Cookies are so much more entertaining than the old “You must care if you made a post” cliche.
I mean, yes, its true that I am deeply concerned about the air in Tom Bradys balls, but thats just coincidental.
I like the Pats, Brady, and Belichick, for the most part (although I’m not a Pats fan, I have divided loyalties between the Giants and Panthers (I’m a transplant)).
But I played for the Troy Patriots as a kid and I wore that uniform for a few years and that was enough to make me generally favorable towards them. Throw in the respect for what they’ve accomplished (a lot) and the fact that I’m more passionate about football than about ‘my’ team, and I basically enjoy them.
I don’t think spygate or Brady’s-Balls-Gate are that big of a deal. It’s pretty minor as far as cheating goes, and all teams engage in that kind of stuff to one degree or another.
But the whole attitude of nothing happened, or it’s not cheating if someone else does it, or of course some kid took Brady’s balls into the bathroom - that seems normal, is just crazy.
They broke some rules, they’ll have minor repurcussions, and the world will move on.[/
OK, so you DO care. just more of in a Gisele Bundchen way than a Troy Vincent way. Fair enough. Glad we cleared that up.
However, the point of discussion, I beleive, is the Troy Vincent way in terms of the Wells report and the hubris of certain Patriot fan posters here on the Dope.
The Gisele Bundchen way would be in Cafe Society (Gisele Bundchen dishes on how much air is in Tom Brady’s bals in an interview on ET tonight.) or maybe IMHO (Do you prefer Tom Brady’s balls over- or underinflated?) or MPSIMS (I must admit I am obsessed with the air in Tom Brady’s balls.). If it’s not already posted, feel free to post one of your own.
I don’t know who Troy Vincent is, and don’t care enough to find out.
But, does that mean I really do care? I post therefore I care? Its all so confusing.
But the fact that the balls in the Super Bowl were, without a doubt, inflated to regulation standards does preclude playing the “what if?” game.
What if Brady played with legitimate footballs inflated to regulation standards?
He did beat the greatest defense of his generation in the Super Bowl, engineering the largest 4th-quarter comeback in Super Bowl history.
There’s no “what if?” involved.
Then you should have said that to Stringbean when he brought up the deign thing. I said something because no one else did.
And any “headache” you get reading my posts is your own fault. As soon as you see it’s something you don’t care about, skip it. It’s the Pit. I’m not posting based on what other people want to see.
And, Stringbean, you seem to have a problem separating the narrator from the hypothetical person you are describing. You were being condescending, yes. But you were complaining about people who didn’t give genuine apologies. And a condescending apology is not genuine. I do not believe you would have been happy with a pity apology.
And that’s the last I’ll say, lest kayaker’s lack of self-control give him another metaphorical headache. 
I know very little about football, and I regard that as a minor personal failing, just as my inability to remember who acted or directed particular movies is a minor personal failing. When I told my students about this scandal this morning, I kept using wrong words–“They only used the deflated balls when it was, uh, their turn?” and students laughed at me and corrected me (“possession,” right?)
My hobbies are absofuckinglutely not cooler than being a football fan.
And the dude cheated. I know this not because I’ve analyzed the reports, but because the heads of the game say so. It ain’t up to Elvis or anyone else to determine what comprised cheating.
Mostly I’m familiar with Elvis from the 2008 Democratic primary, where his support for Clinton was so scathingly, dishonestly obnoxious that it made it hard for me to realize that not all Clinton supporters were awful. I see he hasn’t changed.
Isn’t it common courtesy to give people a heads up when you pit them? This is the first time I’ve opened the pit in over a month and just happened to see my name at the top of the OP. Drop me a line next time.
I’ll try to clarify my position, so at least you can see where I’m coming from:
I view all these “cheating” scandals as irrelevant minutia, and find the sanctimonious butthurt outrage to be laughably embarrassing. As in, I find myself embarrassed to be a football fan. I also find the outrage remarkably hypocritical, since people seem to only ever be outraged at the Patriots.
In the tier of “totally irrelevant, not even worth a second thought” I would put:
- Opening the doors in the old Giants Stadium during opponent field goal attempts. (heh)
- Piping in extra crowd noise (Falcons this year, possibly Seahawks in previous years?)
