First the NFL won't let me reproduce games without express written consent of the NFL or ABC, then they have the audacity to remove all videos over 45 seconds from the Internet. Now their strict policies have backfired on them.
The revolution has begun. The Patriots who won their first Super Bowl after the September 11th disaster, self-proclaimed themselves America's team so shouldn't we all bring camcorders to the stadium and join in? I mean it'd be un-American not to.
But in all seriousness, "Jets, Lies, Videotapes!(gasp)" was how I responded to the most recent incident sullying what remained of Belichick's smoldering reputation. Straight from the chronicles of the James Bond espionage film series, the New England Patriots have brought Cold War techniques to the National Football League. Not even the Japanese could decipher the Navajo codetalkers during World War II. Who knew the NFL and Bill Belichick had so much in common with the last Great War? Without our history we are lost.
Defections galore, the New New York-Boston rivalry has been building up to this for decades in baseball and has now infected the NFL version. All we need to do is insert the Pawtucket Redcoats(has n ne else ntice the symmetry of Red Sox vs. Yankees?) into the NL East to rival the Mets and we'll be on course to incite a full on Northern Civil War.
While the Yankees have the advantage historically over the Red Sox, the Patriots have ruled the series on the NFL side like a hammer on a nail.
Scandal has gripped everyone from celebrities to Congressmen, media personalities, and professional athletes yet until recently the coaching ranks had remained untainted.
But first lets start with the Evil Genius, Bill Belichick. Once so worshiped within the NFL community that his name was openly discussed as an additional engraving into the Lombardi Trophy, this isn't the first instance of Belichick's shady morals and low integrity coming to light.
For years, he's been an innovator, and a risk-taker always looking for even the slightest competitive advantage. Whether it has been utilizing Junior Seau at fullback, Mike Vrabel at tight end, Troy Brown at defensive back, or notoriously manipulating the injury report (Brady is still hampered by a right shoulder injury that has had him listed somewhere on the injury report for 49 straight weeks. Kudos for the toughness it takes to keep playing through an injury that would have sidelined a lesser man).
Just one week ago, Patriots All-Pro safety Rodney Harrison was busted for ordering shipments of Human Growth Hormones. For years head coaches have been upheld as symbols of morality and the voice of reasoning in the increasingly controversial world of sports.
While cheating with steroids, especially in baseball, has been thought as a way to break hollowed records, stealing signs contributes strictly to wins and losses. As Herm Edwards would proudly proclaim, "You don't play for records, you playyy... To WIN THE GAME!"
According to published reports, the supposed M.O. is that a cameraman would shoot video of the opposing defensive coaches during the first half, then bring it into the locker room. By matching up the plays to the pre-snap and in-play Polaroids for each play, someone with the Patriots staff would figure out the opposing team's defensive signals, allowing the Patriots to steal some of the defense's play calls during the second half. Using that, the Patriots coaches could prep Tom Brady by telling him the defense in his headset, or someone on the offense could be taught the stolen signals to pick it up from the huddle to set up line protection calls, audibles, etc.
Conspiracy theorists will now wonder aloud, is this how a 6th round pick out of Michigan became a sure fire Hall of Famer, 3 time Super Bowl MVP and Super Bowl champ? However, if this were true, wouldn't (the wildly overrated) Drew Bledsoe have been enough firepower to win a Super Bowl under Belichick? Maybe this was the final piece of advice, Parcell's gave to Bill B
elichick that he did not have as coach of the Browns.Performance enhancing drugs, DUI's and inappropriate e-mails were supposed to be left to the immature doings of young athletes. Just last week, Wade Wilson, a Dallas Cowboys assistant coach was suspended 5 games after it was revealed that he received shipments of HGH in the same investigation which yielded Harrison's HGH transgressions as well as ten other prolific professional wrestlers.
Last August, Lions defensive line coach Joe Cullen, was arrested and charged with indecent and obscene conduct, the night before the Lions' third exhibition at Oakland after a worker at a Dearborn fast-food drive-thru window saw him naked behind the wheel of his SUV and called the police, thus inspiring the Internet's most hilarious faux MySpace profile. Cullen was arrested and charged with drunken driving a week later, after the Lions' exhibition finale against Buffalo.
The following year, the NFL banned the use of snow plows on the field during a game. The fallout from Belichick's illegal procedures will have similarly significant effects, which will likely result in the approval of owners to allow defensive players to use radios in their helmets to make calls from the sideline, which quarterbacks have on offense. Ironically, the owners unanimously voted that mandate down in the off-season.
