Now we’ve recorded our podcast on a Monday before, but not on a working Monday. This energy on this podcast played out like a Happy Hour after work vibe. Raheem Goodell at some point became conversationally incoherent. Tideking, as he goes through his domestication process, finally breaks down why he doesn’t want a house. The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl due to the Chiefs never really leaving their locker room. So here is what we learned from this podcast:
1. The Fix was in on the Chiefs’ special teams.
2. Drew Brees played a part in Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl win.
3. The Weeknd had the Tampa cocaine for this year’s halftime show.
4. JJ Watt going to the Rapist’s (Ben Roethlisberger) team would be disrespectful.
5. TideKing will fight the commitment of a house more than commitment of a relationship.
6. Twin gets haircuts.
7. There are levels to the thickness of a woman.
8. Home Depot got good gutters!
*****
Tom Brady won his 7th Super Bowl trophy tying him with the legendary QB Otto Graham for the most professional football championships. Okay, for most of you reading this, that last part holds no water in recent history because Brady is G.O.A.T, the greatest of all time. This win without Bill Belichick cemented his legacy. It answered the question about the Patriot Way. Is it Belichick’s culture? Or Tom Brady’s legendary skillset.
While we celebrate Brady’s accomplishments, which are well deserved, I find myself feeling like I’m missing something. It all started when the Super Bowl was coming to its end, and Tony Romo was laying on the Brady ass-lather pretty thick. He said that Brady had done things in his career the “right” way. I was taken aback by that statement, deflated I must say. Was Romo not looking at the extra game film that Belichick was looking at early on in the Patriot’s dominance?
My favorite sport of them all is baseball. The game tells no lies! If you can’t hit a curveball, fuck off! You can’t pitch inside, UPS is hiring! Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports. A batter literally has less than half a second to decide if the pitch that is coming at him is hittable or not. So when a player or a team is dominating at a high level, or a little too high, people get suspicious. Usually in baseball, where there is smoke, there is certainly a blaze of fire to follow.
The Stigma of Cheating in baseball follows a player throughout his career and the rest of his life. It keeps them out of the Hall of Fame, let it alone the typical barbershop type of conversations. Cheating the game is frowned upon…if caught. Everyone pushes the boundaries in some sort of fashion. From wide receivers wearing gloves with extra gripping, to pitchers secretly doctoring the baseball during the game.
Bill Belichick secretly filmed the defensive signals of opposing teams’ coaches during the first few years of his tenure. Now the value of having this information has been played down significantly. Pundits do not see how this information aided in the success of the Patriots. Never mind the 3 Super Bowls that were won during those first few years. That inside information of the other team is valuable. If that information didn’t help the Patriots win the ultimate prize, then why did you need it in the first place? Don’t get me started on Deflate-gate! If Brady preferred a particular grip, there are gripping exercises to improve your grip on the ball.
I’m not blaming Belichick and Brady for cheating. Sometimes you wind up going the wrong way to do the right thing. Everything is right when you’re hoisting that Lombardi trophy at the end of the season. So, I would shine the light back on the NFL media. I remember when Spy-gate came to light, I would listen to Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio and they would spend no less than 15 minutes talking about this subject for the entire show. Spy-gate got buried! No one turns the page like the NFL.
Baseball writers get a bad rep for being petty with baseball players and managers when it comes to the Hall of Fame. But where do we draw the line on ignoring character? Baseball writers have completely said fuck that! I don’t care how many homeruns you hit, how many batters you struck out, or how many hits you have. If you were an asshole or you cheated the game, you will not be immortalized in “sports heaven.”
Football doesn’t see it that way, and because good character and integrity aren’t criteria that sway you from making it into their Hall of Fame. Football media has decided to remove all accountability and turn the page. Don’t forget, they are picky about who is deemed a legend. We can praise Belichick for his football mind but bury Colin Kaepernick for protesting during the national anthem. We can praise Ben Roethlisberger for being one of the toughest QBs to ever play the position, let alone ignore the fact that he sexually assaulted 3 women. Yet we never let Michael Vick forget about his dog fighting ring.
Is the NFL getting this right? No, they’re not. Accountability should not be in the moment for some but last a lifetime for others. Football’s greatest Coach and QB shouldn’t go through the rest of the lives as if their careers are unblemished with stains of villainy. Much like the Republican party, the NFL and its media will turn the page and praise Brady as they should and continue the narrative of his greatness. I just can’t forget chicanery.
Tony Love