How are your coworkers treating you this morning?

[richpats]

Without surprise, I had my "axis of evil" (i.e. 3 coworkers who hate the Pats) stir up a discussion next to my desk this morning. One is a Bronco fan who is glorifying Denver's record against Belichick even more and throwing out gems like "you have to question the ability of Brady" and "beating the Rams and Colts makes sense now". One is a Manning lover and says that Colts fans should be mad since they would have 3 Super Bowls now. Others are jumping on Belichick for being classless (which I'm not arguing but totally unrelated to the case).

I had to not-so-gently remind them that NOTHING HAS BEEN DETERMINED at this point. They want to break out the champagne bottles and toast the Pats' demise like the rest of the football-loving world without an actual decision being made.

Point being, people believe what they want to believe. They want to believe the Pats cheated. They don't want to believe a team can be this good. They want the world to make sense. The Pats trashing the Colts 2 years in a row doesn't make sense to most people. Tom Brady's success doesn't make sense to most people. It's human nature, and us Pats fans have to bear through it.

So for all you fellow fans that have to deal with the hissing and booing, I salute you- stay strong and keep your fingers crossed that the Pats will be exonerated and continue their pursuit for #4.

 

[Warren94]

well said. I work with donkeys fans, cowboys fans and they are on me like white on rice.

 

[BrianPat]

ya, well I'm transported Bostonian in Pittsburgh. I swear too god, they almost pissed me off. But I just laughed and said when did they read the statement from the NFL that the Pats are guilty. Also, everyone understands that it's all over the NFL. I wonder how the Pats will feel about being singled out by the Steelers coach, let's see how LT feels about his comments after the game sunday. They got pretty quiet, I know they were wondering how the Chargers game would turn out. This could be a fantastic chip for the Pats to wear if their cleared of being the cheating evil empire.

 

[upstater1]

I've been through this before as a UConn fan. They'll never let it go. Just ignore them. The funny thing is, it all comes around. The same fans that used to say crap about UConn are now dealing with their own scandals at their own schools.

 

[Fixit]

My co-worker the Jets fan thinks this whole thing is ridiculous. He's so level-headed, he could be mistaken for a Pats fan.

 

[BelichickFan]

My main football guy is gone until tomorrow but he won't get anywhere with me. IMO the facts are on OUR side. We got caught videotaping - nothing more to see here folks, move along

And, by the way, that team you saw or read about three days ago - they can't take that away from us

 

[richpats]

This could be a fantastic chip for the Pats to wear if their cleared of being the cheating evil empire.

You think? The NFL would be running and hiding from New England if this turns out to be nothing. Talk about a new twist to the "no respect" card. Belichick would have his team convinced that everybody thinks they are cheating....man wouldn't that fire a player up!

(to borrow from Batman Begins)

NFL: "Where are yoooooouuuuuuuu?!?!!?!"
Patriots: "Here."

 

[Fixit]

You think? The NFL would be running and hiding from New England if this turns out to be nothing. Talk about a new twist to the "no respect" card. Belichick would have his team convinced that everybody thinks they are cheating....man wouldn't that fire a player up!

(to borrow from Batman Begins)

NFL: "Where are yoooooouuuuuuuu?!?!!?!"
Patriots: "Here."

I was thinking RoboCop: "Looking for me?"

 

[richpats]

I was thinking RoboCop: "Looking for me?"

Yes! Another good one.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Did you at least remind the Broncos (cheating the cap to 2 Superbowls and the loss of multiple draft picks) and Steelers (a dynasty built on steroids whose current team doc just got fired due to the Florida internet pharmacy sting that bagged Rodney) that people who live in glass houses ought to be careful where they aim stones...

 

[milwaukeebeers44]

I have a bunch of uneducated fans asking me if I'm going to take my Brady poster down (they've already given me enough **** over the kid thing). By uneducated, I mean "watching fooball casually and knowing approximately one player per team (if that) and none of the rules" fans.

I had ONE Falcons fan start with me yesterday afternoon, to which I responded "B!tch please, you can't even attempt to go there until after Vick is out of prison." Reminding her of Michael Vick sure made her STFU.

I have a bud here who's a Steelers fan, but he was on vacation until today, so I'm just waiting for an email from him. . .

 

[WhiZa]

I had a picture of a cameraman stuck onto my patriots calendar

 

[PatsRI]

Without surprise, I had my "axis of evil" (i.e. 3 coworkers who hate the Pats) stir up a discussion next to my desk this morning. One is a Bronco fan who is glorifying Denver's record against Belichick even more and throwing out gems like "you have to question the ability of Brady" and "beating the Rams and Colts makes sense now". One is a Manning lover and says that Colts fans should be mad since they would have 3 Super Bowls now. Others are jumping on Belichick for being classless (which I'm not arguing but totally unrelated to the case).

