I stood against dishonesty.
Yes if it is proven that the Patriots deflated the balls they should be barred from the super-bowl.
If the League’s investigations reveal that the Patriots did deflate game-balls, it is a big deal , it will mean they did not learn anything . It would mean losing a few hundred thousand dollars and a draft pick certainly did not dissuade the Patriots from being dishonest. If that is the penalty to gain an unfair advantage why would they not take that path anyway. The penalty for cheating should be banishment, nothing else sends a clear enough message. Anything less sends a message that teams are allowed to cheat , pay a penalty but proceed to take it all anyway.
That approach defeats the whole idea of sports.
To borrow a line from “Shark Tank” , ” based on that alone I’m out”.