38 Specials

Well, ladies and gentlemen, two weeks have passed since last I blogged, predicting a resounding victory for my New England Patriots against the San Diego Chargers. Gee. They put up 38 against the hapless Bolts, as they did against another 2006 playoff team, the New York Jets. Color me shocked.

The team then followed those outings with -- surprise surprise -- 38 points, this time tacked to the backsides of whatever remained of the Buffalo Bills by the end of last Sunday's matchup.

The Patriots have produced more yardage than any other team in football. The Pats' D has allowed fewer yards against than any other team in football.

And still, the cry goes out from the various Patriot Haters league-wide,

"Wahhhhhh they only won [fill in important game here] because they cheat!"

Hey whiners: Shaddap. First of all, it's becoming readily apparent to all but the losers in question, that they won those games because they were the better team. But more importantly, there is nothing you can do about it now.

No, you can not have a ring for losing, Donovan. By the way, it is also not tougher that you lost because you are black.

No, Hines and Jerome, you didn't lose because the Patriots stole your signals. You got outplayed and outprepared, and you know it.

No, Marshall Faulk. It is not New England's fault that the Rams never became the dynasty they "should" have become. It is the Rams' fault, for declaring "Tonight, a dynasty is born" -- and then losing the game. This silly hubris is only made more obvious by the actual birth of a dynasty that night, that is, the Patriots' dynasty.*

*The Rams' dynasty-proclaimer was Ricky Proehl, who went on to catch a ball that almost got the Rams back in Super Bowl XXXVI. Then he caught a ball that almost got the Panthers back into Super Bowl XXXVIII two years later. Ricky did not, however, manage to help Donovan McNabb lose the game in Super Bowl IXL. His presence on last year's Colts team made me wonder how, exactly, they'd allow the Bears back into Super Bowl XLI, so he could help lose that one.

But I blogged about Those Guys last time. Here's the new part:

Hey, fellow Pats fans? Shut the (Kevin) Faulk up, will ya?

Nobody is "stealing" your first round pick next year. Nobody is "out to get" the Patriots. Well, they are, but not any more so than usual. The league did not "throw the book" at the team.

Just as the national media and other fan-bases are whining that the Pats got off with a slap on the wrist for committing the grievous sin of taping defensive coaches (as I understand it, the case has now been turned over to a war crimes tribunal to determine whether it was also a crime against humanity), Patriots fans are whining that Goodell is the NFL's Hitler, Stalin, and bloody Sauron all rolled into one, for docking the Pats a first in 2008.

I for one am sick and tired of it all. It's time to decide matters on the field, not in the press, the booth, or the chatroom.

Bill Belichick said it best, when he said... oh who even remembers. He said something in a monotone acknowledging that the Pats were following one "interpretation" of the rules, and that the league actually followed another "interpretation", and that he had a football game to prepare for so shut up about it already. But somewhere in there he did say the word "apologize."

I think he did exactly what the league accused him of, and he admitted it to exactly the extent necessary. He did not go into loving detail about his "interpretation." He did apologize. He did move forward.

As for the team? They rallied around him, and have now gone from a super bowl contender to the super bowl favorite. The story line emerging to supplant the "they never were that good in the first place, they only won because they cheated" story, is the "Oh-ohhhh they're pissed now and might go 16-0" story.

At least until the league officially zaps Belichick for the format of his injury report. I note that Tom's still got that sore shoulder for the sixth year running.

Don't get me wrong. It would be a sad thing to praise a man for cheating but apologizing well. I do, however, stand in admiration of an organization disciplined enough to understand the breach for what it was - nothing more, nothing less. I admire Belichick's singlemindedness and detatchment, which allows him to take this year's shitstorm in stride, and focus on his goal.

And of course, completely apart from this whole circus, I admire him for being the best football coach in the modern era. By the time he's done, we might be saying the best in the history of the game.

By the way, I also admire Tony Dungy for being a deeply religious man, and I am fairly certain he helps old ladies cross the street frequently, probably listening to bible verse MP3s on his i-pod. Oh yeah and he faced personal tragedy too.

I admire Bill Cowher's chin, second only to Jay Leno's.

But as a pure football coach, nobody approaches Belichick.

So ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et monsieurs, go out and buy that Hoodie. Wear it with pride: not because your team broke the rules -- and don't get it twisted, we did break them -- but because your coach is one of history's greats, and he's most likely on the road to a fourth ring (just counting the ones he's earned as a head coach.) Wear it because he's a better coach, with his faults, than anybody else in the league, even those seemingly without them.

And most of all, wear it because he plays to win, and gets his guys to win, avoids excuses, and allows the team's performance to do the talking. You will never hear him say a negative word about an opponent before or after a game, and the Pats' locker room is almost as mum as their coach when it comes to smack-talk, excuses, and whining at refs, the league, the media, or other dispensers of perceived injustice.

Wear it because good sportsmanship also includes saying "I lost" when you lost, just as much as "I broke the rules" when you broke them. And sports includes good sports too, not just good sportsmanship.

Or, for you San Diego fans, you can go out an pick up a Tomlinson jersey and proudly proclaim, "If we ain't cryin', we ain't tryin'!"