I had to not-so-gently remind them that NOTHING HAS BEEN DETERMINED at this point. They want to break out the champagne bottles and toast the Pats' demise like the rest of the football-loving world without an actual decision being made.

Point being, people believe what they want to believe. They want to believe the Pats cheated. They don't want to believe a team can be this good. They want the world to make sense. The Pats trashing the Colts 2 years in a row doesn't make sense to most people. Tom Brady's success doesn't make sense to most people. It's human nature, and us Pats fans have to bear through it.

So for all you fellow fans that have to deal with the hissing and booing, I salute you- stay strong and keep your fingers crossed that the Pats will be exonerated and continue their pursuit for #4.

Just ask the Denver fans why we've heard about their dirty and borderline illegal offensive line tactics for 10 years now and as for the Colts fan just say:
"Let me get this straight, the Pats cheated during the Super Bowl years but stopped in the past 2 since they've lost 3 in a row to Indy?"

 

[richpats]

Did you at least remind the Broncos (cheating the cap to 2 Superbowls and the loss of multiple draft picks) ..

Oh most definitely! I also said that if Belichick is taken down like they hope then the league will be onto Shanahan next.

 

[richpats]

"Let me get this straight, the Pats cheated during the Super Bowl years but stopped in the past 2 since they've lost 3 in a row to Indy?"

Yeah, I had to remind them that Tom Brady has had a bad game in his career before.

 

[Flying Fungi]

I work for a company that is a major sponsor of the Red Sox and Patriots.

Except for some brief discussion of the media disinformation being spread, nobody seems tremendously riled or upset about the whole situation.

 

[Cannon Arm]

I had to not-so-gently remind them that NOTHING HAS BEEN DETERMINED at this point. They want to break out the champagne bottles and toast the Pats' demise like the rest of the football-loving world without an actual decision being made.

Point being, people believe what they want to believe. They want to believe the Pats cheated. They don't want to believe a team can be this good. They want the world to make sense. The Pats trashing the Colts 2 years in a row doesn't make sense to most people. Tom Brady's success doesn't make sense to most people. It's human nature, and us Pats fans have to bear through it.

I had a conversation this morning with a guy who doesn't like any particular team but hates the Pats. I used the "everyone cheats" argument, because it's the only one we have. I was annoyed to have to say that.

Why do you say nothing has been determined? Do you not admit that the Patriots were warned not to use video during a game, and they did it anyway? Do you not admit that the Pats were illegally using video to steal signals, an unfair competitive advantage? Do you not admit that the illegal tape was confiscated, providing conclusive evidence of guilt of violation of the rule? The Jets would have looked at the tape before handing it over to the NFL. It obviously shows what everyone assumes it would show-- not video of some cute Jets fan with a nice rack.

 

[Flying Fungi]

I had a conversation this morning with a guy who doesn't like any particular team but hates the Pats. I used the "everyone cheats" argument, because it's the only one we have. I was annoyed to have to say that.

Why do you say nothing has been determined? Do you not admit that the Patriots were warned not to use video during a game, and they did it anyway? Do you not admit that the Pats were illegally using video to steal signals, an unfair competitive advantage? Do you not admit that the illegal tape was confiscated, providing conclusive evidence of guilt of violation of the rule? The Jets would have looked at the tape before handing it over to the NFL. It obviously shows what everyone assumes it would show-- not video of some cute Jets fan with a nice rack.

You owe it not only to yourself, but to the rest of us to educate yourself before posting. What you feel is correct and accurate is neither.

 

[minvardar]

The co-workers that know football are saying it is wrong and they got caught, but they also realize most teams do this. The part time football watchers and general all around Patriot haters are having fun with it.

 

[richpats]

Why do you say nothing has been determined? Do you not admit that the Patriots were warned not to use video during a game, and they did it anyway? Do you not admit that the Pats were illegally using video to steal signals, an unfair competitive advantage? Do you not admit that the illegal tape was confiscated, providing conclusive evidence of guilt of violation of the rule? The Jets would have looked at the tape before handing it over to the NFL.

Well, nobody with anything to do with the case (NFL, Pats, Jets) has contributed anything except that an investigation is ongoing. ESPN and everybody else is citing "sources".

The last statement makes me think - what would the Jets have to lose by simply implicating the Pats were stealing signals? That tape could have been anything and the Jets could still say that there was "something suspicious".