Is cheating worth it?
May 12, 2015, 12:56 PM | Updated: Jul 26, 2024, 11:50 am
The New England Patriots are the most successful North American sports franchise of the 21st century.
The New England Patriots have been caught violating more rules to secure a competitive advantage than any other North American sports franchise in the 21st century.
Is it worth it?
Would the joy of watching ASU march down the field in Glendale for a Championship Game-winning touchdown be worth the NCAA death penalty?
How much would you care if the Arizona Diamondbacks completely changed course and started signing thugs on their way to a second World Series Championship?
The Minnesota Timberwolves lost five first-round picks for salary cap violations at the beginning of the century and have yet to recover. If they had won a championship, would you have wondered why the Suns didn’t do the same thing despite almost 10 years of futility for the T-Wolves ever since?
It matters how the game is played. The rules must be consistent across the board. Look at every other NFL franchise. Why is it that the New York Giants rise and fall while New England never does? Are the Patriots clearly a better franchise than Baltimore or do the Ravens just follow the rules more closely? If Peyton Manning can only win one Super Bowl when playing by the rules but could have had two more rings by lowering his conscious, where would he rank all-time?
No one knows how much the cheating of the Patriots led to Super Bowl victories. It’s impossible to quantify what methods made New England better. Only the naive would claim every other team in the NFL toes the line in every situation. Maybe if New England never recorded opposing coach signals and systematically circumvented the rules to deflate footballs to create a competitive advantage, the Patriots would still be the most successful North American sports franchise this century.
If you think teams that do things the right way need to be applauded, shouldn’t you be going to more games to support our local teams who are never involved in issues of competitive imbalance yet still play in front of abysmal crowds? If you don’t think Kraft, Belichick and Brady did anything wrong, why aren’t you screaming at the Cardinals to sign more LeGarrette Blounts, place cameras in opposing teams’ hotel meeting rooms or deflate more footballs?
Tom Brady…four rings.
Tom Brady…four games.
The Patriots have proven that if 31 teams play by one set of rules and they don’t, they are the winningest organization in the history of the salary cap era of the NFL. If “cheaters never win” and “winners never cheat,” there’s only one thing the Patriots can be: losers. So, why doesn’t it feel that way?
