Dear Jake,
I'm here. I'm sorry. Life is sort of crazy right now.
Did you see Brewers reliever Will Smith get thrown out of a game this last week? He was using pine tar to illegally weight the ball when he would throw. It was in the news, not because of what he did, but because of his reaction when it happened. He didn't freak out at the umpires. He freaked out at the other team for ratting him out. In other words, he knew what he was doing, he knew it was wrong, and he thought he should get away with it. After the incident many major league players tweeted about it. None of them complained about the action, in fact, the Braves first baseman actually said, "Every pitcher does it. As a hitter you want them to do it so
they have a better grip, so we don’t get hit in the head... but just hide it better next time." That sentiment was the popular one. "Meh, everyone does it, no big deal, ha ha, he got caught..."
The next day radio talk show hosts each spent about 5 minutes briefly making fun of the pitcher's reaction to it. No one really talked about the pine tar on the baseball. Everyone sort of poked fun at Will Smith for freaking out at the other team. Some actually went as far as to say that the rule was dumb, everyone is doing it, therefore we should change the rules to make the game more entertaining. (don't get me started about that particular argument)
Do you remember Michael Pineda getting thrown out during a game he was pitching as a Yankee last year? He was using Vaseline. It was against the Red Sox. Since it's a big rivalry, the whole incident felt more like a WWE bit rather than a pitcher breaking the rules.
You probably remember when Sammy Sosa was caught using a corked bat in 2003, but I just reminded you. When you think about Sammy Sosa you think of his race for the home run title against Mark McGuire. Your first thought wasn't corked bat.
Do you remember when Christ Sabo of the Cincinnati Reds got caught using a corked bat back in 1996? Neither does anyone else.
Then there was the 2012 Chargers over in the football world who got caught using stick um on some of the players' equipment. Of course, that's not really a big deal anyway. I mean, it may be illegal but it's the same as using sticky gloves right?
Then there was the Seattle Seahawks facing suspensions for using the PED Adderall. Yeah, Richard Sherman is cool with it. After all, according to him, half the league is taking it. After testing positive to taking the drug he got his suspension overturned on a procedural technicality. Interesting fact: Each of the players caught using it got 4 games suspension. Richard Sherman will likely be in the hall of fame.
Did you hear about the quarterback of the NE Patriots who used a deflated football in at least one game, but probably a whole lot more? Oh you did? Good. Of all of these, this is the one we should be screaming about for sure. I mean, this is REAL cheating. This is the worst of it right here.
I definitely think there should be punishment for those who break the rules, but not to admit that those who are more successful and simply win more are held to a higher standard is folly. I agree that Tom Brady needs to be held accountable. I think if we believe it should somehow have an effect on his legacy I think it's silly. I would contend that if Derek Carr or Charlie Whitehurst had been caught doing the same thing there would have been a small fine and we never would have heard about it. Why? Because their teams haven't been beating up on everyone else's teams for the last 15 years.
Consequences as it would seem, are directly related to public outrage which, as it would seem, is directly related to how many times your team lost to the offending party. That is the cruel world we live in.
So get this Louis Brittz is coming to play with our band on Saturday, June 20th. I think you guys should come. The next day is the Strawberry Festival in Long Grove. We could make a weekend of it.
Who is your favorite president? Why is he your favorite?
Monday, May 25, 2015
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Well, you're not totally wrong about Brady, but if Charlie Whitehurst did his cheating in the conference championship game, we'd be hearing about it too. It's not "the system"'s fault that he's not good enough to play in such a game.
ReplyDeleteIf Whitehurst did his cheating in the conference championship game he would have probably gotten away with it and if he'd have gotten caught we would have heard about it for a couple days and people would have been laughing and saying...eh, everybody does it. If Whitehurst were in his 7th conference championship game having won five of them, he'd be dealing with what Brady is facing. Like I said, he should be punished, but there is no evidence that breaking that rule had any effect on the outcome of the game. If using PEDs gets four games, is it really just that under inflated footballs get the same. Do we really want the consequence for cheating to be a blanket 4 games no matter what the crime? I bet Pete Rose would love that logic.
DeleteThe fact that in our hypothetical scenario Whitehurst is playing in a conference championship means that the hypothetical Charlie is probably better than the real life Charlie. I think any QB who gets caught cheating in a conference championship that his team wins by a million points (or whatever it was) and then goes on to win the Super Bowl would be making headlines for more than a couple of days. The only difference between our hypothetical case and the Brady case is the ongoing discussion about "legacy." Someone whose team wins one Super Bowl and is otherwise only a moderately successful QB doesn't have legacy issues (see: Trent Dilfer), but again, that doesn't mean the punishment is out of line.
DeleteSecondly, it seems like a dangerous road to go down if you want to say that any punishment the league hands out should be based on how much the infraction demonstrably impacts the game's outcome. That's ludicrous.
Finally, I still don't really care that much.
It also made me chuckle that anyone would be upset with the Braves manager for pointing out Smith's offense to the umpires. First of all, the manager has no idea what the "substance" is. Maybe it's just the resin that "everyone" uses. But maybe it's Elmer's glue. Or motor oil. One of the biggest jobs of a manager is to protect his team from harm and unfair play. If he DIDN'T point it out to the umps, he'd be guilty of negligence. Like the serial killer being angry at the neighbors for reporting the weird smell coming from his basement to the cops. Too extreme of an example? Yes. Definitely. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteMade me chuckle too.
Delete