Deflated Punishment: Why It Doesn't Matter If Brady Did It

Deflategate.  Interesting that the Wells Report came back with a wonderful non-answer answer about the probability that the Patriots, no wait, Tom Brady is culpable for deflating footballs below regulation air pressure prior to the AFC Championship game against The Indianapolis Colts.  But, even with this not so new information that Brady and two underlings are probably guilty of the act, months after the incident, talking heads will still devote hours to drive time radio analysis of one of the more humorous discussions about balls.

In the end, what does it matter?  Brady and Belichick played through and beat the Colts 45-7 with or without underinflated balls.  Brady and Belichick went on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.  Brady and Belichick have four championships.  Brady has Giselle.  Brady poops rainbows and cries dollar bills.   WHO CARES?!?!?

I guess Steelers’ fans do.   They get to play New England to kick off the 2015 season.  They get to play it in Foxborough.  They get to play it without their star Running Back, Le'Veon Bell, who was arrested for marijuana possession, with New England’s LeGarrette Blount during preseason.  (LeGarrette Blount is suspended for the game, too, but he gets to sit at home with his Super Bowl ring to keep him company.)   So, add all that together and sprinkle in the spectre of not being able to beat the Patriots during the post season and you get a tonic of vitriol and ire from Pittsburgh.

But, again, it doesn’t matter what happens to Brady and Belichick in light of the report because any punishment is moot.

“He could be fined.”  

So, what?  I’m sure he’ll be broke in a week, no longer able to wipe his tears with $100 bills or cry softly into Giselle’s bosom.

“He could be suspended for the opener.” 

Ooooh, except it’s the opener and not even against a division rival. 

“His legacy could be tarnished.”

I’m sure he’ll wring his hands with all four Super Bowl rings clacking like crazy.

“The Patriots could lose a draft pick.”

A: Kraft and Belichick were found not "probably" guilty.

B: Draft picks do not equate loss of good players… especially when you pick LAST!

If there were to be a punishment for the Patriots for directly affecting the outcome of a game, regardless of how well they would have done without cheating, it would have been for the next game, The Super Bowl.  Seattle almost beat New England, despite Tom Brady.  An interception at the goal line tanked their chances of overcoming the odds and beating the Pats.   And, quite frankly, it would have been a better story had the Patriots beat Seattle without their golden boy at QB.   That would have at least put to rest some of the controversy surrounding this team’s mounting questionable winning strategy.  After all, this is at least the second time the Patriots have been called on the carpet for cheating.  Remember Spygate?  Barely anyone outside of Pittsburgh does.   Spygate resulted in a $250,000 fine and loss of their first round pick… which was 31^st since they lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl.   Surely, they were impacted as they missed out on drafting such greats.  Then again, they could have had Ray Rice in their ranks to compliment Aaron Hernandez.   In the end, they still won their division six out of the next seven years.

Again, my point is, it does nothing for credibility and accountability to suspend Brady the first game of the season or any other punishment.   Look at this perspective.

In 1992, at the age of 17, I had a part time job delivering newspapers.  I made maybe $20 a week delivering 54 papers, six days a week.  My friends and I spent our hard earned money on tickets to a concert.  It would have been my first live concert, ever.   Tickets were a whopping $24.95.   Not sure if that’s the going rate for concerts or the going rate for Def Leppard in 1992.  In any case, it was a week and quarter of pay. 

However, right around Halloween, my friends and I decided to be jackasses and go on a pumpkin smashing and egging tour of the neighborhood.  Well, we managed to egg the one house that everybody egged and they were tired of it.  They chased my friend’s Chevy S-10 until they got the plate and turned us in to the police.   The next weekend, my parents received a call from the police.  My friend had already given all of us up.  I was grounded.   The weekend before the concert and I was grounded.   I pleaded with my parents that I would accept my being grounded but that I had spent $25 of my own money on a concert.  It didn’t matter.  I missed the concert, I was out $25, and I learned a lesson.

Now, how much of a teachable moment would it have been had my parents said, “OK, you did something wrong and you will be punished.  How about a week night in the middle of next January when you have absolutely nothing important or fun going on?”

That’s what suspending Brady is.  It is a hollow action by a hollow commissioner that gets paid for making the owners money, and the owners make money when their top performers are playing in games like the Super Bowl.  Jerseys and ticket sales and concessions and fans with their butts in the seats put money in the pockets of the Kraft’s and that’s what a commissioner does, gets the owners money.  It doesn’t matter what is right, what is moral, or what is a good example for fans.  They don’t care because they’re addicted to the product the NFL is selling.

