patsox23
Experienced Starter w/First Big Contract
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2004
- Messages
- 7,430
- Reaction score
- 60
My email to TMQ:
Sir,
I read your column on ESPN every week and greatly appreciate the time and energy that you put into writing it. Your column is a weekly staple of mine because I have come to relish the rare instance that logic and reason are inserted into the national discourse in general and specifically about football. That is why I was so disappointed to read your column this week only to find that you had abandoned both logic and reason in your discussion of the Patriots’ spying scandal in the first half of your column. I was pleased, however, to see that you reverted back to your entertaining and well argued style for the second half of the column (in which you contradicted some of what you had said about the Patriots earlier).
I agree with your premise that there is no guarantee the NFL with retain its supremacy among professional sports leagues in the US. However, much of your argument is based on pure conjecture and speculation. You both misrepresent the advantage that the Patriots may have garnered through their videotaping and use unproven allegations by disgruntled players and others to allow yourself the hyperbole of comparing the Patriots with the Black Sox.
The Patriots have broken an NFL prohibition against videotaping from the sidelines. The appropriate analogy here is breaking the speed limit. Almost everyone speeds to one degree or another. The police catch the most egregious offenders and enforce a penalty against them, but the integrity of our justice system is not called into question because all offenders are not caught. You take for granted that what the Patriots have done brings into serious question the integrity of the game. The Patriots were an egregious offender in this case and have been rightfully been punished for it. However, there was likely little gained by their practice. Just as everyone drives a few miles over the speed limit, every coach in the NFL tries to learn about their opponents’ tendencies and gain an advantage with that knowledge. Jimmy Johnson and others have confirmed that over the past week, as well as sharing stories of rummaging through opposing teams’ trash baskets and other assorted instances of trying to learn about their opponent surreptitiously.
(As an aside, it was very amusing to watch Jimmy Johnson on one channel say that he had video taped opponents’ signals as the coach of the Dolphins and watch Dan Marino on another channel express righteous indignation about the arrogance of Bill Belichick. This is just one of the things that makes me question almost all of the ex-players that have weighed in recently.)
I do not believe that what the Patriots did calls into question the integrity of the game because these video tapes were not the equivalent of a magic ball. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady did not know what defensive alignment their opponent was going to line up in on a play by play basis because they stole signals. Instead they knew what the opposing coach was likely to call in that certain situation based on the tapes that Belichick had collected over the years. (Frankly, a defensive coordinator that would use the same signals game after game, year after year, on three different teams, should not be coaching in the NFL.) This is the obsessive mind of Belichick at work. Accuscore can do the same type of thing to a much less refined degree. Accuscore thought that the Patriots should pass a lot to increase their chances of winning? So did Bill Belicheck because of his meticulous preparation, not because of stolen signs as you alluded to in the beginning of your column and then recanted later. What the Patriots did was wrong, but it is on the low end of the spectrum when it comes to cheating.
What does threaten the league is a rabid media reporting rumor and innuendo to prolong the scandal in an attempt to increase ratings or copy. Controversy is needed to fuel ESPN and FOX Sports, et al. This incident will not lead most fans to question the results of the games unless the media continues to replay the tired words of players that have been searching for an excuse for their past losses and the endless speculation of those that are paid to conjure up controversy.
I believe that Bill Belichick will turn over the remaining tapes as asked and additional penalties will not be levied if he fully complies. You may think that “Belichick’s Nixonian statement shows the New England coach full of contempt for the NFL fans,” but the reality is that he has acknowledged the support of the New England fans and is under no obligation to humor hack writers who are intent on bringing down one of the greatest minds every to turn his attention to the game of football.
Again, thank you for your hard work.
Awesome. The perfect, tempered, fair-minded, grounded response. Really well done. GREAT.
