I love the Northwest and would like the Seahawks to win the big game, but I will not be watching. That's not going to stop me from sharing a few thoughts.
The NFL overhypes their biggest game of the year to the point that the game is absolutely guaranteed to be a let down. Additionally, the game itself is hidden behind all of their commercials. It's too much of a corny show and not enough of a sporting event for me.
The Super Bowl is the biggest farce in the world of sports, and I consistently reuse to watch. Imagine if I followed the sport as a serious fan while still insisting on living sans Super Bowl. I would have to either watch the Seahawks get eliminated from contention or give up on the team before I have closure. That's a lose-lose scenario for me.
I could be viewed as a passive Seahawks supporter. While I don't watch any of their games, I pay attention to the scores. If there is an interesting article about the team, I will read it. And of course, I want the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl.
This year, the overly formulaic wit shared by numerous Americans has helped the so-called deflategate taint this year's big game. This is actually a tricky issue because the we don't have nearly as much information as most people think.
So here's a quick summary. The Colts felt that the Patriots were using under-inflated balls. The league appears to be investigating. ESPN revealed that 11 out of 12 of the Patriots' footballs were inflated 2 pounds per square inch below what's required. I'm guessing that ESPN was confident in their source, but this is not an official report. Since there are details included and ESPN would have a lot to lose if they got caught making up a story, I'm guessing that ESPN is right. I'm just not one hundred percent.
In addition, finding underinflated balls does not prove the cause. A lot of people are caught up in this story and made up their minds. As a result, some people are making arguments that are far flimsier than ESPN's anonymous source.
I'm not saying all of this to defend the Patriots. I just believe that we should be innocent until proven guilty. I don't feel that there's enough right now to convict the Patriots of any wrongdoing. On the other hand, it sound like there is plenty of reason for suspicion and plenty of reason to investigate.
Let me talk about integrity in sports. The NFL has 53-man rosters. There are 32 teams in the league. That makes 1,696 players on the roster. Additionally, there are coaches, officials, executives, and numerous others involved in the league. For simplicity, let's say there are 2,000 people who could potentially damage the integrity of the sport even though I would be shocked if it isn't significantly higher. For a sports league, integrity means that people must be held accountable for wrongdoing. I'm pretty sure that the NFL does not consist of 2,000 out of 2,000 (or 1,696 out of 1,696) completely honorable individuals.
I have watched hockey for years. I'm not going to go into details about some of the issues I have with the league right now, but the league has repeatedly responded to controversy by saying that the game has integrity and it is irresponsible to call that integrity into question. The problem with this argument is that you can't have integrity if you never acknowledge potential shortcomings.
Let's go back to this controversy in the NFL. The league absolutely must investigate and take this seriously. If they find proof of wrongdoing, they must take action. If they want integrity, they must punish those who are cheating.
The league has already stated that this investigation could take weeks. Information from official sources is hard to find. The league has also repeatedly insisted that they have not established that the Patriots did anything wrong. That raises another question. Why is the Patriots owned Robert Kraft demanding an apology from the league? To an extent, I can understand him complaining about the media. But what exactly does he feel that the NFL is doing wrong? The only thing we know from the league is that they are investigating. Does he honestly object to finding answers?
What a tangent? Let's move a little closer to the Super Bowl. I'm not through with the controversy, but now I'm going to talk about how this can impact the Super Bowl.
As I have already stated, most people have made up their minds. Most people feel that the Patriots cheated. The fact that they are in the Super Bowl taints the event, especially if they win. What options are there? The Colts lost badly. If a team advances after a game like that, it would feel tainted. Also, the Colts have not been preparing. They would be at a huge disadvantage if they were in the Super Bowl. A Seahawks victory under those conditions would feel tainted.
Let's also go back to something that I have already stated. The league hasn't finished their investigation. What would happen if they found a reasonable explanation that eludes me right now and they advanced the Colts? Unjustly disqualifying a team would certainly taint the game.
No matter how you look at it, it's clear that the Patriots will play in the Super Bowl. If they win, it will feel tainted to a lot of people. Does that mean that the Seahawks can save the Super Bowl? Unfortunately, no.
I don't think that anyone can deny that the Patriots have had to deal with a distraction. Can you guess how I could call a game won against an underprepared team? Tainted.
There's another potential problem. I have stated before that I always root against the Northeast in sports. This is because our corrupt media is blatantly biased toward that region. If officials follow what's going on in their sport, they are likely to be influenced. This usually gives the Northeast an unfair advantage.
The problem is that there is another potential influence on this game that could outweigh the media's over-the-top northeast lovefest. I would be shocked if the officials in the Super Bowl will be oblivious to the accusations of cheating. Officials probably don't want any suspicions of an undeserved Patriots victory. I expect the officiating to actually be skewed in favor of the Seahawks.
A quick prediction: the Seahawks will win. Things will likely be tilted in their favor. I guess our best hope right now to minimize the taint is for the Seahawks to blow out the Patriots in a game with minimal questionable calls from the officials.
I guess this is a lot for someone who isn't even going to watch. After all, this isn't exactly the Taylor Cup (too obscure?). That's not going to stop me from the clichéd finale. Go Seahawks!
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