Deflategate: You Hate Us ‘Cause You Ain’t Us
Yes, I’m a New England Patriots fan. I’ve been one since before they were the dynasty they are today. I sat in the rain in Foxboro before it was Gillette Stadium. I watched Steve Grogan, John Hannah and Mosi Tatupu on the field. Later it was Tony Eason, Irving Fryer and New England’s beloved Doug Flutie on the field as I sat on the cold metal bleachers. I know the Patriots fought long and hard to get where they are today. That’s why ridiculousness like ‘Deflategate’ really ticks me off.
As of this writing, there is absolutely no proof that anyone on the New England Patriots did anything underhanded to cause a weight discrepancy in 11 of the 12 of the referee approved footballs used in the first half of Sunday’s decisive win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game. The Patriots scored 17 points in the first half, Brady only completing 11 of 21 passes with under inflated balls that supposedly were giving him an advantage. In the second half, with the offending balls replaced by officials the Patriots scored 28 points and Brady was 12 for 14 in passing. By the way, if all the points made in the first half of the game were declared null and void due to the issue the Patriots still would have beat Indy, since the defense held the Colts to a mere 7 points in the game. For those of you out there on the “they won cause they cheated” bandwagon, the defense isn’t impacted by the inflation ratio of footballs. When you look at the numbers, it appears that the under inflated footballs hurt New England more than it did Indy. Heck, I’m thinking the score could have been something like 66–7.
So why is everyone from Troy Aiken to the writers at Slate chiming in like the rest of the overly emotional Patriots haters out there? The phrase “You hate us ‘cause you ain’t us” makes the most sense. Especially when you consider the fact that there are other teams in the NFL that have had issues in the not so distant past.
Seattle was caught with a record number of suspensions for the use of performance enhancing drugs. Then there was the totally unsportsman-like brawl between the Giants and the Rams that resulted in nine players being fined (did concerned parents ask how to explain that to their kids?). In 2004 it was the Broncos being penalized for violating the salary cap. And lest we forget, in 2012 the New Orleans Saints had ‘Bountygate’ in which they were found guilty of setting up a bounty program to pay for injuring opponents.
So why is it that the New England Patriots are the team that gets the rap of being ‘cheaters’?
Yeah, I know, Spygate. But that’s not fair either, not when other coaches admit that the only difference between the Patriots and other teams is that they got caught. And there’s plenty of indication that it had been going on for quite some time across the league. Former coach Jimmy Johnson said :
“Eighteen years ago a scout for the Chiefs told me what they did, and he said what you need to do is just take your camera and you go and zoom in on the signal caller and that way you can sync it up. The problem is that if they’re not on the press box side you can’t do it from the press box, you have to do it from the sideline. This was 18 years ago.”
The general public doesn’t care about educating themselves about it. Most of them that sound the cheaters cry about the Pats don’t even realize that the NFL had only just sent out a memo letting teams know that videotaping signals would no longer be tolerated. Were the Patriots wrong to disregard the memo? Of course they were, and that’s why they were fined and lost a first round draft pick, not because they were the only team stealing signals, or even the only team using videotape to do so.
In reality not colored by emotion, the Patriots are no bigger ‘cheaters’ than any other team in the NFL. Some players and coaches are honest enough to admit it. The difference is that they win. Consistently. Sometimes miraculously. And that puts the target directly on their backs. Because people, from mouthy former quarterbacks to that neighbor who cheers for another team, wish that they were that consistent too. And since they aren’t, well then, there has to be another reason for all that success.
At this point, fans like me are used to the hate and unfairness. Sure, it bothers us that because of it New England never seems to get the respect it deserves, nor does Tom Brady. If it were any other team in the NFL dealing with the ridiculousness of deflated game balls, it would be being shrugged off as a mistake made by the officials or the fact that the refs check the psi indoors where it’s warmer, causing cooler temps outdoors to cause deflation. But this is the Patriots, the team so many love to hate simply because they are that good.
