Only following his coach:
PRO FOOTBALL WEEKLY
Shula's 'asterisk' suggestion is way over the top
By Hub Arkush (
[email protected])
Nov. 16, 2007
....(portions omitted)...... "Shula is the most successful individual in the history of the game. After all, “winning is the only thing,” and nobody is even in sight of Shula’s 347 career wins as a head coach. Halas is second at 324, and Tom Landry is third at 270. And, of course, Shula coached the only undefeated, untied champions in the history of the NFL, the 17-0 Miami Dolphins of 1972.
And that’s the long road to my point in this column, which is to voice my utter disappointment at Shula’s recent suggestion that, should the 2007 New England Patriots match his ’72 Dolphins’ accomplishments, perhaps we should mark that performance with an asterisk. Since the comments first appeared in an interview in the New York Daily News, Shula has tried to soften his stance, and I wanted to give him a pass. But the fact that he actually compared the Pats’ “Videogate” incident to Barry Bonds’ use of steroids left him way too far out over his skis to possibly avoid a spill.
While Bonds denies cheating to achieve Major League Baseball’s all-time home run record, I’d bet the house there are more of you who believe O.J. Simpson isn’t a murderer than believe Bonds hasn’t cheated. The guy couldn’t have spotted Henry Aaron’s record with a telescope if it weren’t for the ’roids.
But can we all please acknowledge once and for all that the Patriots’ home movies of the Jets’ sideline can’t possibly have had any impact on their 9-0 record or run to perfection? I’m not defending the Pats in any way. They’re guilty, they cheated and they’ve received the most severe penalty in the history of the game. But can anyone possibly be naive or vindictive enough to delude themselves into thinking that, if this club does in fact turn out to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, teams of all time, it was impacted in any way by a video camera?
There’s something you all better get used to. I don’t care how much you dislike, distrust or disrespect Bill Belichick — and I’ll grant you he gives you more than his fair share of reasons to take pause — but if the Pats pull off an undefeated run and claim their fourth NFL title in the last seven seasons, leaving us no reason to doubt the possibility of two or three more rings after that in the Brady-Belichick era, then Belichick is the only guy in the game today, or retired from the game, with a chance to join my list of six true NFL legends. That may bother you, but tell me how it’s not true?
As for Shula, whom I still admire and respect as much as anyone I’ve ever met, and his ’72 Dolphins, they set the standard for greatness and perfection. The only thing they can possibly do to tarnish that feat is to belittle or disrespect someone else’s efforts rather than admire them. Who knows if the Patriots will get it done? But in the meantime, if they want to remain golden, they should try silence.
