Please be advised, barring new and totally relevant evidence, this will be my last post and comments on Spy Gate.
Last week, I asked a simple question.
What should the commissioner have done in the best interest of the game?
Thank you to all those who provided me with comments. While I found the comments diverse, and entertaining, No one really had a solution. There was a lot of blame thrown on the media and their tepid reporting regarding the incident. Many indictments of Commissioner Goddell were brought forth, especially in regard to his disposal of the tapes. (I agree that was not too bright) I actually believed that Goddell out-thought himself, because he must have believed the media was going to try to get a court order to get the tapes, such as when the media uses the freedom of information act. (I’m no lawyer, but seeing that the NFL is a private entity, I don’t think they would have been made to hand over the tapes.)
Many believed that Arlen Specter should be paying more attention to our economic-war problem than worrying about teams (basically his Eagles) that got jobbed. While others critiqued the Coaches, the teams and the league, no one really gave up solutions, except for a few. So after further review, here are my takes. .
Of course this is if the league finds new and relevant evidence. But I believe this is what should have happened from jump street.
1) The Patriots should have been fined the winning purse of the Super Bowl game if there was taping leading up to the championship game or playoffs.
2) A home game in the following regular season should have been taken from the Patriots, but the game would not be at a neutral site.
My solutions are very economically oriented because it affects them where it hurts the most, the bank account. Placing asterisks on records are a waste of a character. What joy would any fan take in celebrating a championship that was given to them via disqualification instead of being earned? And how can you look in the history books and say that during a certain season the world champion was "vacant." We can’t turn back the hands of time, but what we can do is make the punishment so painful that they won’t try to do it again.
The one thing I agree with is that this topic is old and that people like me won’t let it go away. People like me until now.
I have watched and read and heard story after story about Spygate and the way Commissioner Goddell has handled this situation. The NFL wishes dearly that this story would go away. The NFL should be reminded that all wishes don’t come true, as there are people in hell wishing for a refreshing cold drink.
As an aside, I wish that the talking media heads, along with their partners the ink stained wretches, would stop adding the word "gate" after every scandal that comes up. For the young people who read these blogs; the "gate" is in reference to the Watergate Building Complex in Washington DC, where in 1972, men broke into the Democratic National Committee’s office to gather information in order to secure a successful re-election for President Nixon. This scandal, named after said building, led to the birth of the tabloid type press we have today, as the tenacious reporting of the scandal inevitably forced the resignation of President Nixon. So if you didn’t know, now you know.
Back to the lecture at hand; after all this scrutiny, opining and down right mean criticism, I have not heard from anyone a reasonable solution to this problem or basically what the Commissioner should have done "in the best interest of the game".
Patriot Fan I’m sure has a much different solution than say Jet Fan or Steeler Fan or even Ram Fan. However, as I desire the tone of my posts to be of intelligent, rational and practical discourse, I want to know what you all think should be the solution to this problem. This solution should be one of practicality and what makes sense for EVERYONE involved. So lets not make it partisan. Lets see if your solution is much better than the plan of action Commissioner Goddell has taken.
To be honest, I have not come up with a solution myself. However, I would very much like to see what should be the most logical way to make this huge elephant in the room at least have a dark place to sit as a new NFL season is fast approaching.
I live in Phoenix, but was born in the "D" (Deetroit) Remember, while people from the D will trash the city, we wont tolerate it from other people. Its a D thang baby. My specialty is basketball, but Ill drop some knowledge on anything in the sports world. While I may make you laugh or throw a few tantrums and maybe get some wild responses from you, its my goal to make you think. That’s the fun thing about blogs.
Lastly, lets remember that this is just SPORTS. While we are passionate, lets not take it too seriously. This is not like what our troops are doing in securing our freedom. So lets remember that before we think that sports is a life and death situation.
With that said, thank you for the opportunity to entertain you. Now lets get to it.
