Re: Gary Myers NY Daily News- Brady had a advantage against the Pathers
The team isn't going to go running around suing (I don't think,) because it fuels this crap, and because at the moment, the Pats "aren't there yet." I don't know that they ever get "there."
Bear in mind, there are 300 million people in the country, scads of news outlets, and a tradition of freedom of speech. The column that kicked off this thread is just one of many airing speculation to fill column inches and air with what people want to read and hear.
Also bear in mind that we know, from watching this from "the other end," that there are patterns one can see as they form and repeat.
One pattern is the "sore loser do-over" pattern. They hear that something "might" be amiss, or there was evidence of thing A happening, and d%#*!@t, they knew they should have won that game!
I've used the comparison of how we'd all feel if none of the "spygate" crap had happened, we'd gone 18-0, and then we found out there was some minor advantage the Giants got caught pursuing in game 1 of next season. EVERYBODY wants a second shot when they lose....
Now, that doesn't make this stupidity okay or correct. What it does is identifies a pattern, and the underlying causes. They are not interested in the "advantage" being major or actually fitting their particular complaint. They are interested in using the "Taint" to justify their own loss as not really a loss, and an unproveable "we shoulda won" is better than a definite "we lost."
Another pattern obvious from our vantage point and apparently not obvious to others, is that the bigger they are (like the Pats,) the more glee the media and other fans take in their downfall. The 2000s Pats are rightfully a glorious passage in the League's annals... but then, at the time, weren't some of us sick and freaking tired of the 90s Cowboys, or the 80's 49ers? I myself just HATED the '85 Bears (of course....) Now, though, we see the stories of those dynasties (or that great '85 Bears team,) and it's all in the part of our brain that loves the game and its history.
Pattern: We hate the biggest guy on the block, at the time, but just love having the collected history in our minds to look back at. Blandness across the league, and an endless parade of one-and-done champions, would bore the hell out of us.
But at the moment, oh how we love to watch the mighty fall!
Now shifting back to the "other" point of view... and here's what we PatsFans don't get...
None of these guys see themselves or their particular gripe as part of the general continuum of griping or the sore-loser approach.
They all see it as how the vast intricate (and who really has time for details?) evil Patriots cheating machine stole their own one moment of glory... Oh, they would have said it before, but nobody would have listened... finally, now it can be told!!! (if not in any way substantiated.)
I don't know how long this crap goes on, this round, but I do know this: Constant exposure in media correlates in the public mind with absolute proof that "there's something there." So be ready to read and hear stories for years, or forever, for that matter, about the whole "taint" thing.
Can you cope, as a Pats fan? Now this "taint" crap is attached to being a Pats fan. You can argue, you can scream, but you'll be outnumbered and outscreamed, forever. Once again, can you cope? It looks like we're all going to have to.
PS, a little good news is that you guys find or see an awful lot more Pats news than me down in the DC area. The details are never in the Post's sports pages, unless a fresh story (and a fairly real one) comes out. MASN (our version of NESN) isn't particularly focused on it... I see more college hoops than anything on the sports channels. Obviously I don't get the Globe or the Herald.
The NY papers, since the Jets started this crap, are another place you'll find the magnifying glass most in place.
Believe it or not, the news down here is "Jim Zorn??? WTF???"
PFnV
