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Re: 2015 NFL Thread

pearljammer13 — Sat, 16 May 2015 16:41:33 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 05/16/2015 20:41

Saoirse wrote:

I just want to put in a captain-obvious note in that I think we glorify these players and organizations beyond all reasonable extremes. They get parades when they win a fucking sports contest. We never give parades for the first-responders or firefighters who are the best at their job and actually save lives. Who get payed at best a one a penny for every dollar these players make. I mean the sports star all have amazing talent and do something only few can, but in the end of the day it is entertainment, while yes it's always great to have someone to look up to, I don't put them on the same plateau as people who routinely have to make life or death decisions every day. Treating Tom Brady like he's some martyr is ridiculous- he's getting four games suspending largely for not cooperating with a scandal investigation, which is chickenfeed. An NFL trial is nothing compared to people have had to face real sham-trials for simply stating their beliefs. I donno Im going off on tangents but it's news like this that make this absolute glorification of sports accomplishments, and hyperbole of at-the-end-of-the-day rather minor real-world problems, rather ridiculous.

It really is crazy when you sit and think about disproportionate importance some of us put on sports and athletes compared to true heroes. As you can see, I totally go off the rails when talking about sports, and the passion I have for the games (mostly football and hockey now) actually effects my life sometimes. After the Patriots lost those two Super Bowls in recent years, I felt depressed for at least a week after. And this past February after they won I was walking on air the next month, even though the snow up here had people ready to off themselves. My entire weekend is planned around the NFL during football season. Tom Brady and Patrice Bergeron are two of my idols when there are so many others who should be in their place.

This point was further emphasized yesterday while I was listening to talk radio. The subject went from possible deflated footballs to the death penalty being handed down to the Boston Marathon Bomber. Makes you realize how trivial sports are in the grand scheme.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

Anonymous — Sat, 16 May 2015 14:47:22 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/16/2015 18:47

I just want to put in a captain-obvious note in that I think we glorify these players and organizations beyond all reasonable extremes. They get parades when they win a fucking sports contest. We never give parades for the first-responders or firefighters who are the best at their job and actually save lives. Who get payed at best a one a penny for every dollar these players make. I mean the sports star all have amazing talent and do something only few can, but in the end of the day it is entertainment, while yes it's always great to have someone to look up to, I don't put them on the same plateau as people who routinely have to make life or death decisions every day. Treating Tom Brady like he's some martyr is ridiculous- he's getting four games suspending largely for not cooperating with a scandal investigation, which is chickenfeed. An NFL trial is nothing compared to people have had to face real sham-trials for simply stating their beliefs. I donno Im going off on tangents but it's news like this that make this absolute glorification of sports accomplishments, and hyperbole of at-the-end-of-the-day rather minor real-world problems, rather ridiculous.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

Anonymous — Fri, 15 May 2015 14:14:16 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/15/2015 18:14

pearljammer13 wrote:

Repo- I agree with a lot of what you said, but I don't get how you can so readily conclude that Brady cheated. There is absolutely zero evidence anywhere that Brady ever ordered or knew about someone taking air out of footballs after inspection (if that even occurred). From everything I've read, it's as likely as anything that he simply told his staff at some point that he wants the footballs at the lowest end of the allowable pressure, and that's that.

Sorry, I don't want to get bogged down in this again, but i'll die defending my hero, even if it is to a fellow Patriots fan. It's true I'm a fanboy, but I think it's crazy that people have condemned him as a cheater with no evidence of Brady having knowledge of illegal activity.

I really, really, really hope you're right, PJ!!! Regardless, this is going to be one hell of a season. Go Pats!!!

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

pearljammer13 — Fri, 15 May 2015 13:26:35 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 05/15/2015 17:26

ShaneSpear wrote:

2-2, with the two losses being to the Dolphins and the Chiefs, is hardly a horrible start.

Don't forget though, they got embarrassed by a mediocre Chiefs team on national TV, and the following week there was constant talk around here about a quarterback controversy, which was the biggest joke ever. That's how reactionary some of us nuts up here get over sports. I've been Brady or die since 2001 and will be until he decides to hang it up.

Repo- I agree with a lot of what you said, but I don't get how you can so readily conclude that Brady cheated. There is absolutely zero evidence anywhere that Brady ever ordered or knew about someone taking air out of footballs after inspection (if that even occurred). From everything I've read, it's as likely as anything that he simply told his staff at some point that he wants the footballs at the lowest end of the allowable pressure, and that's that.