If you want to make a point suspend Brady for the first game... of the playoffs.

Granted, they can’t be assured a playoff spot, but when you plan on suspending him for a pointless game, anyways, what does it matter if it’s a "maybe" game?  That not only punishes Brady, but it punishes the organization if they fail to win.  Maybe, playing with a suitable handicap is better than a slap on the wrist.  

And just maybe, the real threat of punishment would start to make the rest of the players and teams realize that on Any Given Sunday… they might just be stuck home watching, like I was, while Def Leppard was playing.  I was a little poorer, but I survived.   Now where's my copy of Hysteria?


FOOTNOTE:
I probably won't be watching this season as I didn't last year.  It's not that I don't love the Steelers anymore, it's that I refuse to give any more time of my life to this league and this commissioner.  Goodell may be the most profitable commissioner of them all, but he's corrupt, cares only about the money, and has turned this sport into entertainment, like wrestling.

Sitting In Judgment Over Domestic Violence and The Media

I admit it.  I have played that card before.  Back in 2009 and 2011, I put Chris Brown on my D-Bag of the year awards list.  I judged him in the whole Rhianna thing because I was a spectator to a TMZ/CNN/E/Social Media deluge of opinion and edited content to garner ratings.   And now, even though my posting has become lax and two months gone, I am not going to bring up the current issue except to say this.

We need to stop sitting in judgment of the celebrity.  We need to stop sitting in judgment of the victims.  We need to address the issue.

The issue is this.  Domestic Violence is a thing.  Abuse is a thing.   And instead of going after the perpetrators and victims we need to tackle the issue.  Taking to Twitter, Facebook, and yes… blogs, to call out someone for hitting another person or for someone staying with someone who hit them does not help the matter.  All it does is create a cycle of pressure and tension for those involved leading to more stress.  Now, I say that in a PC way because I am trying to be objective.   In short… So and so does not need you defending or bashing them on Social Media.  You aren’t taking away the act.  You are creating a perpetual cycle of Ground Hog Day in that person’s life.  That’s not to say the abuser doesn’t deserve the criticism or constant reminder of their crime, but the victim doesn’t either.

Here is a short list of points.  And of course, I make a generalized disclaimer because I am not an expert or in law enforcement.

1. STOP calling attention to the people involved.
   Whether it is Ray Rice or Janay Palmer or Rhianna or Chris Brown, using their names to push your social media agenda is not a call to attention to end domestic abuse or a shaming tactic.  It just creates more sensation and publicity and keeps the wrong people in the spot light.  If you must… hashtag the crime.  Or, better yet, don’t hashtag.  Don’t Tweet.  Don’t Retweet.  I know, I posted to Facebook about how the “availability” of a certain tape becoming known led to the suspension and that had it not, the release of the player would not have happened.  I was more about calling out the NFL’s “too little, too late actions”.  Still, it was probably wrong to do so.
    
2. STOP assuming.
   We saw an incident.  ONE.  One time.  We have no idea what was said in that argument.  I am neither condoning nor judging the persons involved.  That one single event should be enough to have charges and an investigation brought about.  And both were arrested at the time.   It’s also up to authorities and those with the knowledge and training to conduct it.  Not bloggers, talking heads, or Monday morning experts to decide.  “Well, her response clearly comes from someone who has a history of being abused.”  We don’t know that.   There could be extenuating circumstances that led to that incident and she could be just as capable for provoking or causing an incident as much as being in an abusive relationship.  We just don’t know.
   
   What we do know is that from the tape, an altercation happened outside of the elevator where the victim attempted to strike the accused.   Then, once inside the elevator, we saw it escalate and that he knocked her out.    We don’t know what was said.  We don’t know what happened before they came into view of the security cam.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t the case.  Everything on that tape, that the 24 hour news media looped endlessly and unrelenting in search of ratings, is pretty much how it was described by him.   We all knew what happened.  We just don’t know why.  ABC’s “What Would You Do” ran a segment where they showed a couple in an argument that was framed to look like abuse.  They filmed it from two perspectives.  One was a man clearly strong arming and demeaning a woman.  The other was from the point of the woman being the aggressor.  Most people look at men as the bigger, stronger person and it was almost humorous to see him getting chewed out by a woman.  “Aww, look at the pussy.”  That’s just an opinion of what some onlooker might have thought.   But we don’t know what happens in a relationship because we aren’t privy to the stuff that happens off camera, out of frame, or behind closed doors.   After all, people reacted to what they thought was an altercation between a couple.  In reality, it was two actors playing out a scene for reaction.
   
