By Ethan Moore, Sports Editor.
When it comes to the New England Patriots there is no middle ground, you either love them, or you hate them. The team has developed a persona from their coach, Bill Belichick, that winning is the only thing that matters, by any means necessary. The biggest criticism of Belichick is that said means are not always within the confines of the rules. So now we have the newest “gate” to add to the collection: Tablet gate. Two weeks ago in the second quarter of the AFC championship game, the Patriots sideline tablets were rendered useless due to the network in Gillette Stadium which didn’t allow the team to access film and plays among other things. Eventually the tablets were fixed and it didn’t appear to have a large impact on the game and the network issues were fixed.
It’s strange that a network issue would only affect one of the teams. The internet agreed and they ended up having a field day with this, mentioning numerous conspiracies such as: the NFL getting payback for all of the other “gates,” Commissioner Goodell trying to show he still has power, God himself hating the Patriots. To any other team this kind of malfunction would be a non story, but because it’s the Patriots it’s the only thing ESPN covers the next day. So why does the viewing experience have to be tampered with, because the Patriots can’t play the game of football right?
The Patriots have become this ridiculous running joke that cheapens the NFL’s brand. The problem with the rampant cheating is that it’s completely unnecessary. New England is a very good football team and they don’t need these advantages to win games. They demolished Indianapolis so convincingly last year that it makes you wonder why they felt the need to tamper with the balls in the first place. The Patriots are becoming the Richard Nixon of the NFL, they’re “stuffing the ballots” when they’re already going to win.
So is the NFL secretly working against New England? The answer is probably a no, the head honchos of the NFL continue to look foolish every time they try to fight them. The Patriots are not like most organizations when they’re caught red-handed. A morally upright organization would try to eradicate the problem by eliminating all who were involved or thought to be involved, then preach about changing the culture and eventually moving on from the situation. The relationship between New England and the NFL has all the makings of an abusive one, so why do they put up with they’re crap?
Why does anyone do anything ever? Money of course. As earlier mentioned, when the Patriots flub and open up another “gate” the coverage for them goes through the roof. And as the NFL is proving time and time again, there is no such thing as bad press for them. The players can abuse their spouses, cheat, drive over 100MPH on a highway while intoxicated with a young child in the backseat, it doesn’t matter. The bad press doesn’t dent the indestructible armor of the largest sports league in North America. The audience for the game continues to grow every single year. Viewership increases every season and according to Yahoo Sports, even though the players continue to abuse them, viewership among women continues to increase as well. The NFL is essentially too big to fail, even when it’s most consistent franchise of the 2000s is a cheater cheater pumpkin eater.
So regardless of if you love or hate the Patriots, you have to admire their thick skin, and their ability to keep finding ways to cheat… I mean win… I mean cheat.
