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Column: Pats not perfect

By Brad Minkow
Jan. 29, 2008

With less than a week until the kickoff of Super Bowl XLII, the 18-0 New England Patriots are staring destiny, immortality and perfection dead in the eye with only the New York Giants as an obstacle. Along the way, the Patriots have set a plethora of records, sent a mind-boggling eight players to the Pro Bowl and feature the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player.

But while the Patriots seem to encapsulate every redeeming quality that you’d want a Little League coach to teach his young team, New England is also surrounded by a clout of suspicion, jealousy and contempt. In other words, even the perfect Patriots cannot escape the same allegations and slow demise that plague today’s professional sports.

From as early as their first win of the season, New England’s triumphant play would be overshadowed by allegations that the team videotaped its opponent’s defensive signals. An act universally regarded around the league as “unfathomable,” the Patriots neither confirmed nor denied the claim’s validity. Rather, the team’s disgruntled head coach Bill Belichick pled the fifth and let his $500,000 fine and his team’s forfeited first-round draft pick speak for him.

The situation was anything but a moot subject for the media, but that didn’t discourage Belichick from hurting his already destitute public persona.

This is, after all, the same man who instructed his team to run up the score against his opponents, often to a laughable margin of over thirty points. This is also the same coach who benched his All-Pro defensive tackle Richard Seymour for arriving late to practice after attending his grandfather’s funeral.

More tumultuous than Belichick’s behavior has been his players’ on-field conduct. Defensive lineman Vince Wilfork’s latest penalty in the American Football Conference championship game earned him a $5,000 fine, bringing this season’s total to $37,500.

Unfortunately for Wilfork, he fell just short of matching the national median household income. But ironically, Wilfork comes off as a saint compared to teammate safety Rodney Harrison, who was suspended for steroid-abuse in the beginning of the season and almost cost New England their last game against the Giants in Week 17 with a personal foul penalty.

Despite every possible distraction, the Patriots refused to lose. Whether victory was ascertained by a margin of three points or 33 points, the Patriots would not and could not be denied.

So here in stand the perfect New England Patriots. They will be vying for their fourth Super Bowl victory in seven years. The team is on the verge of victory and has consummated itself as both “America’s Team” and “America’s Most Hated.” While both loved and despised, rules have been broken, suspensions have been earned and character-flaws have been ever apparent.

The Patriots are morally no different than any other team. Each team has successes and each team has their own notarized flaws. Every team wins some games and every team loses players to suspensions and poor decisions. If only these teams could will themselves to never lose in the record-books like the Patriots.

When all is said and done, the New England Patriots may very well be the best team of all-time. Far from perfect, but a perfect representation of what professional sports have become.

Bookleberry

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