Atlanta Dan
11-09-2007, 11:24 AM
Not surprisingly, Pats fans Bill Simmons (aka the Sports Guy) is whining about the officiating in Colts-Pats. He compares the officiating favoring the Colts to that favoring the Nazis in the Sly Stallone movie about a soccer match between POWs and the Nazis called "Victory." This for a team that got its start with a call that caused us all to learn about The Tuck Rule.:dang:.
First we have a celebration of running up the score:
Once you enter "bleep-everybody" mode, it becomes a state of mind. You can't shake it. After they slaughtered the Redskins, everyone debated the merits of the Pats' running up the score and missed the larger point -- namely, that those inflated scores were serving a larger competitive purpose. Remember those few minutes right before the Tyson-Spinks fight, when poor Spinks looked like he might lose control of his bowels. He didn't want to get embarrassed or beaten up. You could see it. Just like the Dolphins and Redskins last month. Those blowouts weren't shocking because of the scores as much as the complacency and lethargy of the losing teams. They didn't seem outraged, offended or even mildly ticked off. They just wanted to get the hell out of there. If the "Eff-You TD" sprung from a certain place -- revenge, pride, hostility, whatever -- it's now emerged as a legitimate tactical weapon. Belichick doesn't care about running up the score; he cares that every inferior Patriots opponent looks like Spinks before the Tyson fight.
And I never thought I'd condone this stuff. Believe me. As my friend Jamie wrote to me this week, "I sit there and openly root for them to run it up on teams. I thought I had experienced every emotion as a fan, this is totally new."
Then we get a sermonette on the poor Pats not getting the calls.
If the undefeated season doesn't happen for the Patriots, let's hope it's because they were outplayed and not because of something more sinister. And let's hope this is the final time an NFL game gets compared to a soccer movie starring Sly Stallone and a bunch of Nazis ... and the comparison isn't a stretch.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071109&sportCat=nfl
I do agree with Simmons that one of the teams on the field in Pats- Colts reminded me of the Nazis but he and I disagree as to which one.
God I hate the Pats and their smug, arrogant fans.
First we have a celebration of running up the score:
Once you enter "bleep-everybody" mode, it becomes a state of mind. You can't shake it. After they slaughtered the Redskins, everyone debated the merits of the Pats' running up the score and missed the larger point -- namely, that those inflated scores were serving a larger competitive purpose. Remember those few minutes right before the Tyson-Spinks fight, when poor Spinks looked like he might lose control of his bowels. He didn't want to get embarrassed or beaten up. You could see it. Just like the Dolphins and Redskins last month. Those blowouts weren't shocking because of the scores as much as the complacency and lethargy of the losing teams. They didn't seem outraged, offended or even mildly ticked off. They just wanted to get the hell out of there. If the "Eff-You TD" sprung from a certain place -- revenge, pride, hostility, whatever -- it's now emerged as a legitimate tactical weapon. Belichick doesn't care about running up the score; he cares that every inferior Patriots opponent looks like Spinks before the Tyson fight.
And I never thought I'd condone this stuff. Believe me. As my friend Jamie wrote to me this week, "I sit there and openly root for them to run it up on teams. I thought I had experienced every emotion as a fan, this is totally new."
Then we get a sermonette on the poor Pats not getting the calls.
If the undefeated season doesn't happen for the Patriots, let's hope it's because they were outplayed and not because of something more sinister. And let's hope this is the final time an NFL game gets compared to a soccer movie starring Sly Stallone and a bunch of Nazis ... and the comparison isn't a stretch.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071109&sportCat=nfl
I do agree with Simmons that one of the teams on the field in Pats- Colts reminded me of the Nazis but he and I disagree as to which one.
God I hate the Pats and their smug, arrogant fans.