In a prior post I made some predictions about the NFL playoffs and said if I was wrong I’d blog with my tail between my legs. But…but…I’ve decided to blog with partly deflated balls between my legs instead.
Why? Because the Green Bay Packers were leading their opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, by 19 to 7 with a little more than two minutes left in the game. 999 times out of 1000, the Packers win that game. And my predictions regarding their quarterback, Russell Wilson, and their star cornerback, Richard Sherman, came true. Wilson game sacked real good early in the game and proceeded to throw six interceptions. Talk about a pick six. Sherman got burned by a touchdown pass, too, and looked none to happy about it.
So I don’t feel like I got that one wrong, really. Except the Packers didn’t win. Watching the Seahawks come back the way they did had a surreal quality to it. It never should have happened. Still, I guess I have to accept that I got that one wrong.
I had also predicted the Colts would beat the Patriots. But you know what? The Patriots are cheating scum! Cheaters! It turns out that the Patriots used partially deflated footballs in the game, in clear violation of league rules. You could give them the benefit of the doubt were this an isolated incident, but the Patriots have been caught cheating before, so it seems to be part of their DNA. When a team is cheating and wins the game, it doesn’t really count, or at least the win deserves an asterisk.
I’m going to Las Vegas for Super Bowl Sunday, as I’ve done for the last five years, but I’m not going to bet on the game. Not only do I not like the Seahawks, but they looked terrible for most of the game against the Packers. And how can you bet on a Patriots team that cheats?
I’ll leave my gambling for the card tables, after I watch this Super Bowl matchup with morbid fascination.
michaelkrich 
What kind of moronic blog have I stumbled across? You made a couple of NFL predictions that were clearly wrong. Admit it and move on. You say Wilson had 6 int- wrong. Did you even watch the game? You say the Colts will win it all? Wrong again!
Patriots are cheaters? Look into your magic ball again and tell me how anyone can deflate 11 footballs exactly the same? I’m no Pats fan but it seems more likely that the weather helped to evenly decrease the psi of the balls. This could happen to the Pats and not the Colt because the conditions during inflation could have been different.
The NFL does not agree with your cheating assessment: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2015/01/25/the-nfl-will-conclude-belichick-and-brady-did-not-cheat/?partner=yahootix
Lack of blogging integrity is a real problem these days. Stop being part of the problem.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comment, even though it’s pretty negative. I think I did admit that I was wrong on my predictions. So far as the Patriots being cheaters, their coach was fined a half-million dollars and the team was fined a quarter-million dollars for cheating, so I don’t know how you get around that. The fact that the NFL concludes they didn’t cheat this time with the balls doesn’t really tell me much, since their credibility is at an all-time low due to the way they’ve handled the domestic violence incidents. I think the league is probably more concerned about maintaining a shred of integrity around the championship game and the Super Bowl right now than they are with doling out punishment.
As far as Wilson’s interceptions, here’s a quote from the CBS sports blog late in the game: “And that’s just about a wrap. With five minutes to go and trailing the Packers 19-7, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw interception No. 4 in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.” I do acknowledge that I got the number of interceptions wrong, so my bad on that. I should have checked the stats before posting, so thank you for your correction and encouragement around blogging integrity.
LikeLike
Where exactly did you say you were wrong about the Colts?
All you said was “When a team is cheating and wins the game, it doesn’t really count, or at least the win deserves an asterisk.”
It sounds like you don’t think you were wrong.
LikeLike
I stand by what you’ve quoted, which acknowledges that the Patriots won the game, but also addresses the issue of validity due to the controversy. I’d also point out a couple of other things that didn’t make it into the original post.
If you don’t by my claim that the Patriots cheated, read the commentary by Patriots super-fan John Berman, who says he’s now ashamed to be a Patriots fan.
Also, does anyone think that when the Patriots were caught spying that was the only time they cheated, or is it more plausible that it was the only time they were caught? So now you’ve got this issue with the under-inflated footballs and I hear a lot of people saying, well, you know, they would have won the game anyway. But if that’s true, then why do it in the first place? They must have thought it gave them an advantage. And to tie in the “only time they were caught” concept, no one knows if that is the only shenanigans going on in the game against the Colts.
But yes, the Colts lost. I admit it.
LikeLike