NFL playoffs - Who are you rooting for?

[Telemark]

@Telemark

I’m rooting for the Pats, because I’m a Pats fan. I don’t think their chances are very good this year, but I’ll still hold out hope.

If not the Pats, I’ll hope for the Bills to finally win one, or the Saints.

OK, I’m out.

[Harrington]

@Telemark

OK, I’m out.

I had a six-game football parlay bet in Vegas. I lost all six games. The sports book wouldn’t listen to my reasoning that picking six losers was as improbable as picking six winners. Congratulations.

[Bullitt]

@Telemark

If not the Pats, I’ll hope for the Bills to finally win one…

@Telemark

OK, I’m out.

There’s still the Vikings and the Chiefs to root for. They haven’t won a Super Bowl.

ETA: More recently, you can add the Titans and the Texans too.

ETA2: And like the Bills, the Vikings have also lost four.

[Telemark]

@Bullitt

There’s still the Vikings and the Chiefs to root for. They haven’t won a Super Bowl.

The Chiefs won SB IV. I guess I can root for the Vikings now, or Garapalo and the 49ers.

[Bullitt]

Cool. I especially like your 49ers pick! BTW about that Super Bowl IV win by the Chiefs, that was over the Vikings. I’m not old enough to have watched and remembered that one, though. The first one I watched and remember is Super Bowl VI, Dallas 24-3 over Miami.

Back to Super Bowl IV, the Vikings QB then was Joe Kapp, the only QB to ever start a Rose Bowl, a Grey Cup, and a Super Bowl. There’s some trivial trivia for you.

Joe Kapp’s brother used to own and operate a bar and pizza joint called Kapp’s in downtown Mountain View CA. Joe Kapp is a local but I haven’t met him. Not yet.

[Atamasama]

@Great_Antibob

Spygate was not good but also not as huge a deal as it was made out to be and is now more than a decade in the past (other teams really were doing this, including my own probably).

More than a decade ago?! Well, if you mean last decade, sure, but it was less than a month ago.

Sources: NFL to discipline Pats for video violation

It’s like they don’t even know how to stop. Cheating is like heroin to them.

[Great_Antibob]

@Atamasama

More than a decade ago?! Well, if you mean last decade, sure, but it was less than a month ago.

Yes, over a decade ago.

For what it’s worth, the explanation they provided on the tape of the Bengals seems legit - the coaching staff had no knowledge it happened, hadn’t seen any of the footage, and it was the result of the videographer messing up.

Should the Patriots have been that careless? Clearly not.
Should the Patriots have been given any benefit of the doubt? Clearly not (though it seems like there are now reports that the coaching staff has been found not to be involved).

Is Bill Belichick quite so dumb as to get somebody to cheat for him AFTER asking permission for that cameraman to be there? And in full presence of personnel from the teams being taped? I’m not ready to go so far as to suggest he’s that stupid. The Patriots get no benefit of the doubt but the circumstances don’t rise to the level where there is anything except doubt.

Should they be censured for what happened? Sure, but the idea that this amounts of actual cheating or that it conveyed any competitive advantage or that it happened regularly in the last several years rises to the level of conspiracy theory. I don’t like the team, but I’m not going to ignore the actual evidence either. They’ll get a fine, and that’ll be that.

[Atamasama]

But you gotta admit it’s pretty damn funny.

Especially since, of all teams this year, it was the Bengals.

[racepug]

@Great_Antibob

I know this is a ‘thing’ but seriously, Brady was a great QB for several years. Arguably still is though without a lot of support around him. And everybody, including their opponents, agrees Belichick knows what he’s doing as a coach.

Teams lose sometimes. Or have “down” seasons (but seriously, a lot of fanbases would be ecstatic with what is currently considered a ‘disappointing’ season in Foxborough). Teams sometimes don’t have a lot of pieces supporting their HOF QB. I don’t exactly root for the Patriots (actually I actively cheer for them to lose pretty much against everybody except the Cowboys) but by the same token, I’m not going to go full on conspiracy theory on them.

Spygate was not good but also not as huge a deal as it was made out to be and is now more than a decade in the past (other teams really were doing this, including my own probably). Inflategate was ridiculous and wouldn’t have given them a competitive advantage even if it turned out to be true (seriously, the PSI was in a reasonable range given the conditions). And this latest thing doesn’t make sense as a cheating strategy unless you either think Belichick has been hit in the head repeatedly or is needlessly playing 35th dimensional chess.

I’m with you. These controversies involving the Patriots - they’re not a “good look” but I hardly think that that team has been to 9 S.B.s and won 6 of them over the last 19 seasons only because they spied on a division rival one year and overly deflated a few footballs a few times.