Sorry, I don't want to get bogged down in this again, but i'll die defending my hero, even if it is to a fellow Patriots fan. It's true I'm a fanboy, but I think it's crazy that people have condemned him as a cheater with no evidence of Brady having knowledge of illegal activity.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

Anonymous — Fri, 15 May 2015 13:22:09 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/15/2015 17:22

Quote:

The CHEATING itself is being overblown as it was simple gamesmanship which has actually been celebrated throughout sports history.

I hear the word "gamesmanship" thrown around a lot in on-field sports scandals and I've always wondered how it's supposed to be distinguished from cheating. Wikipedia has the following:

Wikipedia wrote:

Gamesmanship is the use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to win or gain a serious advantage in a game or sport.

If that's what's meant by that word, then people misuse it a lot. It certainly doesn't apply here, though you could argue it does apply to that controversial line-up the Pats used against the Ravens last year.

I do agree, though, that lying and dragging it out is worse than the actual crime in this case.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

ShaneSpear — Fri, 15 May 2015 12:48:02 GMT

Author: ShaneSpear

Posted: 05/15/2015 16:48

RockyRaccoon wrote:

I mean, Belichick brought the Patriots back from a horrible start to winning the super bowl, that's just downright impressive.

2-2, with the two losses being to the Dolphins and the Chiefs, is hardly a horrible start.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

RockyRaccoon — Fri, 15 May 2015 11:47:02 GMT

Author: RockyRaccoon

Posted: 05/15/2015 15:47

In case this is a misconception about my opinions on the Pats, I don't believe that deflategate or spygate are the sole reasons that the Patriots have been successful. I know that Belichick and Brady are both some of the best the NFL has seen at the coaching and quarterback position. I also know that the reason the Pats have won the super bowls they've one is because of how good both Belichick and Brady (among many others) are. I mean, Belichick brought the Patriots back from a horrible start to winning the super bowl, that's just downright impressive.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

Anonymous — Fri, 15 May 2015 11:23:10 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/15/2015 15:23

I think Rocky has a raised a really great point here - ALL sports fans can b obnoxious. 🤣

I don't blame , Rocky for coming at us New England fans so hard though. It really must suck not to have home court advantage in your very own stadium when the Red Sox come to town. I've often thought how annoying that must be. Especially since must of them will be acting like tourists.

Anyways a couple of points from a life-long, 46 year old Pats fan...

1. Brady cheated.
2. The denial was FAR worse than the cheating itself.
3. The CHEATING itself is being overblown as it was simple gamesmanship which has actually been celebrated throughout sports history.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/sport....html?_r=0

4. Considering recent events with the NFL and the optics of the situation, a 4 games was totally expected. Goodell really had no choice despite the fact that this was not on par imo with the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson offenses or PEDs.
5. Most importantly, I'm really disappointed in Tom Brady. Most likely, any edge gained from deflating the balls was largely mental or a placebo effect. Considering how Spygate has been hanging over New England's insanely impressive accomplishments this past decade it was just really, really stupid.
6. Pearljammer's over the top response to the trolls is completely understandable and points out how stupid and reckless Brady's actions were. New England fans had already been dealing with Spygate as the one word rebuttal to everything the Patriots had accomplished over the last twenty or so years. It was getting O-L-D. And now things are understandably going to get way worse.

BUT, as someone who's sidelined from real life for the most part, the pure ENTERTAINMENT value of all this is tremendous. This is a legendary scandal. New England Patriots of the the Belichick/Brady will be a legendary team that actually gains a lot personality and pop precisely because of these two scandals. It makes them incredibly interesting especially because neither the videotaping or the deflating balls probably helped out all that much. (Although the reduced fumble numbers are quite compelling.)

The Patriots are going to make the next year in sports stories very interesting. I hope I get to see how this all turns out.

Peace.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

pearljammer13 — Thu, 14 May 2015 19:04:57 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 05/14/2015 23:04

ShaneSpear wrote:

I'll disagree with you as well. It's not even the most exciting final play in SB history. That goes to Rams/Titans.

