Last week we New England Patriots fans learned that Bill Belichick, our team’s wildly successful head coach, cheats. Turns out that in the first game of the season, one of Belichick’s assistants improperly videotaped the defensive coaches of the opposing New York Jets, trying to steal their signs. As punishment, the Pats were stripped of future draft picks and fined, as was Belichick. Across the nation, sports writers wagged their fingers. Editorials called Belichick a disgrace. And us fans? Well, when Belichick’s mug appeared on the video screen just before the Pats’ second game, the hometown crowd cheered so loudly and so long that Belichick actually waved. Some diehards unveiled a banner reading in bill we trust.
I wish I could say I was surprised. In truth, Pats fans already knew that Belichick doesn’t play by Marquis of Queensberry rules. This February former linebacker Ted Johnson alleged that Belichick made him practice even after he suffered a concussion and that today he has brain damage so severe that he can barely get out of bed. But in Boston those earlier revelations–like these new ones–haven’t hurt Belichick’s popularity a bit. And there’s only one thing that could: losing.
That’s the dirty little secret about sports fans. We’re basically amoral. Kant said that acting ethically means treating other people as ends in and of themselves, not merely as means to our own desires.
The Larry Johnson story doesn’t wash. Larry was an expensive linebacker and a good one. Belicheck wouldn’t risk the investment
the owners had made just to force him to practice. No coach throws his best players away. His job is to win and for that you reason you keep your players healthy. Besides, how do you force a big boy like Ted Johnson if he doesn’t choose to. Even besideser, a concussion that bad would have clear effects on Ted’s ability to play to play at all. T he whole st ory doesn’t pass the smell test.
But all for winning, forg et the rules? No question. Too way to make 30 million dollars? Maybe, but 30millin dollars makes up for a lot, doesn’t it? Larry
Ridiculous.
Stealing signs is part of the game in Baseball. And every week football teams across the country watch videotape of their upcoming opponent.
This is why signs are changed often, and heavily camoflaged. It’s not cheating — it’s playing hardball.
I’m starting to wonder whether living in our consumer society is conditioning us to fancy ourselves as entitled to whatever we desire (such as winning, for example), no matter what the cost to others; quaere whether we’re on a slippery slope to breaking the First Commandment.
#1…Concussions are cumulative. That’s why multiple concussions are so dangerous. And if a player with a concussion starts to play again before he/she is symptom free, it makes matters worse. The devastating results of concussions may not show up right away, so a player certainly could still play with a severe concussion…Unfortunately, it happens all the time…From Little League to the pros…Winning no matter what the cost.
I think this article makes some good points about fans of sports in general but not necessarily about the Patriots. I live 6 miles from Gillette Stadium and manage a retail store where I see and speak with usually one Patriot player a week. For the most part they are very indignant that people think they may have cheated when many coaches admitted in interviews they were not aware of this rule. I have played organized sports for nearly my entire life and know too well how that competetive atmosphere can affect us. It absolutely can drive to think and do things that as christians we find morally reprehensible. I can remember wishing ill of my opponents in high school football and while I never played “dirty” I did do my best to make sure my team won even if that meant hurting our opponents. I hope to be able to allow my son the positive benefits of sports with as minimal negative associations as possible but this seems a very daunting task.