History
Our friend, TMQ, has a chip on his shoulder regarding the legacy of the 2007 Patriots. In his opinion they will be forever tainted by the stigma of “Spygate”. Mostly, he contends, because the NFL did not fully investigate the issue. And in fact destroyed much of the evidence that was turned over to them. We here at TALB, on the other hand, think that it’s deeper, but less sinister than that.
The NFL does not have a problem meting out punishment. They do it all the time to players, teams, owners, GMs, and coaches. So if they had found that the Patriots had committed a gross offense against the rules, they would have taken action. The Patriots were stripped of their own first-round pick in this April’s draft, and there were fines as well. At HQ, we’ve come to the conclusion that the NFL found that the “scandal” was wide-spread. It wasn’t just the Patriots. And the more they dig, the more teams get caught up in the controversy. At some point, column-inches would be churned out lamenting the “loss of faith” in the NFL. That the nation’s most popular spectator sport couldn’t be trusted. Viewership would fall off, merchandising would decline, and the bottom would fall out of the “industry” that is the NFL. Some fraction of the fans would forever turn away from the game in disgust. If you’re Roger Goodell, you don’t like that one bit.
Here’s the less sinister part I was talking about. If the NFL says, “case closed”, sanctions the Patriots, and secretly sends out strongly worded warnings to each team they will all get the message. And the problem will go away. The NFL will continue to bathe in its riches, and the fans will be blissfully happy. Destroying the evidence was the only way the NFL could ensure that the truth never came to light. In the end though, does it really matter? The Patriots have won 18 games since their subterfuge was discovered, all 6 of the AFC’s playoff participants and 4 from the NFC entered the post-season with 10 or more wins, and 17 of 32 teams finished at .500 or better. They apparently were all able to win without spying on each other. Whatever spying was going on wasn’t impacting the outcomes of games as much as some would like to believe.
If the Patriots spying activities were such an advantage, why aren’t we talking about their second (or third or fourth) undefeated season? Because it didn’t help that much. And I suspect that the NFL found that the can of worms was just too large to open at this time. In the end, it’s just a sport after-all.
So, on Sunday TALB will be rooting for history. The crusty old men from South Florida have turned their record into some kind of birth-right. Most other sports stars are gracious when someone is about to eclipse their record. But not these clowns. Maybe it’s because for most of them, this is all they have left.
