"people who only want to cheer for choir boys" is an issue for me. And the reason is because they almost always are under a false premise, a false premise which is largely summed up with "not even all choir boys are choir boys" (and some portrayed as non choir boys are actually closer to choir boys than is known). Anyone who thinks the Patriots have or do field only players that are "decent human beings" are living in a fool's paradise. They either don't know or don't want to know of the very real underbelly of sports as well as some of the players (and coaches) out on the field/standing on the sideline. But for me it goes even further than that. Some players come from the very roughest places and/or under most difficult upbringing circumstances. What is a "decent human being" will have different meaning to someone raised in circumstances that are, to put it nicely, terribly rough. So maybe their reference point of "decent" isn't the same as yours or mine, does that make them reprehensible that is irredeemable? I don't know much of Britt's actions (just the headlines) but he has done some things that are concerning. Yet to the best of my knowledge he hasn't tied an old lady to the train tracks or burned down an orphanage. So, and admittedly this is subjective and just IMHO, the better story to root for is someone given an opportunity for redemption and succeeds at it. Kind of a 'It's A Wonderful Life' except with law breaking, tackling dummies, touchdowns and an injury list.
Regarding laundry versus the player? It's a good philosophical discussion that is far too deep for the amount of, what I'll call, special holiday witch's brew egg nog I've already had
