Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots shady ways are doing more damage to the game than people think.
The year was 1989. People across the nation were still shocked upon hearing the latest bombshell surrounding baseball.
Pete Rose, the MLB hit king and current manager of his Cincinnati Reds, agreed to be placed on baseball’s permanent ineligible list in August due to allegations that he bet on games.
Fans of “Charlie Hustle” were deeply saddened and crushed.
To think the man who defined an era with his Baseball IQ and fan-favorite ways would now suddenly be a stranger to the game he was so identified with was a notion that many couldn’t wrap their heads around.
However, fans also knew that the one thing you don’t even think about messing around with is the integrity of the game. So the fact that then commissioner Bart Giammati did what he had to was completely understandable.
After all, it was Rose himself who dug such a deep hole. If it hadn’t been for his own web of lies and deceit he’d be sitting in the Hall of Fame right now.
Despite the controversy surrounding former Chicago White Sox superstar “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, he too was granted the same fate Rose was.
The one thing you cannot afford to do as an athlete or coach in any sport is compromise the integrity of the game. It is the one golden rule above all else, and always will be.
Think about the consequences.
The way sports has become a regular cash cow through gambling from coast to coast, country to country, is something that cannot afford a break in integrity. The explosion of Fantasy Sports has made the business ridiculously green.
People go nuts with conspiracy theories when nothing real is present. Imagine the fallout to come when certain people or events could be questioned with concrete evidence available.
Mayhem would ensue the very moment people start to think the game is not being played on the level.
The NFL, MLB and NBA would cease to be a sport. Instead they would move into the Sports Entertainment category.
The NBA had to deal with this several years ago with referee Tim Donaghy. For months on end it was a nightmare for the sport that had already been questioned so often, especially as it relates to the Draft Lottery. The New York Knicks in 1985 still remain suspect.
The only thing leagues want to do when faced with these sticky situations is dismiss and throw it away as soon as possible. The quicker, the better.
The NFL took “the quicker the better” motto as it related to “Spygate” back in 2007 as their “duck and hide” strategy was on full display.
The fact that nobody had the opportunity to actually view the infamous tapes in the league’s possession poured an outcry of epic proportion. To think that a Super Bowl contestant would actually face allegations about spying and videotaping their opponents’ walk-through prior to the game, and not have that tape available for the public to see is mind boggling.
The duck and hide strategy the league took at that time will forever allow questions to remain. It will also now create more suspicion in New England’s direction anything simple comes to question.
“Deflate-Gate” cannot be shrugged off as no big deal.
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me multiple times…shame on you (or something like that).
The pure repetitiveness of unsavory actions pointed in the direction of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady cannot be a coincidence.
For all those New England supporters out there, ask yourself this one question: if jealousy or hatred is the reason why everybody is out to get your Pats, then how come Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys of the 90’s, John Elway’s Denver Broncos of the late 90’s, or Bill Walsh’s San Francisco 49ers of the 80’s have never had to face these questions of this magnitude?
The Patriots believe they are above the law and feel they can do whatever they want, pure and simple.
It’s further destroying the integrity of sports.
What is the WWE and professional wrestling? It’s a scene of phenomenal athletes put on a stage to act out a scenario. Their high-flying, sometimes brutal actions are noteworthy and spectacular. It’s a spectacle that leaves real bumps, bruises and scars…yet isn’t a real sport because the contest is predetermined.
At the rate Belichick and Brady want to push the envelope, the NFL could join the Sports Entertainment category by the year 2020.
What is so different about the actions of both Pete Rose and Bill Belichick?
Rose bet on games. While he claims he never bet against his own team and only for his team, he’s a liar and cannot be trusted. Belichick and the Pats organization was caught red-handed by the league eight-years ago and yet Belichick wasn’t banned from football?
Both men compromised the integrity of the game in major ways. Many could actually argue that Belichick’s offense was far worse as it directly effected the outcome of games while Rose only looked for personal gain.
Don’t read that last paragraph and say to yourself what Belichick did wasn’t that bad. Also do not try to rationalize it by claiming that “everybody else did it too.” If it wasn’t that bad and was such a common practice around the league, then the Pats and Belichick wouldn’t have been fined $750,000 in total (the league maximum as they initially shot higher) and docked a first-round pick.
The league wouldn’t have destroyed the evidence if it wasn’t “that bad.” They simply took the quick and easy route as the alternative was revealing to the world that their three-time Super Bowl Champions cheated in a terrible fashion.
The NFL’s hiding of their original major infraction has created an even stickier situation.
Now, even after Belichick knows the entire league is after him and he will forever have a target on his back, Deflate-Gate reveals itself.
Rose, 25-years later, is still waiting for that magical day for which he can receive that phone call to the hall. He is finally contrite and fully-admits his errors, and yet he is still shut out.
Belichick on the other hand is still defiant and self-righteous. He will deny, deny and deny some more just like Rose did throughout all these years.
Ask yourselves if what Rose did was worse than what Belichick has done.
Or could it simply be a difference in philosophy and heavy-hand shown by each sport and commissioner. The only way to put an end to having the public question the integrity of the game is to lay the hammer down hard.
Bart Giamatti got it right while Roger Goodell has yet to get a clue.