Remember when you were a little kid playing games with your friends in the neighborhood? Did you ever have a friend suddenly get “injured” right as you were beating them in a race? Or how about someone getting hurt or sick right as you tagged them out or hit a winning shot? These types of things came up in my youth competing at recess and backyard of my neighborhood in suburban Indiana. It did not happen regularly. But when I won something fair and square and someone came down with the flu right as it was happening, I felt robbed. And I hated it.
No one likes a cheater. Whether you are playing a board game among friends or at the Olympic time trials, cheating is more than frowned upon in competition. It is loathed. It takes the pure spirit of competition and soils it with dishonesty. Simply put: it takes the fun out of competition.
So why do I address this now? Isn’t it common sense that cheating is bad? Haven’t we learned that since childhood? I would hope so. Yet it is happening on a pretty prominent stage right now in professional sports…by adults! It happened in the National Football League right before the Super Bowl of all times. Right now I feel like I did when I was a kid disgusted with someone faking an injury or when someone stole Monopoly money. Except now it is happening in a sport I love to watch. And it repulses me.
The cheating I mention is no secret to many of you. It happened allegedly against the Indianapolis Colts by the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game this year. I admit, as many of you know, I am an Indianapolis Colts fan through and through. And as such: I have a strong distaste for the Patriots, Bill Bellichick and all they stand for. Be that as it may, cheating of any kind at this level or any should simply not be tolerated.
At the time of me writing this, the NFL has done nothing about this alleged cheating incident other than “conduct an ongoing investigation.” It just so happens that the Patriots went on to impressively win the Super Bowl against the mighty Seahawks in a very dramatic display. For the NFL to come out with a ruling to penalize the Patriots after the fact would be, at the very least, complicated. The NFL would be shooting itself in the proverbial foot. By saying the Patriots cheated in the AFC Championship (and potentially in many other games leading up to it), the NFL would be casting a shadow on itself as a league. The validity of the Super Bowl decision would be in question at least to some degree. How many games did the Patriots deflate footballs? Would it have led to the team not having home field advantage in the playoffs? Should the decisions of those games be reversed? These are not questions with simple answers.
I, along with many other people, do not ultimately think that deflating the footballs would have changed the decision in the Pats game vs. the Colts. The Colts did not come out with the fire they showed against the Bengals and Broncos and needed to win. But where do we draw the line? Shouldn’t cheating in the game before the Super Bowl be punished? At the very least, shouldn’t it cast a shadow or put an asterisk on the Patriots “championship” season? In the Olympics, which most people view as the pinnacle of sports competition, if someone cheats in any way they are immediately disqualified and cannot win a medal. What is the difference here? There should be zero tolerance for any sort of cheating in professional sports.
I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means. But I believe the NFL has an agenda here. They realize the Patriots’ actions of cheating would tarnish the league’s reputation, image, and integrity if brought fully to light. It would have undermined the excitement of the Super Bowl.
I predict that this matter gets “swept under the rug” so to speak. Perhaps the NFL will hand down some minimal punishment such as a fine to head coach Bellichick or the Patriots organization. But I do not see the NFL administering any sort of heavy punishment or taking away the Vince Lombardi trophy from the Patriots. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.
The sad truth of the matter is that the Patriots have a history of cheating that is well documented. We all know about “SpyGate” and how Bellichick illegally video recorded other teams to claim an unfair advantage. This is a repeat offender. And the sad thing is: the Patriots could have won without cheating. Moreover, the NFL is going to let this matter walk off silently in the night. That is my prediction. I guess image, marketing, revenue, ratings and financial gain are more important to the league than honesty and integrity. The league would rather try to falsely convey an image of no wrongdoing than punish the team who has ironically done the most to erode the integrity of the league itself.
So do not be surprised if little is done to punish the Patriots. If it does not work out in the NFL’s favor to do it, it will not happen. But maybe the damage has already been done. Maybe others, like myself, will trust the league less and less moving forward. It is a sad state of affairs. And I, for one, feel deflated.
theskinzscoop 