However, if you are a Patriots fan, you should be apprehensive about Belichick's increasingly bizarre, eccentric on and off-field behavior possibly derailing his caching ingenuity. Remember how revered Mike Tyson was within the boxing community before his eccentricities transcended his boxing talent and turned him into a social pariah? From an analytical psychological perspective if you watched Belichick he has the mannerisms of a guy on the brink of some type of nervous breakdown.
He recently divorced his wife after it was disclosed he was maintaining a relationship with a former Giants receptionist that helped precipitate their divorce and he has the demeanor of RoboCop without all the bad memories. Beneath that ragged hoodie, a catastrophe is stewing.
Former Patriots linebacker, Ted Johnson, who has shown early signs of Alzheimers attributes some blame on Belichick for pressuring him to participate in full contact practice drills three days after suffering a concussion in an exhibition game again August 2002. Johnson reported that during the drills, he suffered a second concussion.
I always knew that beneath the tattered hoodie of Bill Belichick was a secretive man with a dark persona, I just never suspected he was wired.
In the near future, I half expect to hear Belichick being booked for indecent exposure after being found spray painting game plans in graffiti on the side of Gillette Stadium.
Dishonesty
Jon Chaney threatening to kill, and kick the a$$ of former UMass basketball coach John Calipari during a post-game press conference was a lapse in character for an otherwise respected head coach but still, it showed how dishonest coaches can be when its convenient. Instead of following through with his promise/threats Calipari later became head coach of a powerhouse Memphis Tigers program. Not even an attempted hit, hired gun or an accidental hit and run? How can a potential recruit believe anything Chaney says on the recruiting trail if he can't keep his word? Shameless.
High Price Strippers, Bad Tippers
Before PacMan Jones was making it rain in Las Vegas strip clubs, former Alabama coach Mike Price was taking it a step further at a Florida strip club. A story in Sports Illustrated said that Price had been seen at a strip club "making it rain" and yelling "Roll Tide, Roll!". As a result Price was fired as his tenure at Alabama was shorter than Greg Oden's rookie season(or his right leg, pick your pun). Mike rolled with the tide, on to UTEP a few years later.
Decision Making
He lied to his owner, his fans, chastized the media for insinuating that he would quit on his team and had the gall to trade in the sunny beaches of Miami, Florida-- for the hot and humid deep south backwaters of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and along the way earned the nickname O'Saban Bin Lyin'. Take that Saban clan. Enjoy your new shadow Nick Saban because you may have evaded Don Shula's(whose son he ironically replaced at Alabama hmmm...) but you'll never escape Bear Bryant's.
Dating
Isiah Thomas (twice) has lowered the bar for head coaches. His role as the Tony Soprano in the Knicks Nuggets hit/brawl has been well documented, however, more recently wall to wall coverage of his sexual harassment trial has served as another distraction and embroiled the Knicks in yet another controversy.
Retirement has been tough for Isiah Thomas and the fall has been steep. From sneaking kisses from Ladies Man and American idol, Magic Johnson as a player to rejection by low level employees as a coach, and passing women along to Stephon Marbury, things couldn't get much worse for Isiah Thomas. Is it that hard to get a date when your coaching a storied franchise whose downfall you helped precipitate with a payroll that puts the Yankees to shame? At least he has ...Zach Randolph.
Coaching Secrecy & Egotism
Former Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy(see pic above) just likes to consort with his constituency. For me, it wasn't that he was drinking with students, partying with sororities or abandoning his wife and kids, it just reminds me how self-important other coaches are. While other coaches defend their game plans with the same vigilant secrecy as the Pentagon's security codes, you rarely see these men as humans. So while Dennis Felton is in Iraq meeting troops, Charlie Weis is hiding the identity f his starting quarterback and Al Gore... I mean Norv Turner(I confuse them for some reason) is locking up his gameplan before playing the Patriots, Eustachy is on campus getting to know his biggest fans. Why can't more coaches be as open as Good Ole Inebriated Larry?
Bad TV
The murder of former Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy was one of the more tragic events to occur in sports, however Coach Dave Bliss attempts to cover his NCAA violations was nearly as deplorable. What happened next inspired more than enough bad made for TV movies, creative Law and Order "based on true events" episode spins and docudrama ideas. There are enough bad ideas out there without head coaches in sports contributing to the plight. And the attempted cover-up was pretty bad too...
As for Eric Mangini, I just have two words for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment