(…. back from the Great Beyond… more specifically a remote Mormon hide-away deep in the Utah back country where we were advising the Romney campaign. Before we get back (fully) in the saddle, want to express heatfelt thanks and gratitude to B-Daddy for his excellent work in filling-in as the lead this past week and a half…)
Not merely content to be viewed as an on-field (or on-court) dynasty in New England as the Celtics of the 60s, 70s and 80s were, the New England Patriots have adopted a similar off-field image and persona as those great Celtic teams.
The secretiveness of this Patriot team is reminiscent of those old Celtic teams where, from the outside, it appeared as more a coven than a sports franchise. It has been no mystery that the Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick was not pleased at all when one of his former lieutenants, Eric Mangini, took the Jet’s head coaching job before last season. Belichick’s handling of the weekly injury report has been a study in coyness and subterfuge. And now that Patriot-gate is in full-swing, reports are coming out from around the league about other suspected shenanigans being played by the Patriots against their opponents much like the Celtics back in the day.
And even Belichick himself seems to be a New England football re-incarnation of the late Red Auerbach… an excellent, detail-oriented tactician who also happened to be a smug and arrogant S.O.B.
(if nothing else, this gives an opportunity to share a story from back in the old AFL when the Raiders and Jets had a healthy rivalry going in the late 60s. Weeb Ewbank, the Jet’s coach, was obsessed with the notion of the Raider's Al Davis, spying on the Jets. At half-time in the locker room of one particular game where the Raiders were soundly beating the Jets, Ewbank was shaking with rage, clearly convinced that Davis and the Raiders had obtained their half-time lead by ill-begotten means, perhaps by bugging the Jet locker room. With the team gathered around him for the half-time talk, Ewbank looked up at the ceiling, shook his fist and shrieked, “Davis, g-d-d#$it, I know you’re up there!” Imagine the looks on the players’ faces who had no idea of Ewbank’s suspicions but merely see their enraged head coach looking skyward and cursing-out Al Davis).
Got a full-dose of talk radio during the drive back on the subject of the Pat’s videotaping the Jets during their game last Sunday and think all the angles were covered but still…. something is just not printing out… something about this whole thing is not adding up.
If the Patriot’s wanted to steal the Jet’s defensive signals, it would seem there are numerous other and more clandestine ways of doing it. Having one of the Patriot employees standing right there on the sidelines, camera in hand, is the most blatant and hamfisted way of doing it, though, and that is why none of this is making any sense.
The Patriots were warned about this before and despite Belichick’s “apology” there is nothing in the NFL rule that specifically prohibits video-taping the opponents bench that could possibly be “misinterpreted”.
One is left to wonder then if Belichik was doing this out of some perverse sense of spite… against Eric Mangini… against the NFL itself…. Not really sure. After having a few days to digest this, though, one thing is certain: only a massively out-sized ego like that possessed by Bill Belichick would try a stunt this bold and audacious. Red would be proud. Hope he chokes on it Sunday.
Not merely content to be viewed as an on-field (or on-court) dynasty in New England as the Celtics of the 60s, 70s and 80s were, the New England Patriots have adopted a similar off-field image and persona as those great Celtic teams.
The secretiveness of this Patriot team is reminiscent of those old Celtic teams where, from the outside, it appeared as more a coven than a sports franchise. It has been no mystery that the Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick was not pleased at all when one of his former lieutenants, Eric Mangini, took the Jet’s head coaching job before last season. Belichick’s handling of the weekly injury report has been a study in coyness and subterfuge. And now that Patriot-gate is in full-swing, reports are coming out from around the league about other suspected shenanigans being played by the Patriots against their opponents much like the Celtics back in the day.
And even Belichick himself seems to be a New England football re-incarnation of the late Red Auerbach… an excellent, detail-oriented tactician who also happened to be a smug and arrogant S.O.B.
(if nothing else, this gives an opportunity to share a story from back in the old AFL when the Raiders and Jets had a healthy rivalry going in the late 60s. Weeb Ewbank, the Jet’s coach, was obsessed with the notion of the Raider's Al Davis, spying on the Jets. At half-time in the locker room of one particular game where the Raiders were soundly beating the Jets, Ewbank was shaking with rage, clearly convinced that Davis and the Raiders had obtained their half-time lead by ill-begotten means, perhaps by bugging the Jet locker room. With the team gathered around him for the half-time talk, Ewbank looked up at the ceiling, shook his fist and shrieked, “Davis, g-d-d#$it, I know you’re up there!” Imagine the looks on the players’ faces who had no idea of Ewbank’s suspicions but merely see their enraged head coach looking skyward and cursing-out Al Davis).
Got a full-dose of talk radio during the drive back on the subject of the Pat’s videotaping the Jets during their game last Sunday and think all the angles were covered but still…. something is just not printing out… something about this whole thing is not adding up.
If the Patriot’s wanted to steal the Jet’s defensive signals, it would seem there are numerous other and more clandestine ways of doing it. Having one of the Patriot employees standing right there on the sidelines, camera in hand, is the most blatant and hamfisted way of doing it, though, and that is why none of this is making any sense.
The Patriots were warned about this before and despite Belichick’s “apology” there is nothing in the NFL rule that specifically prohibits video-taping the opponents bench that could possibly be “misinterpreted”.
One is left to wonder then if Belichik was doing this out of some perverse sense of spite… against Eric Mangini… against the NFL itself…. Not really sure. After having a few days to digest this, though, one thing is certain: only a massively out-sized ego like that possessed by Bill Belichick would try a stunt this bold and audacious. Red would be proud. Hope he chokes on it Sunday.
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