The New England Patriots are going through some troubled times; that is, of course, much the understatement. They've clawed their out of a mediocre season, soundly defeating hated opponents all along the way and they've climbed back into elite status while accessing once again the Super Bowl, but some silly bit of a controversy is detracting from all of these accomplishments at this time.
It is sad to behold, really: for here we have, for only the third time in the last fifteen years (and all of those occurrences have been since 2009, too) we see the two-more deserving teams in the Big Game indeed: the AFC's number one versus the NFC's number one. Two teams that can develop quite the rivalry and, allegedly, already have...
Aye, but instead of the usual
trash-talking leading up to the
big event - we have something else entirely. (And, no; we don't mean the
Puppy Bowl here!)
The media -meaning, ESPN- has dubbed it the
''DeflateGate'' in their attempt to deflate these
Patriots' who must have appeared, to them, all too pumped up and -perhaps-
unbeatable otherwise.
If they cannot lay blame (and pin charges) squarely on coach or quarterback, they'll get somebody from the organization - and it appears to be, at this time, the Ball Boy; a locker room attendant who spent way too much time (all of ninety seconds?) in a bathroom alone with those twelve footballs that were, apparently, deflated for the most part...
Coach Bill Belichick had a perfectly sound, scientific explanation for the deflation of those balls - but it was shot down by
Bill Nye The Science Guy, of all people! And ESPN was only too happy to report that, too... How can you move on when even Bill Nye is against you?!?
The media -again; it's really mostly ESPN- is having a field day tying in everything and anything to this infamous ''DeflateGate'' thing: even when it implicates other sports, other varieties of balls, and
''over-inflation'' rather than the opposite...! Rivals are having a field day, too: from the perennial hateful and envious
New York Jets (who wouldn't have missed this opportunity for anything) to the former coach now with the Super Bowl defending champion and opponent at XLIX: Pete Carroll who now claims that he was
''set up to fail'' when he coached New England...!
Both the media and the NFL fanbase at large seem to treat the Patriots as ''tainted champions'' now; chumps whose victories are all in question due to a mere technicality that partially affected
only half the game against the Indianapolis Colts - a team that the Patriots dominate every time they play them. (Sorry,
Ric Flair! We know the Colts -or the Broncos- are your team(s) - 'cause you're a Horseman! Alas, just like the Horsemen did when they were faced with better teams such as the Super Powers, Road Warriors or nWo factions of this sorry world, both of them folded quick when they met a superior team indeed!) Now, the winning team's cornerback here, Brandon Browner's incensed
tweet response full of, ah, Patriotic fervor seemed to only add fuel to the fire rather than douse the flames of controversy with reason - and simple, pure logic.
It doesn't matter what the fans - or the Flairs - think:
step forward and look at it
because this is the best riding quarterback today!
Wooooooooooo!
A freaking
PETITION has been put up online in order to gather up as many signatures as possible in order to
remove the New England Patriots from the Super Bowl XLIX game - and play another AFC championship game instead, between the two losers that the Pats devastated, those being the
Colts and the
Ravens. The petition's origin? A Baltimore resident.
The NFL seems to be listening to the rabble and the mob here: so much so that it is doubtful now that
team owner Robert Kraft will get that apology issued - like, ever.
Never mind the feats of
the Gronk (and his
spikes) or the Fork (
Vince Wilfork, really, he who found time to
rescue a woman from a turned-over vehicle on the road after helping the team win their crucial playoff game a mere hour or so earlier...! He wins football games and saves people - all in the same day! He's a super-hero! What's more, he's a Patriotic Super-Hero! But we're digressing right now...) - those eleven balls that lacked air are the talk of the sports world!
Patriots' other breakout star
Julian Edelman chose this time to release a video bashing himself - but also provind his detractors wrong. A self-sacrificial act if there ever was one, perhaps ordered by coach Belichick, in order to try and defuse some of that bad attention the entire club is having now, as it prepares for the biggest game of the year? Then again, there is that
t-shirt... And his
smoothies.
Both the coach as the true star of the team, however -and that is quarterback Tom Bunchen... (er, sorry,
Tom Brady, husband to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen in his private life! Otherwise renowned for being a
top tier QB.)- are equally hassled with questions during meetings with the press; understandably so as a deflated football would have helped him immensely stage a comeback against the Colts in the AFC championship game -
both of them are, on top of that, being
analyzed and scrutinized after
each and every statement they make. It is going so far as having
body language analysis done, to try and see if they're
lying...! It is no wonder whatsoever that
Tom's feelings are so hurt - but he's moving on... even though
some question his legacy now - the jerks! Never mind the fact that
other QBs have been proven cheaters: that is Tom's way, dammit! Still, the doubt persists...
Even Brady's
dad (aw, the father of the Brady Brood... er, Bunch... letting us down, too) is being quoted as doubting not his son (no, whoo-oh there, not his son! But the team...) yet not being sure at all that
the relationship between his son and the Patriots organization can end in any other way than very
badly... For a variety of reasons, actually!
All this must be creeping into the Patriots' craniums, methinks: how to prepare for an opponent, like the Pats usually do, how to prepare for a war when there is this constant huge distraction there?
As if the
odd-makers weren't enough already...
Thank The Lord, the Pats still have their most faithful (!) fan down in Florida -the one who will never doubt them, never think they cheat; no way- in order to keep them upbeat and looking forward to defeating the
sad-eyed Seahawks (but often with
obscene twinkles in those sad eyes,
though) on this coming Sunday, the first of February:
Ashley Lands.
GO
GO!
Hmm...
What are the Pats' own
anyways?
bravenet.com
