Last Thoughts on Super Bowl LII
For
a game I had low interest in going into, it was a pretty good game.
Being a Pittsburgh guy, it’s hard to root for anything Philadelphia.
However the Rooney family issued a one time pass on this for two
reasons: 1. During the war years, the Steelers and Eagles were combined
into the Steagles, so there is some history of cooperation among the
clubs and 2. Fuck New England.
Here's
my take on the whole Brady / Belicheick / New England thing. I think we
are now totally against dynasties anymore [unless it’s your
team that’s winning]. We like to see someone new win, maybe win twice
but once a team becomes a dominant and constant winner, we turn on them
in a hurry.
A
recent example would be the New York Yankees of the 1996-2010 era. Now a lot of
people hate the Yankees because Yankees fans can be crass,
rude and arrogant. Like the fans in the movies For the Love Of the Game.
[If you have not seen it,: A Mediocre baseball movies starring 55 year old Kevin Costner as the
pitcher approaching 40 who gets one more minute of glory pitching a perfect game against the Yankees before
headlining off into the sunset and
hall of fame.] Then there was Steinbrenner, who outspent everyone else
and bought all of the best players. Well, most of the best and some
[“alleged”] cheaters like Clemens and A-Fraud. But besides all of that,
they were winners. Just like the Oakland A’s
of the early 1970s and the Big Red Machine, they went out and took care
of business and won. But because they won a lot, it made them a target.
How many of us were extatic when the Diamondbacks beat the Yanks in 7
in 2001 just because it was the Yankees [and
it kept them from a fourth consecutive World Series title]? My hand is up.
One
can include the 1994 – 2008 Detroit Red Wings in the same category. In
that span the played in a Westwern Conference Championship or
Stanley Cup Final 9 times [2004/5 season lost completely to lockout.]
In 2001 they were accused of buying a Stanley Cup by having a lineup of
superstars and hall of famers featuring Dominick Hasek, Luc Robitaille, Bret Hull, Steve
Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, Brendan
Shannahan, and Sergei Fedorov all coached by then 7-time Cup winner
Scotty Bowman.
The Brady-Belichick Patriots fall into the same category. They’re too good. Per Wikipeia’s Tom Brady page “Since
Brady became their starting quarterback in 2001, the Patriots have never had a losing season and have won
14 division titles. The Patriots played in twelve
AFC Championship Games from 2001 to 2017—including seven in a row from 2011 to 2017—and won eight of them.” ‘Nuff said right there.
Look, you have to give props to an organization that is that good. They seem to
be able to let good players go and have people step right in at
will. This shows that they have a very disciplined system and all of
the players buy into it. It’s hard to argue with winning so every player
knows his role and plays that role. There are not many wild cards on the
Patriots.
They
have had a couple of scrapes with the league – allegedly spying and
taping teams practicing and ‘deflategate.’ Plus the odd number of
calls that just ‘seem to go their way.’ [See ‘The Tuck Rule.’] But face
it, stars get calls in all of the leagues that mediocre players and
teams do not get.
What the Patriots are really guilty of is overstaying their welcome. Teams now are supposed to dominate for three or four years, then humbly back down and rebuild as the salary cap takes its toll, players move on or "go out on top."
Maybe this is an American thing: we love to see someone come out of nowhere and make it to the top. We are nice enough to let them have their moment then we expect them to step down - or at least step aside so someone else can be in the spotlight. If they stay too long - unless you're a super nice guy like Tom Hanks - we're more than happy to turn on you. Americans love an underdog.Philly was an underdog, the Buster Douglas who took the crown off of Mike Tyson's head. Let's see how we feel about them in a few years.
