Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

To be sure, the Patriots have long passed the New York Yankees as the most hated team in Sports.
Truth is: the Yankees were never hated in the pure sense of the word.
Billy Eckstine and Frankie Laine had the answer. "Jealousy, night and day you torture me..."

Fans of the world were just plain old jealous because, even in their wildest dreams, they knew their team
could never be as great as the Bronx Bombers.
From "Murderers Row" through the decades the Yankees have always been the team folks wanted to beat -
if and when they could.
But... the Yankees did not flaunt their greatness.
They shared the Capitol of the World with their less talented cousins and were gentlemen always - on and off the field.

The Patriots are a totally different act.
Like Meredith Willson's words, they're "braggin' all about how they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen..."
They are "we do it;" "we did it;" "we've done it" and watcha gonna do about it.

They go so far as to create momentos of unscrupulous deeds.
A good example is the "game ball" prepared to "honor" Mark Henderson, the work-release felon who drove
the infamous snow plow.
Or, the plow itself which was purchased and now hangs in a place of (dis)honor at the Patriots version
of a hall of fame: Patriot Place.

So, can one blame over-zealous media when they jump at an opportunity to take a shot at the Patsies? Hardly!

The Boston Herald, a thoroughly honorable institution, quickly remedied its error and did so in as bold a manner
as possible.
Quite unlike other print media that bury a retraction on "page 8" at the bottom of column six -
or broadcast media that verifies nothing and retracts less.

And now, haters of the world, rejoice in the outcome of the latest Super Bowl and brush up on your Latin.
Remember: Sic transit gloria mundi - a reminder used at Papal coronations that has enjoyed many interpretations -
among the best perhaps "All glory is fleeting" attributed to General George S. Patton.

By the way, the first "game ball" of the snow-plow game was awarded to Steve Nelson.

rhickok1109 wrote:The very troubling thing to me about this story is the lack of named sources.

I worked for five newspapers in three states and not a single one of them would have run a story like this. To a journalst, anonymous sources are (or should be) like stool pigeons are to cops: You don't quote them but you don't implicity believe them. You put it in a lot of work corroborating what they tell you and somewhere around 90% of the time you can't corroborate because they didn't tell you the truth.

It says a lot more about ESPN than it does about the Patriots.

They seem to make an awfully big deal about the videotaping prior to 2007, but my recollection is that the videotaping of the sidelines was legal up until that year. Now, obviously, the part about them running around with NFL Films badges or otherwise concealing that they're with the Patriots, that's fair game for their story -- I don't know that it's cheating, unless there's a rule against it -- but it certainly gives a nice snapshot of how far the team is willing to go.

How about them scrambling the Steelers headsets tonight so that FOR THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF they were picking up NE's radio broadcast. Nothing like brazenly announcing to the world "Hey! We're still cheating!"

26554 wrote:How about them scrambling the Steelers headsets tonight so that FOR THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF they were picking up NE's radio broadcast. Nothing like brazenly announcing to the world "Hey! We're still cheating!"

Since a team's headphones are shut down when the other team is having a problem like that, there's really no advantage.

rhickok1109 wrote:

26554 wrote:How about them scrambling the Steelers headsets tonight so that FOR THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF they were picking up NE's radio broadcast. Nothing like brazenly announcing to the world "Hey! We're still cheating!"

Since a team's headphones are shut down when the other team is having a problem like that, there's really no advantage.

If only one team has planned to have their headsets shut down, I'd say they have a pretty good advantage.

Right away, the closed-minded conclude that the Patriots caused problems with communications.
This is more likely additional jealous nonsense.

They overlook the fact that severe rain was threatening the area for hours. (It finally arrived late in the game.)
Most heavy rains are accompanied by things known as thunder and lightning.
Thunder and lightning often have a negative effect on electronic gear - especially less sophisticated stuff
like sideline communications equipment.

Here in sunny Florida, during the almost daily blasts of foul weather, a seagull's fart can cause a major power outage.
The next thing the hate-mongers will have us believe is that the Patriots feed beans to the gulls.

C'mon! Get real...
Personally, if they never won another game it would be a reason to smile.
But, face it. The Patriots are "the team to beat" in the nfl and very few can even dream of doing it.

To: the whiners
Re: nfl.com
Read it and weep. (Note: "weather conditions")

NFL statement on Steelers-Pats headset controversy

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... ontroversy

26554 wrote:How about them scrambling the Steelers headsets tonight so that FOR THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF they were picking up NE's radio broadcast. Nothing like brazenly announcing to the world "Hey! We're still cheating!"

Mike Tomlin should have tripped the headset man.

oldecapecod11 wrote:To: the whiners
Re: nfl.com
Read it and weep. (Note: "weather conditions")

NFL statement on Steelers-Pats headset controversy

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... ontroversy

Taking Roger's word on it, huh? Oh, of course it was just an innocent misunderstanding. Just like the last time it happened. And the time before that. And the time before...