Over/Under on How Many Games Before Brady Gets "Theismanned"

Cat. RM95 does have a valid point about going for it on 4th down. But you also have to realize that even IF the patriots weren't doing this, he still wouldn't like them. It is extra fuel to his agenda to hate all good teams and all teams who get more press than others. Some people are like that. Plus the Patriots represent Boston and he's still probably upset about the Red Sox winning the series (since they get so much press). I don't know the guy, but i'm guessing i'm right.

 

No, I wouldn't go that far, obviously.

I'm not sure I'd do the same things the Pats do with a lead like that....but I don't view it as all that evil. But I feel entirely different about it when you're talking about guys who aren't playing for a living.

 

I just don't understand how one thing can be considered unsportsmanlike on all levels until they become professional. Bad sportsmanship is bad sportsmanship regardless of whether or not they're receiving a paycheck. To me, if you're arguing that it's OK for the Patriots to keep their starters in when they're up 40 something points, while continuing to pass the ball and go for it on 4th down, then it's OK for the Texas Longhorns to do it or the Katy Tigers to do it.

I think it's terrible sportsmanship and I hope they aren't rewarded for that.

 

Since you have my life figured out, anything else you want to key me in on? You seem pretty obsessed first with my love life and now my rooting interests.

Just to educate your moronic ass, I've always rooted for the Patriots over the Colts and I've never hated on them. That's until they were caught cheating and decided to use that to motivate them to be unsportsmanlike, despite their punishment being pretty much a slap on the wrist. The fact that they didn't have to forfeit the game and Belichick wasn't suspended is a joke in and of itself.

I guarandamtee you if the Rockets were up 40 points in the 4th quarter and still had all their starters in jacking threes, I'd be embarassed as hell. We try to teach our kids to be good winners and not sore losers, yet we have people applauding what the Patriots are doing. It's mindboggling.

 

I've never seen it proven (other than message board theorists) that the Patriots are using the scandal to motivate their drive this season. I certainly don't think it's that. I think it's the way last season ended. They were a better team than the Colts, but uncharacteristically beat themselves when it counted (primarily Belichick and Reche Caldwell). That led to an overhaul of the receiving corps and all the money they spent in free agency. The Patriots don't lose games the way they did, and to me that's the fuel that's set the table for this. The scandal is slightly more recent, though, so that's what people focus on.

 

What are they supposed to say? No, we could care less if you attack our coach, the guy that's brought us three championships?

The point is that the dominance of the current Patriots season -- including the mentality and the killer instinct -- was set in motion in late January.

 

You made a snide little quip about my take instead of addressing it.

Yeah, and I admitted I was an ass and apologized. I didn't try to make excuses for my assholish behavior much like many of you are doing for the Patriots.

 

Yet, two of Patriots admit that they're extra motiviated because their head coach is a cheater. Proven to you right after you asked where that take was coming from.

 

And the best thing we can do to take up for our coach is to just keep on winning.

So I guess you think they weren't trying to win before? The point of this, I thought, was that some people argued that the Patriots' blowout wins were a result of playing "extra hard" for Belichick. Nowhere in those quotes does it say that. It says they're trying to win... which I'm taking a wild guess is what they would've done anyway.

 

I didn't think I needed to elaborate more, but sure, I'll address it. The offense's goal, in football, is to score. Nowhere in the rulebook does it say to stop at a certain score -- perhaps someone should inform the Titans/Oilers franchise of that. Also, while I take football seriously, it's still just a game. Fans are paying hundreds of dollars to watch something entertaining, not to run the clock out with 15 minutes left in the game. I don't have a problem at any level with a team going for fourth and inches in the fourth quarter, but I recognize that's not the point. The biggest issue: it's legal and not at all outlawed by the NFL rulebook.

Taunting, on the other hand, is defined as a penalty and ruled illegal by the rulebook. As a result, there's an inherent huge gap between the two.

 

So, you have no problem with, say, the Cubs stealing a base in the 9th inning in a game at MMP where they're up 13-2? None at all?

There's also no rule in the NCAA or UIL or youth football saying it's illegal to run up the score, yet most people agree that it's wrong on those levels.

 

I covered the Astros for most of this season... if that logic holds true, I hope no one ever questions anything I say about the team ever again.

Sports journalists, by and large, overplay the emotion angle of games, because it's what sells stories. I can't tell you how many people in the Astros clubhouse laughed at certain writers (I'll give a hint: one is a certain columnist in Austin) whose postgame questions always consisted of questions about "energy," "passion" and "being flat." The reality, of course, was that the 2007 Astros just weren't that good from a talent perspective. But that's not what makes interesting stories.

It's the same principle here. The reality is that the 2007 Patriots are an incredible team from a talent perspective, and their play on the field reflects that. But it's much easier (and makes for more interesting stories) to make a huge dramatic scene out of emotion and mentality. It takes a whole lot more than the opinion of one sports journalist for me to believe that.

 

If the opinion of one sports journalist automatically makes it true, I don't want to see anyone b****ing about Richard Justice ever again.

 

No one is saying that it's the only reason, but if you're going to deny that they aren't using that as extra motivation, you've been proven wrong already.

 

THERE ARE ACTUAL QUOTES FROM THE PLAYERS.