Response to Bill Simmons
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You make your bed - now you have to lie in it.
[1]Apparently Bill Simmons did not enjoy the Patriots dramatic win in Indianapolis last Sunday. The referees seemed to have an agenda to stop the New England juggernaut - making up calls, missing others and sometimes just plain screwing the poor Patriots with ridiculous ones. Patriot Nation was in a collective uproar over this travesty of justice.
On behalf of the rest of the world: Boo-flipping-hoo.
I enjoy the Sports Guy as much as anyone outside of Boston possibly can. He is endlessly entertaining and always funny. For most of us non-athlete/non-journalist sports writers, he is an inspiration.
But does he really think anyone is going to feel sympathy for Bill Belichick's Patriots?
New England's fan base has now collectively cleansed itself from Spygate by deciding that everyone is out to get them. Their Super Bowl victories have been questioned, their honesty has been doubted and their sportsmanship has been debated. Now, even the NFL referees are out to get them.
Come on. This is the NFL, not the NBA. Bad referees are not biased ones. Simmons' article read like a vitriolic message board posting from BigBlue4Life_99 after a Michigan loss.
The implication of the article is that the Patriots are getting cheated. Do you know whose fault that is? Yes, the Patriots.
You make your bed...
As a school teacher, I do occasionally catch a cheater who either has shifty test-taking eyes or plagiarizes a paper. I do accuse them of cheating. I do seek some type of punishment from the school. I do watch them more closely with future tests and projects.
You make your bed...
Do I actively seek to fail that student over the rest of the year? Do I ignore correct answers and find fault with the smallest error? Or do I do my job? The one that puts food on my table? The one that I trained for and hope to continue to do for many more years?
If that student feels like I am now out to get them, it is only because he/she created the circumstances that would cause such paranoia. For Patriot fans who are entering into JFK conspiracy waters after a few bad calls, you only have your own head coach to blame for this misguided paranoia.
It might be a bitter pill for Pats fans to swallow, but there is no getting around the Spygate thing. It tarnishes the past under Belichick and it tarnishes this team. This was not an accusation - it was cheating caught in the act. There is no basis to the "everyone is out to get us" motivational tool. Nobody is buying the "Mangini is a snitch" deflection. Running up the score on people like Joe Gibbs certainly does not make anyone re-evaluate criticism of the franchise. Nobody likes a cheater - ask Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire or Floyd Landis or Tim Donaghy. Bill Belichick is a cheater. Nobody likes it.
Now Patriot fans like Bill Simmons want to cry foul about a few questionable flags? You want us to believe that the NFL or some rogue referees have it out for Belichick's boys? You want us to believe that a billion dollar industry would risk its reputation to teach the Pats a lesson?
I know it isn't easy to be a Boston sports fan right now - how much joy can one person take? The Red Sox, the Celtics, even Boston College is good this year. For a city so used to being frustrated with its sports teams, these are uncharted waters. Heck, these are uncharted waters for any city. That doesn't mean, however, that people are out to get you.
If you think they are, you really just have yourselves to blame.
