Yes, like you, I am tired of all of the topics mentioned in the title of this post. That said, I cannot recommend highly enough hat you read the following article from ESPN's "Outside the Lines" investigative team.
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13533995/split-nfl-new-england-patriots-apart
It is an extremely lengthy article by reporters Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham, but it lays out in such detail the Patriots' history of cheating under Bill Belichick that it really prompts one to question the integrity of many of the games that they have played in the last 15 years. Until I read this article, I was among those who felt that the taping of the other teams' signals and the whining of teams defeated by the Pats over the years, and, yes, that includes our own Pittsburgh Steelers, were nothing but the the attempted justifications of poor losers. I don't feel quite that strongly now.
More disturbing was the actions of the National Football League and Roger Goodell and his minions during this period. They have given new definitions to the word "arrogance". As recently as July 30 I wrote in this blog that I would not bet against Goodell retaining his job over all of the deflategate nonsense. After reading this article, I honestly don't see how he can keep it, or how the thirty-two NFL owners could justify retaining him as Commissioner. His dealings with United States Senator Arlen Specter when the NFL was being threatened with a Congressional investigation were reprehensible.
And, of course, it goes back to the Patriots. The article concludes with a description of a party that owner Robert Kraft held at his estate this summer when the he brought in all of his players and coaches to distribute their Super Bowl rings and divide the spoils of yet another NFL Championship. It brought to mind these images of another meeting back in 1959:
It didn't end well for those guys either.
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