New England Patriots' hilarious, historic Super Bowl loss a karmic blow against cheating - a la Wie & Bonds
Add commentsWatching Bill Belichick slink off the field with two seconds still left on the clock, failing at even his lame attempt at sportsmanship (he congratulated Giants coach Tom Coughlin, but couldn’t stick around for one final snap? - even Randy Moss stuck around to the end this time), in his Super loss had to be one of the most just sights in sports in a good decade. Easy.
Let’s face it, cheaters often win in sports.
The Patriots came close too. They almost cheated their way into the record books, almost destroyed Mercury Morris’ life by going undefeated. The NFL alarmingly and frighteningly easily blocked Belichick from the label he deserves by destroying evidence and doing its best to make sure none of its TV voices spent much time talking about the secret taping that apparently goes back to at least the eve of the Pats’ first Super Bowl win.
A surprisingly gutless Joe Buck and Troy Aikman didn’t mention SpyGate during FOX’s Super Bowl telecast - not even the new revelation that St. Louis Rams believe their last walkthrough before their Super Bowl loss to the Patriots was taped - and you can bet no one would have brought it up if that planned Boston parade had gone ahead as plotted.
No, the NFL did a great job of squashing something that should be as big as the NBA gambling referee scandal.
Only, the Patriots still blinked on the big stage, Golden Boy Tom Brady included.
Sometimes there is justice in sports. And it’s not only sweet, it’s funny.
It makes you think of other recent instances when athletes tried to get away with something and still failed. Doesn’t it sure seem like Michelle Wie’s already-winless career took a steep dive after she took that illegal drop and then all her fawning minions tried to villify a Sports Illustrated reporter for it? Not that Wie’s drop was premeditated or anywhere close to as egregious as Belichick’s video taping.
But it still makes you go Hmmm …
And how about Barry Bonds? Sure, he smashed the home run record. But he came as close as you could possibly come to winning the World Series a few years before, was surely certain he had that ring, and still lost it.
Now Belichick and Brady (who’s not so innocent if he benefited from the cheating), the most poetic justice of all.
Of course, it’s still hard to explain Roger Clemens’ sweet ride.
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Jason Scott Deegan:
The Accidental Golfer:
Katharine Dyson:
Kiel Christianson:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-betting4feb04,1,4221125.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
"The big underdog payoff for the Giants money-line backers meant a huge loss for Vegas," R.J. Bell of Pregame.com said.
"Some reports had over 90% of the money-line bets backing the Giants."
The only thing I would add is that the sweetness of this justice was made all the better by two ironic facts. It was a New York team that was cheated on and a New York team that delivered the justice (I know the Jets and Giants are considered by many as bitter rivals, but not as much as the NY and Boston rivalry has been). The other fact is that it was defensive play calling that really beat the Patriots last night, the very thing Belechik was video-taping in the season opener.
I don't even like the Patriots, but this is just silliness...