“You mad bro?” That was the post game question posed to New England Patriots QB Tom Brady by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman after the Seahawks defeated the Patriots 24-23 in October of 2012. See before that brief, unscripted postgame encounter between two of the “images” of Black American sports and White American Sports, Brady (according to Sherman) had guaranteed a Patriots victory and had also promised that when the Seahawks were defeated, they would seek him out to pay “homage,” or something to that effect.
When the Patriots were defeated, the mood of Brady appeared to be “eternally vile” as he exited the playing field. The look on his face was there for the universe to see prompting Richard Sherman to ask: “you mad bro?
In theory do you think that Bill Belichick might be asking NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a similar question that might be worded slightly different? You sad bro? Might be the question that Belichick posed to Goodell. Why would Mr. Belichick ask that of Mr. Goodell?
Look at it this way, all was well in the NFL universe. The two teams that the football world expected to advance to the Super Bowl had fulfilled the expectations of the league, their marketing consultants and the leagues advertisers.
For the past six months, all of the negative press was focused on two so-called African American “thugs” who by their actions have been defined by many media outlets as having questionable “family and social” values. Now along come the Patriots. Just when “Spygate,” the last cheating scandal in 2007 that rocked the NFL, the sports world and caught the Patriots “with their panties down” was finally going away, they were again busted implementing another scheme to “one up” the competition.
In my eyes, Brady and Belichick, no matter how talented and smart that they may be, seem to be soulless, almost “Godless” men whose only concern is to always crush the bodies of and kill the spirit of any opposition.
According to a recent story by Lindsay H. Jones of USA, Ms. Jones reported that;” New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Saturday he believes the Patriots “followed every rule, to the letter” in regards to the inflation of their footballs in last week’s AFC Championship Game. “I’m embarrassed to talk about the amount of time I’ve put into this compared to the other important challenge in front of us,” Belichick said. “I’m not a scientist, not an expert in footballs … I’m just telling you what I know. At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game. Quite the opposite. We feel we followed the rules of the game to the letter in our preparation.”
Wait a minute. Did Mr. Belichick say? “I’m embarrassed to talk about the amount of time I’ve put into this compared to the other important challenge in front of us.” My most humble translation of that sentence and one-half sounds like me may have meant; “don’t bother me, I am King Bill and so what we broke the rules again. I am trying to get my team ready for the Super Bowl. Come see me in March. That’s usually a pretty slow month for the NFL. That’s when we will find out how many draft picks will be available for us to steal, he, he, ha, ha, ho, ho.
Also according to the report; “Belichick said the Patriots’ footballs were prepared according to quarterback Tom Brady’s preferred texture before the game — a process that included what Belichick described as “vigorous rubbing” that resulted in the balls’ PSI being raised by one pound.”
Hey folks, my name is not Albert Einstein but if “rubbing” the football raises the PSI by a pound and that extra inflation is against the rules but affects the throwing comfort of your quarterback, why not discontinue “rubbing” the football to keep from having to deflate it, thereby violating the rules?
According to inventors.com, “John Boyd Dunlop (5 February 1840 – 23 October 1921) was a British inventor. In 1887, he developed the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre.” I am sure Mr. Dunlop is seething in his grave because instead of him going through all of that headache and heartache to invent an inflatable tire, all he had to do was “rub” the rubber and it would inflate automatically. See, that was easy, wasn’t it?
I’m sure that they are still “rubbing” footballs in the New England locker room, instead of getting skin burns from rubbing brass lamps, hoping that a “genie” will appear and whisk all of this “deflate-gate” stuff over to the Middle East. See folks, this was a conspiracy to discredit Americas most popular sport. Right? Wrong.
Belichick suggested it was a combination of “atmospheric conditions.” Hey were the Patriots preparing for a football game or did they have the green light to launch a “space shuttle?”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft released his own statement. “I instructed our staff to be completely cooperative and transparent with the league’s investigators. Transparency simply translated might mean; “If any of you spill the beans, you won’t get that island retreat and the 250K that might be floating around.” (The sources for this story were inventors.com, usatoday.com and espn.com)
Aubrey Bruce is the senior sports columnist for the New Pittsburgh Courier. He is also a contributing columnist for urbanmediatoday.com He can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412.583.6741
Follow him on Twitter@ultrascribe
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