   The media often clips, edits, and crafts a story to scintillate.  Make the accuser look worse.  Make the victim look less blameless.  Make the police… ALL THE POLICE IN ALL THE COUNTRY look like power abusive trigger happy assholes.  Look at the recent case in Ferguson.  Only the act was shown, not the before.  People were quick to judge based on what they assumed happened.   “Large African American man suspected of robbing a store.”   When it wasn’t the store owner that called the police, it was a spectator, assuming that’s what happened.  Assumptions truly do harm.   Unless you have all the facts, you can only work with the conditions present and the current act as it happens.  Speculating on whether or not someone standing beside their abuser is in denial or just stupid doesn’t help the issue.  It perpetuates the cycle of gossip and sensationalism that gets people hurt further.
    
3. STOP blaming.
   “She’s stupid for marrying him.”  “How could she stay with him?”  All of that does nothing but show how ignorant you are of what it is truly like to be in an abusive relationship.   Again, in reference to Chris Brown and Rhianna , I did it, too.  I said it.  I learned.    People… and I say people because both men AND women are perpetrators of abuse as well as victims are capable of abusing another and should not.  And it doesn’t always have to be physical abuse.  Someone can verbally or emotionally abuse you and it’s just as wrong.  They may abuse you into thinking that you leaving them is a horrible idea, because “you will never do better” or “you are not good enough to be with someone else”.  “No one, but me, would have you.”  “You’re just a drama queen and want attention.”  This is problem.  People in abusive relationships don’t always have an exit strategy.  For some, religion plays a role in their trying to divorce.  Church elders may say that the good Christian thing to do is to work it out.  Not blaming the church or religion, but there is still a long way to go in this world before we understand the nature of people vs. the infallibility of faith.  Sometimes, you just need to leave.   The best thing the church, a family member, or an administrative group could do is get you the proper help instead of offering hollow advice from a place of ignorance. 
   
   Point is the victim isn’t stupid.  The victim is most likely scared.  There are a million things going on.  “If I leave, they will find me.  Instead of one punch, it’ll be five.”  Worse yet, there may be a child involved.  People who abuse aren’t just strong or physical.  They can be smart.  They can paranoid.  They may go to great lengths to make sure you don’t have an exit strategy.   Sometimes, because of the level of abuse, they may isolate you from the tools and knowledge that can allow you to understand how to fight back.  It’s not being stupid, it’s being controlled.  It’s being brainwashed.  It’s being forced to live a life of submission where you don’t always understand that it is wrong to be treated like that.  They can make you think you deserve it.
   
   
4. STOP talking about the wrong people.
   Am I disgusted with the NFL for getting caught with their pants down?  Yes.  Am I going to stop watching football because of it?  No.  Why?  Because even though there is probably a statistical correlation between violence in sports, pressure to perform, abuse of mood altering performance enhancing drugs, concussions, brain injury, and violence outside of the workplace due to trauma and behavioral issues from all the above, one incident does not make the sport all bad.
   
   Do I want Roger Goodell gone?  Sure, for my own reasons.  Unfortunately, he has most likely made the NFL more profitable than any other commissioner.  He is very good at his job, first and foremost, as a generator of profit and revenue.  Does he display poor judgment in character issues and dealing with problems? Maybe.  But he isn’t going anywhere.
   
   Do the Ravens suck?  What do you think?  I am from Pittsburgh  :)  
   
   Again, we talk about the wrong people.   We shouldn’t be talking about people or corporations at all, let alone one that generated some $6 billion+ in revenue, but they are non-profit.  Go figure. 
    
5. START talking with your loved ones, children, etc. about what’s right and wrong.
   We should be talking about abuse and domestic violence and violence against women AND MEN.  How woman and men can perpetuate violence against each other.  How it is never right to hit anyone for any reason unless you are in danger, yourself.  Defense, never offense.  Also, teaching our children the value of their own life as well as others.  How they aren’t to blame for abuse.  How they are special and worthy and how they should be treated AND HOW THEY SHOULD TREAT OTHERS.   The only way you can stop the cycle is to keep it from happening.  Let it bred out in future generations.  For every policy or rule that the NFL puts into place to weed out the bad element, there are how many bad elements just going someone else.  Their zero tolerance just means zero problems they have to deal with.  If not them, it’ll be the arena league or CFL or whatever.  Saying, “Not in our house”, doesn’t stop the abuse, it just shifts it somewhere else.  We need to be the ones to not tolerate it in our own lives.  It’s not the job of the NFL to keep abuse from happening, it’s ours.  As a parent, as a teacher, as a mentor, as a parent, and even a child, it is up to us to decide.  No more.

