Is it worth being a so-called world champion if to gain that honor you cheat? The answer that comes from Boston is “of course.”
Cheating by Bill Belichick and the Patriots is an old story. They were exposed on
“New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was fined the NFL maximum of $500,000 Thursday and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000 for spying on an opponent’s defensive signals. Commissioner Roger Goodell also ordered the team to give up its first-round draft choice next year if it reaches the playoffs this season, or its second- and third-round picks if it misses the postseason.”
The article went on to note that this fine represented about 14% of Belichick’s salary stating: “This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid long-standing rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field.”
Belichick apologized and called it “a mistake” adding “We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress.” He didn’t mention how it was used in preparing for the game.
What we know is Belichick has cheated. How many times is not known because like drunk drivers the number of times they drive drunk can only be calculated by the number of times they are caught. We do know that most drunk drivers are not caught the first and only time they drive drunk. Do we assume this was not Belichick’s only time?
Aside from the small hit in his pocket-book Belichick went unpunished. He kept his job. He went on to win some Super Bowls after that but did he do it fairly will always be questioned.
Then we have the present scandal with the Boston Red Sox. It seemed its coach in 2018 did a remarkable job coaching the team. Very remarkable. No one seemed to raise an eyebrow at his remarkable success. No suspicion seemed to fall on this team’s 2018 performance even after headlines like this: “A Look At Some Ridiculous Stats By 2018 Red Sox.”
Did anyone wonder at this? “It’s important to take a timeout and appreciate such a dominating regular season” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said last week “when they set a new team record for wins in a season”
It just so happened that in 2017, the year before, Manager Cora was a coach on the Houston Astro’s who won the World Series. According to a Major League Baseball report he was up to his ears in developing a scheme for stealing the signs from the opposing catcher to his pitcher and relaying them to the Astro’s batter alerting him to the type of pitch to expect. If a player knows a fast ball is coming he has a much better chance of getting a hit than he would if he didn’t have that information.
Manager Cora’s scheme resulted in the general manager and manager of the Astros being fired. It struck at the heart of baseball being a game on the level. The scheme carried Manager Cora to the Red Sox. Is there any reason to think he left the scheme behind him in Houston?
Circumstantial evidence suggests he didn’t. As the article notes: “The Red Sox record 108 games . . . are just the 12th team since 1900 [118 years} to win as many as games. They are one of just seven AL teams to ever tally that many wins.” The article tells of other amazing feats by the players on the team leading one to wonder why no one questioned how this bunch of everyday players seemed to all become phenomenons. They would go 11 – 3 in the playoffs winning the World Series.
2018 Betts batting average .346, 2019 .295; 2018 Martinez batting average .330 2019 .304.
Actually, the Red Sox had cheated before but weren’t punished for the cheating. If we follow the evidence and the logic then perhaps we can say the 2018 Red Sox World Series win was a wee bit tainted as was the 2017 Astros win. Shouldn’t there be a take away from this, you know, the title of World Champ be taken away and given to the other team.
Manager Cora got fired; Belichick didn’t. Both cheated and did so for the purpose of winning unfairly. Why did Belichick get a pass and Cora get a boot? That’s a mystery.
What’s in the Boston air that makes it a cheat city? Are the fans to blame? Are the rich owners to blame? Or, perhaps Whitey Bulger? If not him then surely Cardinal Law.
Wa-llahi! Anybody tuned in to the impeachment proceedings? Better than the Super bowl, far more interesting. Bourgeois capitalism choking on it’s own contradictions, that’s a spectacle worth watching. Go Democrats!
wa-llahi! We need a thread about the revolt against Glorious Leader, and, his gubmint cheese eating rat pack.
Wa-llahi! How will we know the civil war has started? One half of the cops will start shooting at the other half. There are great days coming. All praise to the activists. All power to the dialectic.
Wa-llahi! We’re on the cusp of an armed uprising. The streets are coming alive, and, no amount of televised pro sports will put them back to sleep. All praise to the antifascist front. All power to the dialectic!
It’s gonna be 1848,1860, and, 1917, all rolled into one. Banksters, hedge-fund traitors, health care and pharma CEO’s, welcome to the world of insecurity. Bader-Meinhoff had the modus, they’ll not be forgotten.
Sparkle it does, the sea of bayonets. Let’s all go for a sail.
Marty got in a nice shot on Henry btw ; glibly suggesting Mr. – I Am Shocked, Simply Shocked !!! – step to the plate for transparency’s sake in the sullying of the grand old game down on the street Old Tom Yawkey made famous ; and the virtue signalling Henry’s have made infamous. You can change a street name to pander to the thoughtless ; just cosmetic and cheaply won PC showboating. What grifter Henry has done to our Olde Towne Team though is a dirty and lasting outrage . Marty is just as politically kooky as John Henry. But he is one of ours . We can deal with old school pol Boston Mahhhtyyy . Henry needs to go .
Don’t let the Turnstile bang you in the ass on the way out !!!
THANKS FOR NOTHING .
What’s in John Henry’s ear more likely than not is the fickle tickle of the PC tongue ; the lingua caress of … Do As I Say, Not As I Do !
WAFH ( What a f******g hypocrite ) an oily weasel mouthing rank homilies on moral deficiencies while as morally corrupt as a former US President and a member of the Royal Family stealing innocence from teenage girls while prized guests in the Owner’s Box on Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express .
Strike 3 you bum .
George Steinbrenner was the only man in sports history to be allowed to own a sports team while being a convicted felon. Was that morally right? It has been written that New York Mets ownership knew in the 1980s that Dwight Gooden and Strawberry were known to be cocaine users and ownership overlooked because they were still good players. Arod, just like Barry Bonds seemed almost superhuman and were the Yankees interested why? Charles Dolan has been the worst owner in the NBA for many years and has been known to use cocaine, google it. New York its ownerships and its players have been more illegal than Boston. Same goes with the New York Giants overlooking Taylors cocaine use in the 1980s, that was Bill Parcell who said if you do not win , you get fired.
Money.
The manager is fired. The owners are absolved. The Red Sox are trying the Rogue Manager theory. The same Fake defense the FBI trotted out. the rogue agent theory, when they framed Connolly and Rico. They are hiding system wide and institutional corruption. The fish rots from the head down.
The Probation officers. Rico and Connolly may be to blame too. Baseball had mass cheating in the steroid era. Today the balls are juiced up. Interest is waning in the grand old pastime. The season is too long, the games are too long and most of the declining fan base are over 60. The local media is uncritical. All pro sports are too expensive and resemble pro wrestling. But some still enjoy it.
Henry Clay said, “I’d rather be right than President.”
If any coach ever said, “I’d rather play fair and square than win a championship,” what would fans think?
Let’s hope there’s a full, fair investigation. What about the players? Were they aware they were getting stolen signals, or did they just think their coaches had precognition?
The owner of the Patriots is a corrupt person. The owner of the Red Sox has more character than Kraft. Bill gats a pass, Cora does not.