When the good guys are the good guys no more
"It's too bad the Bears have no idea they're going to lose on Sunday. And then people will adopt the Saints as America's Team, the Pats will beat them, and everyone will hate us and start referring to us as The Evil Empire. You ready for your team to become the Yankees of football?"
Someone said that to me Wednesday night. And then today, Simmons came out with this column.
I consider myself to be a level-headed sports fan when it comes to touchy, emotional matters. I'm not a huge proponent of Yankees fans but I do recognize that not all of them are the devil incarnate. I grew up loathing the Cowboys but genuinely felt bad for them after the botched Romo hold. And as much as I don't agree with LaDainian Tomlinson's post-game press conference last weekend, I understand why he said those things and still respect him as a person and player.
Having said that, when it comes to matters involving my favorite teams, I'm obviously a little biased. Now let me proceed on this "OMG, the Patriots are becoming the Yankees!" thing.
The prospect of that is frightening. But with three Super Bowl titles in the past six years under their belt and another one potentially around the corner, of course people would start discussing their dominance and begin to get fed up with it. It really boils down to a jealousy factor, in my opinion, but my main argument against the "Patriots are becoming the Yankees of football" thing (aside from the fact that they completely sucked it up until the 21st
century) is the payroll aspect. From what I gather, people dislike the Yankees because they "buy championships." They have the luxury of stocking up on marquee players when teams like the Devil Rays continue to struggle. But in the NFL, the strict salary cap makes it virtually impossible for a handful of teams to dominate based on their high payroll. That's the beauty of the NFL: teams excel based mostly on factors such as good management, coaching, and team chemistry. The New England Patriots pull out wins without having a roster full of superstars. In fact, Richard Seymour is the only player going to the Pro Bowl this year. They pull out these wins because Bill Belichick is a coaching genius, because owner Bob Kraft has faith in him and the team, because they have a phenomenal quarterback who continuously does well in pressure situations, and because the team under Belichick is one with tremendous drive and cohesion. They have leaders, they have few if any players you'd file under the Complete A-hole category, and they absolutely thrive with the underdog label.
On a related note, I don't blame people for rolling their eyes in response to all this Brady/Manning coverage; we're all in the same boat. But to those people still saying the Chargers should have won last Sunday, cursing the Pats, and claiming they don't care about the AFC Championship game, I ask this: Are you honestly not interested in the outcome of that game? It doesn't excite you at least a little bit? I find that hard to believe. History tells us Tom Brady has come out on top in the majority of Pats/Colts matchups but certainly not in the last two. I'd be watching that game even if I didn't care who won. That's what being a football fan is all about. Admit it: we live for games like this.
While a certain amount of disdain will come along with a Pats win this weekend, and a Colts victory will be met with cries of "it's only because you're at home and indoors" from the Pats faithful, may the best team win. Championship-starved organizations and their fans may view my beloved team as the next Evil Empire. But I've been a devoted fan since the age of 10 and experienced several less-than-stellar years following that team. All those ups and downs are part of sports fandom. And when it comes down to it, I'll love my Patriots no matter what.
Someone said that to me Wednesday night. And then today, Simmons came out with this column.
I consider myself to be a level-headed sports fan when it comes to touchy, emotional matters. I'm not a huge proponent of Yankees fans but I do recognize that not all of them are the devil incarnate. I grew up loathing the Cowboys but genuinely felt bad for them after the botched Romo hold. And as much as I don't agree with LaDainian Tomlinson's post-game press conference last weekend, I understand why he said those things and still respect him as a person and player.
Having said that, when it comes to matters involving my favorite teams, I'm obviously a little biased. Now let me proceed on this "OMG, the Patriots are becoming the Yankees!" thing.
The prospect of that is frightening. But with three Super Bowl titles in the past six years under their belt and another one potentially around the corner, of course people would start discussing their dominance and begin to get fed up with it. It really boils down to a jealousy factor, in my opinion, but my main argument against the "Patriots are becoming the Yankees of football" thing (aside from the fact that they completely sucked it up until the 21st
century) is the payroll aspect. From what I gather, people dislike the Yankees because they "buy championships." They have the luxury of stocking up on marquee players when teams like the Devil Rays continue to struggle. But in the NFL, the strict salary cap makes it virtually impossible for a handful of teams to dominate based on their high payroll. That's the beauty of the NFL: teams excel based mostly on factors such as good management, coaching, and team chemistry. The New England Patriots pull out wins without having a roster full of superstars. In fact, Richard Seymour is the only player going to the Pro Bowl this year. They pull out these wins because Bill Belichick is a coaching genius, because owner Bob Kraft has faith in him and the team, because they have a phenomenal quarterback who continuously does well in pressure situations, and because the team under Belichick is one with tremendous drive and cohesion. They have leaders, they have few if any players you'd file under the Complete A-hole category, and they absolutely thrive with the underdog label.On a related note, I don't blame people for rolling their eyes in response to all this Brady/Manning coverage; we're all in the same boat. But to those people still saying the Chargers should have won last Sunday, cursing the Pats, and claiming they don't care about the AFC Championship game, I ask this: Are you honestly not interested in the outcome of that game? It doesn't excite you at least a little bit? I find that hard to believe. History tells us Tom Brady has come out on top in the majority of Pats/Colts matchups but certainly not in the last two. I'd be watching that game even if I didn't care who won. That's what being a football fan is all about. Admit it: we live for games like this.
While a certain amount of disdain will come along with a Pats win this weekend, and a Colts victory will be met with cries of "it's only because you're at home and indoors" from the Pats faithful, may the best team win. Championship-starved organizations and their fans may view my beloved team as the next Evil Empire. But I've been a devoted fan since the age of 10 and experienced several less-than-stellar years following that team. All those ups and downs are part of sports fandom. And when it comes down to it, I'll love my Patriots no matter what.
posted by Pam at 6:37 PM
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