National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7223)
TTY: (800) 787-­3244
http://www.thehotline.org/

Links from The Administration for Children and Families
at The Dept of Health and Human Services

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/blog/category/domestic-violence

2013 D-Bag Awards Round One: Richie Incognito vs. Aaron Hernandez

It’s the 2013 D-Bag Awards.  Continuing on Round One we come to the Sports Round.   

Richie Incognito vs. Aaron Hernandez

In this corner we have Richie Incognito, the Miami Dolphin Guard who bullied Jonathan Martin.   It was pure speculation that he did harass Martin but that all came to a head when a racial epithet laden voice mail came out and it was pretty apparent.  Now, the defense is that Incognito was acting under orders to “toughen” up Martin and he just took it too far.  Thing is, Incognito has had a reputation of bad behavior.  In 2009 he was considered, by the Sporting News, as the NFL’s dirtiest, voted for by players.   But, in other instances he’s been on the good end of things, so, which is it?  Roid Rage, Douche bag tactics, or simple misunderstanding?

Now, in this corner we have Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriot Tight End, who is currently a free agent and being investigated for murder.   Prior to the charges, he allegedly shot Alex Bradley, a friend.  But, Bradley declined to name Hernandez as the shooter and charges were dropped.  Before that was a double homicide investigation in Boston.  No arrest was made.   And earlier, in 2007, he was involved in an altercation with a bar employee over a bill.  After the argument ended, Hernandez decided to make sure the employee knew he won by punching him in the side of the head.   Clearly, he got his point across.

So, who wins this round?

With a bullet… It’s Hernandez.

Why?

Um… yeah…. If we have to explain this to you, then you clearly do not understand.  Look, we live in a day and age where bullying is a big deal.  IT IS!  Was I bullied as a kid?  Of course.  I was a glass wearing, brace wearing, dumpy clothes wearing nerd who got hounded by bullies all the time.  I survived.   That doesn’t make it right.  It just meant I handled it better than some.  Not everyone will overcome being bullied.  But, I also didn’t end up dead.   Hernandez, while still not convicted, has more and more evidence mounting against him.  He’s just a big ole murderous douche, if convicted.  Therefore, he’s our winner.

Steelers Want You To Pay For 3000 More Seats

Recently, my beloved Steelers pulled a somewhat dick move.  They want to add an additional 3000 seats to Heniz Field and in order to fund the approximately $30 million dollar effort, they want the Sports and Exhibition Authority to cover  2/3 of the cost.

What does this mean?

It means that, in order to see a home game at Heinz Field, which is 25^th in capacity among the NFL stadiums in seating capacity, fans would have to pay an additional dollar in ticket price and two or three dollars to park at the stadium.

Fun facts:

When Three Rivers was imploded 12 years ago, there was still $26 million in debt on the books for it.

The cost for this addition is roughly what it cost to build said imploded stadium (1968 dollars approx.)

Now, that may not seem like much but the bigger picture is this:

Do you think that the Steelers will drop the increase on tickets or parking once the project is funded?

Do you think the fans will receive anything in return for funding this expansion?

Look, I love the boys in black and gold, and I’ve always looked at the Rooneys as doing things the right way.  If anything else, they are doing things the best way to put out a great product.   But to say:

“The expansion of Heinz Field will allow an opportunity for more Steelers fans to attend games. It is unfortunate that it has come to this after negotiating with the SEA for months,” Hart said. “If this matter is not resolved in the near future, another year of increased fan attendance and increased tax revenue will be lost.”

That’s pretty bold in a lot of ways:

• One, average attendance for all of 2012’s home games was 61,141 
• Two, the stadium holds, at capacity, 65,050.
  Stats from ESPN.Com

That 61k counts fans that walked through the turnstiles, not paid attendance (i.e. Season ticket holders)

So, they want to add 3000 more seats when they are averaging a little less than 4000 towards max capacity.  If they have another lackluster season and attendance doesn’t change, that’s almost 7000 people who won’t go to games.

It’s not like these new seats will be cheaper, right?  If people aren’t paying now, what makes you think they will pay later?

Win another Super Bowl and we’ll talk.   Keep your players from trying to run down cops in the South Side, and we’ll talk.

