Be Like Tike

Sunday, February 17th, 2008 by Adam Wagner

Steelers make proper decision on Spygate

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been illegally filmed by the Patriots on four separate occasions according to Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pen.) and the team does not care, stating that it considers the tapes a “nonissue” and that the franchise would support whatever measures the NFL chose to take. This stance is the proper and mature one, demonstrating that the Steelers are unwilling to be caught up in the unnecessary cesspool Specter is attempting to cast Roger Goodell and the NFL into.

Specter is upset because the Eagles may or may not have been victims of the Patriots’ bending of the rules, but his dragging Congress into the affairs of athletic activities is completely unnecessary when there are so many larger issues in this country. The Steelers’ refusal to be brought into the affair shows a classiness on the part of the organization that is worth rewarding.

Any results turned up by another investigation into whether or not the destroyed tapes affected the outcomes of important games would simply result in more controversy . . . would the Steelers be granted the AFC title and the Rams the Superbowl title? Would the teams need to replay the games with all of the old players, including Kordell Stewart and Drew Bledsoe? (Okay, I was kidding, but that would actually be a pretty funny game, especially after seeing Kordell’s performance on Pros Vs. Joes.) Any possible conclusion would be negative for everyone as the NFL would have to choose between allowing known cheaters to keep the accolades that they won fairly or not or else pass those accolades on to a loser, thereby assuming that whatever advantages the cheating gave the Patriots directly affected the outcome of the games.

The best way to handle the issue is simply to let it die in the piles of Roger Goodell-destroyed evidence, not to hunt down video coordinators or to file multi-million dollar lawsuits. Specter is making the mistake of placing his own feelings and those of a few of his immediate constituents before those of his country in focusing on the NFL (for that matter, his colleagues are doing the same in holding hearings about steroids in baseball) and its antitrust exemption.

The NFL clearly still deserves that exemption just as the Patriots deserve their role as the NFL’s resident bully and, with these newest allegations, that resident bully is being draped in a new shroud of mysteriousness and malevolence that could spell more hatred for them. The NFL is playing the role of the teacher who can’t quite keep a handle on that bully, but who is doing the best that it can and needs some kid to step up and punch the bully in the face. All of the parties are playing their roles (with the Giants assuming the role of the hero). Now Arlen Specter just needs to return to doing the job that voters elected him to do and not worrying about complete nonissues.

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