Yeah, I know the Super Bowl is in the rearview, but I wanted to talk for a minute about ‘deflate-gate”. You remember that…the issue that everyone was talking about for the 2 weeks leading up to the game…where the Patriots were caught with footballs that were under-inflated, so they be thrown and caught more easily? Now, I’m not a huge fan of the Pats, although I don’t hate Tom Brady like many people apparently do, but I couldn’t get worked up over this non-event.
If it’s eventually proven that Brady or coach Bill Belichik knew what was going on, it might change my opinion somewhat, but as it’s been said many times, “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”
I’ve either been playing or watching sports since I can remember and I can’t think of a sport where someone doesn’t try to get an advantage of their opponents either by bending or breaking the rules. Here’s a few examples…..
Baseball – The Neighborhood Play – where the middle infielder comes close to tagging the bag for a force-out but never really touches the base.
Also….signs. Signs are hidden by the coaches and catchers because they assume the other team is trying to steal them. But…if you’re caught trying to steal them, then people get mad at you!!
Football – The clock’s running down and you don’t have any timeouts left…what do you do? Fake an injury…fall to the ground. You’ll be penalized 10 seconds…but at least the clock stops
NASCAR – If you ain’t rubbin, you ain’t racin. How many of your favorite drivers have been penalized cash or points because their car failed inspection after a race? Just about all of them, that’s who. Do they set the cars up illegally on purpose?….of course…they just hope not to get caught.
Little League Baseball – a Chicago team just had their title taken away because they brought in players from outside their district to help them to victory. And do I have to remind you of the player from a few years ago that was 14 but everyone claimed he was 12 so he could play?
Cycling – pretty much every Tour de France winner for the past 30 years has been under suspicion or found guilty of blood doping or other forms of cheating.
I won’t even bring up steroids or other performance enhancing drugs…that’s too easy.
Does everyone cheat? No. Some sports are worse than others…and in some, like Golf, you’re supposed to report your own rules violations…which most golfers do. The bottom line is that most fans know their teams or sports heroes try to get any advantage they can, and sometimes rules get in the way. If it’s your team, you’ll probably give them a pass. If it’s a team that lots of people hate….oh, like the Patriots…then everybody will want heads to roll.