That's close, but even though I'm biased I think the Butler interception was clearly better. I mean it seismically shifted the entire scope of this era. In a split second it went from Seahawks back to back Super Bowls and possibly the next dynasty and Patriots over the hill and coming up short yet again, to the Patriots back on top and Brady staking his claim as one of the two greatest QBs in history. It was just the weight of the moment, as it was greater even than just determining the Super Bowl champion of one year, it was an era defining moment. And then on top of that it was the sheer disbelief of pretty much everyone watching that they decided to throw the ball. But yes I certainly agree that Dyson coming up a yard short is top 2.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

ShaneSpear — Thu, 14 May 2015 18:50:18 GMT

Author: ShaneSpear

Posted: 05/14/2015 22:50

pearljammer13 wrote:

I also disagree, the most entertaining thing was when they won the Super Bowl on the most momentous and exciting play in the history of the National Football League.

I'll disagree with you as well. It's not even the most exciting final play in SB history. That goes to Rams/Titans.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

pearljammer13 — Thu, 14 May 2015 17:58:58 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 05/14/2015 21:58

sp4cetiger wrote:

The most entertaining thing about the Patriots last season was Deflategate.

I also disagree, the most entertaining thing was when they won the Super Bowl on the most momentous and exciting play in the history of the National Football League. And when Brady had possibly the greatest 4th quarter in Super Bowl history.

And the Patriots lawyers' response makes some fantastic points. A few of the remarks certainly seem to be a stretch, but overall it is brilliant, a much needed look at it from the other side. I'd be shocked if Brady's suspension isn't reduced to 1 game or overturned entirely.

http://wellsreportcontext.com/

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

ShaneSpear — Thu, 14 May 2015 15:19:56 GMT

Author: ShaneSpear

Posted: 05/14/2015 19:19

sp4cetiger wrote:

The most entertaining thing about the Patriots last season was Deflategate

I'd disagree. I'd say the most interesting thing about their season was stealing back Blount. Under-inflated balls or no, his strong performance in that afc conference final made sure that they didn't go full Packers and throw away their Super Bowl chance.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

Anonymous — Thu, 14 May 2015 07:13:23 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/14/2015 11:13

Meh, it's hard to get myself excited about the on-field accomplishments of a team that I perceive as disingenuous. The most entertaining thing about the Patriots last season was Deflategate, so the main reason I'll be watching them this season is to see how they're caught cheating next. Watching Tom Brady compare it to ISIS was priceless. 🤣

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

pearljammer13 — Thu, 14 May 2015 07:07:40 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 05/14/2015 11:07

Also, I was never an obnoxious Boston fan until this February when everything broke. It finally made me realize I just have to embrace everyone hating my team outside of New England, because it won't change until they are back to their pre Brady-Belichick mediocrity.

I'm old enough to remember the 94-95 playoffs when I was ecstatic that they made it into the playoffs as a wildcard team, only to get rolled by the Browns. And I remember in '97 when they only made it to the Super Bowl because somehow the Broncos lost to the Jaguars in the divisional round, and I knew the whole two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl that they'd get steamrolled by the Packers. And I remember watching every other Boston sports team suck for an extended period of time. It makes me appreciate these 9 championships we've seen since 2001 even more. I know it won't last, so I'm relishing it all while it's here, and that includes embracing being the bad guys.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

pearljammer13 — Thu, 14 May 2015 06:52:51 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 05/14/2015 10:52

Mercury wrote:

The packers (my team) titletown USA has won 2 Super Bowls in the last 20+ years they've been consistently good (Favre-era and Rodgers-era.), the steelers (barf) have won 2 Super Bowls in the last 20+ years since they've been consistently good (mid 90s Jerome Bettis onwards). The pack have won just 3 NFC crowns in that time. The steelers just 4. Compare that to the patriots who've in the same last 20 or so years have won 4 Superbowls and a whopping 7 AFC championships. The patriots have been on another level of success. So, envy and annoyance at the consistent dominance of the Pats very well may have a lot to do with this debacle.

Anyway, talking about how much we hate or like certain teams is lame. Whatever. I'm much more interested to see how the amazing coach/QB/Team react to this on the field. Will it be like in '07 when they came out answere the greatest team I've ever seen? That would probably only start after Tom was back and in the swing of things. The last 10 regular season games for the pats may be some must see fucking tv!

�'� At least I didn't have to be the one to say it. And to go one step further, they've been in the AFC Championship 9 out of 14 years with Brady at the helm. About 2/3 of the time they are one of the final 4 teams standing. That's unprecidented.

