Just when you thought things might settle down in the NFL,
here we go again with another controversy -- a controversy that evidently
strikes at the very core of American values, if you believe some of the things
you've been reading about.
It goes like this: Footballs that the New England Patriots
used in the AFC championship game were inflated below regulation and, once
again, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have conspired to pull the wool over
everyone's eyes, thus their dynasty is a fraud and a sham.
Let's get a few things out of the way. First of all, yes,
the footballs used did not comply with NFL requirements, and were very likely
altered after they had been inspected by NFL officials. Second, Brady was among
the quarterbacks who lobbied the NFL to change the rules regarding how
footballs are prepared for games. (The summed-up version: It used to be the
home team supplied the footballs, but it changed to each team supplying their
own.) Third, it's not the first time the Patriots have been accused of, and
found responsible for, violating NFL rules. And fourth, yes, I absolutely believe Brady knew what was happening, and it's likely Belichick knew what was going on as well.
With all this said, why are so many people acting like it's
the end of the world as we know it, that the Patriots cheated and our way of
American life happens to be at stake?
Oh, sure, if you want to make jokes about "deflated
balls" and laugh at how you have another reason to hate Tom Brady, I can
get that. One of the traits every sports fan shares is the pleasure of making
jokes about athletes, teams and events, particularly if we don't like those who
are involved.
But reading some of the articles written about this
situation, makes it sound like a staple of Americana hangs in the balance, and
with it, America itself.
Here's a newsflash for everyone: Integrity often means
little in professional sports. Owners expect cities that host franchises to pay
for new stadiums every time they ask, or they'll pack their bags and leave
town. Coaches look for new methods and approaches to the game, often figuring
out what rules they can bend, circumvent, or creatively interpret to their advantage.
Players follow suit on the field -- all you have to do is watch a wide receiver
and a defensive back jostling with each other on a pass play, with each one
expecting the official favor him over the other guy, no matter what. Oh, and
they also like to seek out any performance enhancer, legal or illegal, that
they think can help them gain a competitive advantage.
And what's a big reason why coaches and players keep looking for advantages?
Answer: Because we, the fans, have made demands upon them that force them down
that path.
The typical football fan expects his or her favorite team to
WIN NOW, because they see guys like Chuck Pagano and Bruce Arians turning
things around in just one season, even if they are the exception. The typical football fan expects each player
drafted in the seven rounds to make an instant impact, or they will be
immediately written off as a bust, because just look at all these guys who were
drafted in different rounds and were immediate sensations (did someone mention
Brady?). The typical football fan especially expects a quarterback to be a
winner right away, touting Andrew Luck as the example of how easy it is for a
QB to achieve instant success, while forgetting that most quarterbacks are like
Johnny Manziel, in that they stink up the joint in their first NFL starts.
And yes, it doesn't help that Manziel got hyped to death,
but that's yet another problem with the typical football fan. The typical
football fan sees Manziel excite everyone in college, expects that to immediately
happen in the NFL, gets impatient when he doesn't start right away, and when he
finally starts and looks terrible, they immediately declare it's all over for
the guy.
On top of that, when the media starts feeding narratives to
typical fans, these fans are more likely to eat them up rather than reject them.
So you have Brady, watching how everyone calls Peyton Manning a playoff choker,
how Tony Romo can't win when it counts, and how Seattle has the BEST DEFENSE
EVAH, and then you act surprised that Brady might choose to employ questionable
methods so he can avoid the likely narrative known as "Is it all over for
Tom Brady?"
The fact is, football is a complex sport in which the
outcome of games can't be boiled down to one or two factors, as much as people
try to make it out to be that way. More importantly, football is not something
that is supposed to represent American values, as much as some might want it to
be that way.
If football were to disappear from the face of the earth,
America would not perish. There are far more areas one can look to, to
understand what American values are truly all about, rather than a sport in
which the general mindset is to "win now or else," and where said
mindset often leads to unscrupulous undertakings by owners, coaches and
players, all trying to see what they might get away with, in the quest of
winning.
(Actually, it's not too different from how most Americans
are. We're constantly told we have to be "number one" in everything,
and if we are anything short of that, then we must DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. And
then we act surprised when somebody tries to circumvent rules in place to ensure
they get the "number one" result that Americans demand. Maybe it's
time we start being fine with "always do your best, no matter the
outcome" rather than getting up in arms about how America has been ruined
because we aren't "number one" for whatever the reason may be.)
By all means, hold those who violate the rules
accountable. But stop acting like the way of life of Americans is threatened by
Belichick, Brady, and footballs that aren't regulation -- and most of all, stop
acting so surprised that coaches and players would bend the rules as far as
they can in the pursuit of winning.
After all, when you insist that one "win now or
else," the next logical step for one to take is "win at all costs,
rules be damned."
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