Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Patriots get an Asterisk
With their victory over the Colts this past weekend the Patriots have improved their record to 9-o and taken a step closer to finishing the season undefeated. Coach of the legendary 72 Dolphins, Don Shula suggested that if the Patriots do go undefeated, their accomplishment would be diminished because of the Spygate incident earlier this year. The 1972 Dolphins team is the only one in NFL history to complete the perfect season. The team and Patriots coach Bill Belichick were fined a combined 750,000 dollars for their role in Spygate. The Patriots were also stripped of their first round draft pick this year. Such harsh penalties suggest that what the NFL found during their investigation were very serious violations of league policy. Shula then suggested that the Patriots have an asterisk put next to their name in the record books if they manage to go undefeated. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3097057) He then compared the Patriots cheating with Barry Bonds getting an asterisk put on his record breaking home run ball for his alleged steroid use and that the same consequence should apply to the Patriots. I agree with Shula, cheating is cheating. Now the Patriots accomplishments, no matter how great, will always be questioned. That shadow of doubt will always haunt this years team, much like Barry Bonds is questioned because his home run total might be inflated because of steroid use. The Patriots cheated and now have to suffer the consequences. They knew what they did was cheating, but they did it anyway. A fitting punishment would be attaching an asterisk to their undefeated season if they do manage to complete the perfect season.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Kevin, I don't agree with Shula one bit. He claims that they should have an asterisk put by their team name if they accomplish an undeafeated season which I think is just BS. Think of how good the Patriots have been in the past five years. Every year they have been dominating teams. I don't think because they had one guy taking pictures at a game should qualify for them getting an asterisk by their name. Yes, they cheated and got caught but how many teams do you think have since '72? I would probably guess more than just the Patriots incident. Just because they got caught for a petty thing doesn't mean that they aren't good or can't win because it is obvious they are killing teams every game. So obviously they aren't phonies. They are the real deal.
Kevin - I disagree with Shula also. I feel that he wants to be the only coach who can take a team 16-0. That's bull! Yes the Patriots did spygate but it didn't matter the outcome. Putting an asterisk by their name is a bad idea. If the Patriots do have a perfect season than there should be 2 teams that did this and they both got the jobs done. The Patriots paid their consequenses by paying their fine and losing their draft pick. It should be over with. I understand where Shula is coming from I just disagree and feel that he is worried because another team has tremendous potential to have a perfect season.
Kevin I completely agree with you. Cheating is cheating and the Patriots should be penalized for their actions. Even though it was not the fault of the players, it was still for the benefit of the team. Doesn’t anyone ever wonder how this team got so good? What is their secret to their undefeated success? When a player or team goes over the top and becomes unstoppable, everyone always makes their assumptions about what they could be doing to be that good. Why hasn’t anyone said anything about the Patriots? They have won 3 Super Bowls and haven’t had a losing season in a long time. I like the Patriots and have nothing against them, but I am glad that they are getting a punishment that they deserve for doing a thing such as cheating.
Kevin i am sorry but i have to agree with kevin and nick. Shula is just sayung this because he knows that they are going to go undeafeated. Shula is very jealous because he knows that this might be the best team of all time. Whenever some one gets close to breaking a record they always make excuses and this is what Shula is doing. First of all I don't even like the Patriots and would go agaisnt everything about them but to have a low blow like this is uncalled for. Yea they might have cheated but that was against the Jets and they were killing in that game anyway. They aren't fake because they have beaten the second best team in the AFC which are the Colts and the best team in the NFC which are the Dallas Cowboys. I think that if anyother team would have gone this far Shula would have tried to say something about that team too. We all know the Patriots are going to go undeafeated and break what the Dolphins did. But Shula, be a grown man and just admit that they are a great team.
Post a Comment