And to your second point, that's what I'm most excited and intrigued about as well. It's not as if Brady needed any more motivation, but he got it anyway. And by what people have been saying, there's a good chance the suspension is knocked down at least to 2 games if not even less.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

Anonymous — Thu, 14 May 2015 04:49:41 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/14/2015 08:49

Yeah I guess my original post was trying to be more of a critique on how professional sports are run than specifically about the deflated-football scandal, but looking at the whole case (and maybe cause Im not at all a rabid football fan) I find the whole thing rather minor. I guess when an organization is caught in a big cheating scandal once a league is far less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt a second time, and with Tom Brady's suspension really more about not cooperating than anything, four games is a relative slap-on-the-wrist. He basically gets to spend those extra weekends in his multi-million dollar estate with Giselle Bundchen, I don't know anybody who would find that a punishment, and then come back home to play in front of a bunch of die-hard fans who think he's the victim here. Those who hate the Patriots (not just because they're jealous and please don't respond with that awful catchphrase) only have more fuel to do so. The rest of the NFL probably won't care in a year. Win-Win all around.

Given this all seems rather petty compared to the NFL's handling of off-the-field problems, but I don't know it seems reasonable enough, the only thing I found rather disgusting is an attempt for a fan-based funding drive to pay the fine. Forking up dollars for cheating and "relieving" the burden of a billionare owner having to pay a one million dollar fine, please spare the partisan outrage for something more meaningful. If anything the Patriots should've had to donate all profits received from their playoff run, but I guess a big sum back to the NFL was the only card in the deck.

And yeah again I hate the "you only hate us cause you wish you were us". I wouldn't be a Cardinals or Red Sox fan just cause they win so often (and oh my god yes "Red Sox Nation" is unbelievably obnoxious, although I guess going to a game to watch the 2010 mariners the only fans that WERE there were Red Sox fanatics), as depressing as it is to watch the Mariners dissapoint or just be plain awful every single year, I would never have gotten interested in baseball without them (and their 95 run), so no matter how bad they get always gonna stick by their side (it just never gets any easier to do so).

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

benpaco — Thu, 14 May 2015 02:28:39 GMT

Author: benpaco

Posted: 05/14/2015 06:28

RockyRaccoon wrote:

And maybe it's because, being on the east coast so close to new England, I've been surrounded by these Boston fans all my life. When the Orioles sucked hard and I was going to games, I'd go to an O's/Sox game and it'd be an almost 60/40 split in favor of Boston fans. I was surrounded by these guys and they were as obnoxious as humanly possible.

Totally possible man. It's weird, the die hard Red Sox fans here are way nicer and chiller than most of the other sort of "big" teams. Like I have way worse opinions on Yankees, Dodgers, or Rangers fans than Red Sox fans, but that could just be who I know too. Could be me currently trying to rationalize living in Boston next year, I think I've felt this way for some time but I've not given it much thought til now.

In the end, all of this is naught, Brady got what he deserved, the system worked, goodnight you wonderful folks

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

RockyRaccoon — Thu, 14 May 2015 00:25:00 GMT

Author: RockyRaccoon

Posted: 05/14/2015 04:25

benpaco wrote:

I actually have agreed with like everything you said up until this, tbh. Maybe I'm just not as worked up, but my more simple answer would be "I don't hate the Patriots and I'd feel the same way if they were 4-12 and cheated in the playoffs (which ain't really possible but let's say 7-9) or 15-1 and cheated in the playoffs."

So to directly answer the question, I would feel the exact same way about them whether they were 4-12, 16-0, 1-15 it doesn't matter, because their overall success is virtually irrelevant.

And maybe it's because, being on the east coast so close to new England, I've been surrounded by these Boston fans all my life. When the Orioles sucked hard and I was going to games, I'd go to an O's/Sox game and it'd be an almost 60/40 split in favor of Boston fans. I was surrounded by these guys and they were as obnoxious as humanly possible.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

creator — Thu, 14 May 2015 00:07:55 GMT

Author: creator

Posted: 05/14/2015 04:07

benpaco wrote:

You're right! This site is:

Clickbait
Oddly (When At All) Cited
Biased
Run by a Random Rating System
Intended to upset
Intended to target specific people

It's like everything you complain about on this site ...

I'm not sure the website is intended to be taken seriously.

Re: 2015 NFL Thread

benpaco — Wed, 13 May 2015 23:51:01 GMT

Author: benpaco

Posted: 05/14/2015 03:51

Romanelli wrote:

http://yourteamcheats.com/

This should be fun....