I’ve
probably already made enough snide, off-hand comments about the NFL to make any
commentary on “Deflate-Gate” questionable on my part. Further, my obvious allegiance is to
BASEBALL! But, how can I pass up an
opportunity to do some actual timely topical blogging for a change?
First,
I think the whole league is fixed. I
don’t mean deflated footballs. How can you
seriously watch a season’s worth of football and not question calls on the
field and subsequent reviews on a weekly basis?
You can think of your own examples, probably very easily. The only reason for official reviews is
because the referees on the field kept botching the fixes. The “replacement” refs weren’t any worse than
regular ones, except they were unacceptably screwing up the fixes. Here is why the league is mad at the
Patriots: they keep trying to fix the games to their advantage! That is the exclusive, not-to-be-messed-with
domain of the NFL. They determine the
winners and losers, not the damn teams! No
team scores unless the third team on the field (the refs) allows it.
Okay,
I’ve got no proof behind my allegations (or than watching what goes on in the
actual games). You can legitimately
dismiss what I’ve said. Maybe it’s not
the NFE (National Football Entertainment).
If this is the case, then you then have to accept that the rules of the
game are impossible to play by. The
players routinely break them. The
referees arbitrarily enforce them. There
are fouls on virtually every play of the game if they were observed and called
by the book. Seeing all the infractions
is impossible and then calling them all would not produce anything close to
entertainment.
Second,
this whole “controversy” was just a publicity campaign to keep the NFL in the
national consciousness during the off-season.
That’s all it was. It was there
to keep people talking after the Superbowl.
It was re-ignited, conveniently, right after the NBA finals. This has been manufactured by the media. It’s all been a bunch of panty-wadding crap
to give pundits (I guess including myself) something to pontificate on.
I’m
not a Patriots fan. I think Tom Brady is
a great player, but he’s not my favorite and I don’t root for him, unless his
team is playing somebody I really hate.
That said, I’m glad that he’ll be playing. Since I think it’s all illegitimate anyway,
may as well put the most entertaining players out on the field. I am a Cowboys fan (low-key, I admit). This decision may harm my team since I think
they’re playing each other this season.
(No, I don’t know their schedule.
I don’t memorize baseball schedules beyond the current week either.) Well, if the Cowboys beat the Patriots with
Brady, then it’s a greater victory than without him playing.
Meanwhile,
Goodell is apparently going to appeal this.
Not for the league, not for the fix, but for his job. This whole thing has been a massive screw-up
on his part, since this deflation issue actually came up before the game in
question was played. He has embarrassed
the Shield with this loss in the court.
If he doesn’t win at some point in this saga, Goodell is out the
door. The commissioner is just a
mouthpiece/figurehead anyway. But, the
games will be being played at that point.
This story has already served its purpose of publicity and will be
over-staying its welcome after the season starts. Brady being suddenly suspended in-season is
just going to anger the fans, rather than placate them, thus making Goodell an
even more hated tool.
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