by Erik Ritland
Rambling On is a seriously fun blog and podcast covering sports, music, culture, and more. Check us out on Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
The New England Patriots have always been a team that is easy to hate. Their combination of success and arrogance is enough to turn off any mild-mannered Midwesterner.
It’s stupid to resent people for doing what they do well. Similarly, it’s stupid to defend people if what they’re doing is obviously wrong. When Belichick was caught cheating many, incredibly, came to his defense (proving that celebrity and pedestalization can cause blindness). Lots of teams do that. You have to do what you have to do to win. It’s not like it’s that big of a deal.
Now that they’ve been caught cheating again – this time deflating footballs to make them easier for Tom Brady to throw – those excuses somehow sound even more shallow. It doesn’t matter that they probably would have won anyway. Or that many of their touchdowns were scored on running plays (how many complete passes helped by cheating led to them?). Cheating is cheating and it shouldn’t be tolerated. If I were the NFL I would take away their AFC Championship victory and send the Colts to the Super Bowl.
After all, Richard Nixon would have won without spying on his Democratic opponents as well, right? Just as he shouldn’t be exonerated of his crimes, neither should Belicheat and his Patriots dynasty.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He is also a contributor for Minnesota culture blog Curious North.
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