Spygate, Deflategate, The Patriots, and Roger Goodell

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.

Kraft, Belichick, Brady, and All That Hot Air

It so happens that I was fortunate (?) enough to turn on my TV yesterday morning just as Patriots owner Robert "I Like White Collars On My Blue Dress Shirts" Kraft addressed the assembled media in Boston, after which Coach Belichick took to the mic.  It was classic stuff, and I am not sure that I have witnessed anything quite like it since this guy was addressing the news media on a seemingly daily basis:

"Do you know who I am?"

Well, I am not going go into a lot of detail as to what was said.  If you are interested in the topic, you've read and heard it all already, but here is my take on Kraft's scorched earth blast against Roger Goodell and the NFL.  Here in Pittsburgh, if you are old enough, you have heard tree generations of Rooneys talk about how the overall interests of the National Football League are far more important than the interests of any one individual franchise.  It seems to have been a sound way to do business and it has certainly served to make the NFL the most powerful and successful sports league in America, if not the entire world.  Kraft sure thumbed his nose at that notion in his diatribe yesterday.  If the "League Comes First" attitude of the Rooneys and Maras still exists out there among the other 31 lodge brothers that comprise NFL ownership, it would seem that Robert Kraft may find himself all alone on an island, and he may be fighting a very lonely battle out there.  Roger Goodell's father was a US Senator, and I am sure that he taught young Roger that before you do anything big, be sure that you have the votes, and I am guessing that Roger Goodell "has the votes" from among his bosses.

A few months ago I might have thought that Goodell would lose his job over his handling of this (and other) issues(s).  Now, I wouldn't bet against him.

The other part of that press conference was Bill Belichick being Bill Belichick.  He answered questions for about ten minutes and this was the sum and substance of it:

• "That issue has already been addressed."
• "We're here to start training camp and get ready for the 2015 season."
• "Everybody will get the same number of reps in training camp.  That's what training camp is for."

He never once mentioned the name of any player, including You-Know-Who.  

I know that we are not supposed to like Bill Belichick, and I know all the reasons for it, but I have to say that I came away from that performance of his yesterday with a grudging admiration for him.  He seems to be telling us (although who really knows what he thinks) that he is a football coach, plain and simple.  He doesn't give a shit about any of these outside distractions, he really doesn't give a shit about who his players are, he just wants to get to training camp and prepare for the next game.  There is something to be said for that.

As for Brady, I think we can all agree that his punishment does not fit his crime, and that this whole thing could have been reduced or even avoided entirely with a mere slap on the wrists to those involved if all parties had reacted just a bit differently.  However, Tom Brady has shown himself to be just another spoiled "Me-First" jock with a monstrous sense of entitlement.  By God, he wasn't going to give in because "I am Tom Brady", and he has cooked his own goose because of it.  I don't really care what happens to him.  As for the destruction of his cell phone, this has become the 2015 version of Rosemary Woods' missing seventeen minutes of audio tape.

The story isn't over, as injunctions and lawsuits are sure to follow, and a lot of lawyers will get rich.  As for me, I can't make any promises, but I am not so sure how much I am going to write about this in the weeks and months ahead.  I've had my say.

Selected Sports Subjects

A quick whirl around the wide, wide world of sports.....

Time to weigh in on the subject of the nickname of the NFL's Washington DC franchise.  How anyone, Daniels Snyder and son-of-a-US-Senator Roger Goodell especially, can defend a name as pejorative as "Redskins" as an honorable tribute to the heritage of American Indians is at best a joke, and is in actuality an embarrassment and a disgrace.  Many of you have probably received the supposed-to-be-funny email circulating that defends the "Redskins" name by attacking the entire concept of political correctness, but, really, do the folks sending that out REALLY think it is okay to bandy about a terms like "Redskins"?  In the year of Our Lord 2014? Wow.

The sad irony is that Snyder and the NFL will inevitably give in and change the nickname, not because it is the right thing to do, but because they will realize how much money can be made from merchandise sales when a new nickname is put in place.

I am not so certain where names such as "Braves", "Warriors", "Chiefs", and "Indians" fall in this discussion.  They seem less offensive, if not inoffensive, to me, but, then again I am not a Native American, so perhaps I'm not qualified to judge. That said, even if the name is okay, the Indian-head logo of the Cleveland Indians really has to go. 

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The Steelers, in the person of Heinz Field Operations Manager and mouthpiece Jimmy Sacco, have weighed in on the pigsty that Luke Bryan concert attendees turned the Heinz Field parking lots into last Saturday.  In case you missed it....

The word coming down from on high is that it wasn't so bad, not nearly as bad as last year's Kenny Chesney concert (now THERE'S a great argument!), and anyway, look how much in tax revenue was collected by the City.  The Mayor's Office responded with words to the effect that a just because one pays taxes, it doesn't give you the right to turn city property into a waste dump and an open public toilet.

I think this is one instance where the Steelers should have just kept their mouths shut.

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Belated congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs for their thoroughly dominating beat down of the Miami Heat in the recently concluded NBA Finals.  Winning four games out of five with each win having a greater than 15 point margin of victory, the Spurs left no doubt as to who the best team was in the NBA Playoffs.  

This was the Spurs fifth NBA title in the last fifteen seasons (and they were so close to winning it last year, too).  The term "dynasty" is not undeserved when discussing the Spurs of the Greg Popovich Era.  And is not Tim Duncan the most underated, unappreciated "great" player of his generation, if not of all time?  And you could ask the same question about Greg Popovich as well.

The Spurs seem to be getting a bit long in the tooth, so who knows how long this run will continue, but it sure has been a great one.

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Speaking of the NBA, the playoffs really brought the LeBron James haters out in full force.  Not sure I understand the enmity that is out there towards James (other than in the City of Cleveland, of course), but it is only going to get worse now that he has elected to opt out of his contract in Miami - which, I remind you, he has every right to do (as he did when he left Cleveland in 2010) - and become a free agent.  The pursuit and eventual landing spot of LeBron James will no doubt completely dominate off-season basketball news.

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Barring any rain outs, the Pirates will reach the literal half-way mark of the 2014 season at the conclusion of Saturday's game.  They currently sit at 39-39, and there is some stat out there that tells you that they have had the best or second best record in the National League since May 1.  They are not the team we saw last season, to be sure, but neither are they the team of the twenty seasons previous to last year.  There are areas of concern, but it really isn't a sinking ship or a lost cause at PNC Park, either.

They are going to make it interesting for fans in the second half.  Making the Post-Season will not be easy, but it is far from a lost cause at this point.  

What Will Roger Do

It was announced today that the Indy Colts hired disgraced former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel to work as a reply review coach to work in the booth at their games. Recall that Hangin' Judge Roger Goodell suspened Terrelle Pryor for five games for something that he did as a college player. That Goodell could do that is of dubious legality, but the NFLPA rolled over without protest. Now the question is should the same justice prevail for the college coach who allowed Pryor and his teammates to run roughshod over the NCAA rulebook? Seems to me that the NFLPA had better scream bloody murder unless Tressel is allowed anywhere near a Colts game, or a Colts paycheck, for the same five games that Pryor will spend in NFL purgatory.

Roger Goodell has done what I thought was impossible and pit me in a position to semi-defend Terrelle Pryor.