- GMs texting coaches on the sidelines during games (Browns)
- Filming defensive signals during games (Patriots)
- Deflating the balls by a little bit (Patriots) - this would be the least serious of all, IMO
In the tier of “actually potentially damaging to the league” I would classify:
- Violating the salary cap (Broncos, 49ers)
- Tampering (49ers, Jets, Lions, Patriots)
- Steroids (Seahawks secondary, plus every team in the league)
Somewhere in between I’d put bountygate. (Saints) I don’t see anything inherently wrong with having a pool, but I do see it as distasteful.
Note that the Broncos share something in common with the Patriots in that both of their “if you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’” efforts came in the same era as they were winning Superbowls.
That’s really just some background. I view all the Patriot hate (Cheatriots!!!) as making a mountain out of a molehill, and the over-the-top outrage gives me uncontrollable douche chills.
I will, of course, concede the larger point of the OP: This molehill was indeed confirmed to be an actual molehill, and not completely unfounded.
To SenorBeef specifically, in trying to figure out why your outrage at the Patriots was so vastly higher than what was warranted, the only guess I could come up with was that you have a grudge against Belichick. If you don’t, and your outrage level really truly was just a rational response to the situations, then I have to say I think you’re batshit crazy.
Are the Browns also scumbags? The GM is suspended for 4 games for cheating.
For the record, I’m a Giants fan.
Self-righteous rant?
“…they’re fine for entertainment,…”
Well, for what other utility do you envision sports?
Also, if I hear another person espouse the rote mantra “grown men tossing a ball around,” I’m gonna…well…just ignore that idiot.
I didn’t really care about spygate. I didn’t participate in those threads very much and there was almost no outrage coming from me. I assume you’re misremembering or mistaking me for someone else.
I was mostly annoyed with the repeated argument of “it’s not cheating because there’s no advantage gained, there’s nothing you can film from the press box [or wherever the illegal filming happened] that you can’t film legally from elsewhere” - to which my response was, quite reasonably, if they felt there was no advantage to be gained, but there was a risk of getting caught (as they had been previously warned), then why do it? They must think they were getting some sort of advantage.
That’s the biggest “outrage” you can find from me on the spygate issue.
What? He was suspended for personal conduct, but I don’t think anyone thinks he was trying to cheat. I’m not finding the exact content of the texts online (I don’t know if it was ever released) but it was basically catty bitching at Kyle Shanahan because those two had a feud going. Not some sort of super secret information. I’m not actually sure why that rule exists, actually. Is the GM prevented from having any input on gameday in general?
Ignoring me would be better than having to respond and show your reading comprehension. I already explained what I meant. It’s a sad demonstration of motivated thinking, bias, and tribalism that people get so delusional over something that’s ultimately inconsequential to their worldview. It leaves little hope that anyone can change their mind to accept reality on matters of consequence.
Sports are fine, just fine for entertainment. For curing encephalopathy, world hunger, economic disparity, racism, Addison’s, Chron’s, it sucks.
Well, Mr. Mince, it’s a sure good thing we don’t rely on sports to cure such things.
Back from RL now.
Just for reference, y’all, this site is pretty comprehensive. Take a look and let us all know what you conclude.
I do like Wells’ story about how this episode came to be:
“Everyone knows …” :rolleyes:
Yes, the NFL has its share of 13 year olds. Just like this board does.
Playing smugly superior only works as a rhetorical tactic if someone on the planet will buy it. With you being a very unselfaware twat, I guess someone has to tell you that is not the case.
Nothing you said actually addresses the charge leveled against you. If you thought it was so unimportant, why did you feel the need to ridicule Hector for it? You don’t get to say it’s unimportant because you lost.
You guys decided to Pit Hentor in the Games Room. He’s at least nice enough to put the insults in the right forum.
Yep, *lots *of 13 year olds here. 
It’s always annoying when people are too oblivious to understand how badly they’re coming off.
For me, that makes it a hell of a lot more fun. You really can’t buy comedy like this.
Did you check out the linked compendium of cheating he pointed to? Look at the section on deflategate - it’s so apparent that the whole endeavor is the product of a seething Patriots homer trying desperately to salvage his pathetic self-worth that it is hilarious!
Here’s a pat on the head, kid. Now go do your homework. :rolleyes:
It certainly is. 
Except when it’s entertaining. For which, thanks, btw.