Otherwise, pony up  your own money and build the seats, and then when you do win number seven, you can pay back yourselves by raising prices.   Don’t do it on the PROMISE of doing better, which you haven’t done in four years.

Let’s put it another way.

First point.

If I want to build a business or improve my home, maybe to sell it, I have to get a loan.  I go to a bank and they give me money and an interest rate.   When I’m finished paying back the loan, my house sells, maybe for a profit.   The thing is, the bank doesn’t just give me the money because I’m going to make a profit.   They want something in return.   Not the bank next to it, the bank that gave me the money.   Why should fans just give the Steelers money to add more seats that they won’t sit in?  The quick answer is the money being put back into the economy in the form of jobs (construction, retail and concessions, and administration) and taxes.   Yet, a bulk of that money never makes it to those places as it is absorbed by the organization in the form of revenue.   Not to mention, the increase becomes the norm, until the next time they raise prices.

Second point.

Forbes had the Steelers worth about $1.01 billion in 2011.  

The Rooneys also have interest in racetracks with slot machines (remember that restructuring plan that had to occur to get that off the books?)

They can finance this themselves.

Pitt fans will never fill these seats.  (side joke)

The kerfuffle lies in the language of the lease.  I can abide by the fact that the legalize allows them to classify the addition as a SEA fundable project, but don’t think this doesn’t reek of hypocrisy.

WUMF: September 2012 Edition

OK... so, I've been distracted lately with stuff.   It's kept me from regularly posting, and I'm still late on my Labor Day travels post,  but the culmination of a few things have led to another thrilling edition of WUMF!


The Replacements
We all know that the replacement refs suck.  Fine.  But really, does the NFL care?  No.  You know why?  Because even bad publicity is good publicity.  Was it a bit petty that the league did not cave until the blown Green Bay/Seattle game??  Yes.  But the league generates a billion dollars. Even though the regular refs get like six figure incomes for working half the year and first class airfare, that's a still a huge disparity. 

Yet, it kind of backfires when the biggest names in team ownership see their games impacted by the botched calls.  The Krafts, who own the Patriots, and the City of Green Bay, which pretty much own the Packers both had games with controversial end game calls, resulting in losses for them.  That might be why the talks finally resumed and came to a conclusion.  So, now, we can get back to bashing the regular refs for blowing calls.  At least we get to see the Hochuli pythons signaling touchdown or holding.  Flex them you douche.  Flex them all the way to the bank.

SPPPPOOOOOON!
If you know what that's from you'll know what the hell I'm talking about. On Sunday, my wife was about to give our five year old a bath when she noticed what looked like a blackhead on her back.  Turned out to be a tick.  I looked at it for a second and just said, "Eff it!"  I pulled it out.   I managed to get it all out, intact.  It sat on my finger nail looking at me, wiggling.  So, I flushed it.

In hindsight, I should have saved it.   We took her to the pediatrician on Monday and they actually wanted to hire me to do tick removals.  Seems to be OK.  They gave her an antibiotic to treat a sinus infection and after three days, the bite is hardly noticeable.   No, "Bullseyse", as it were.   We'll keep an eye on her, though.

Now, we have some woods around our house, but we don't go near them.  In fact, on Sunday, we were only outside to go to the store, and then she was outside with m for about twenty minutes while I grilled steaks.  She played on her swing.  She didn't go anywhere near brush.  So, I don't know if she got it then, or if those damn strays passed it along.  That situation is getting ridiculous.

Slenderman
The other reason I haven't been posting is that I got sucked into watching these videos.  For those of you who do not know.  Slenderman was part of a competition on the Something Awful forums.  The task was to doctor up some photos to make it look like some scary phenomena.   The result was this thing that looked like a cross between the Gentlemen from Buffy, and a sperm.  Go look him up.

Anyway, it turned into an ARG, which is an alternate reality game where a group of people started posting videos like they were found footage.   Under the guise of making a "Student Film" called MarbleHornets, a friend is given a bunch of tapes from the production and is told to "burn them".  Of course, you can't do that, so the person starts watching them and posting them as entries online.  What happens is that you see strange things like video and audio distortion, shapes, SLENDERMAN!

You get sucked in, even though you know the whole thing is fake, just because they capitalized on the thing that made Blair Witch so popular 12 years ago. There is no explanation for why it's happening and that's part of the fun.  You hardly see the monster.  Of course, when you do, it's so badly constructed, but still, it creeps you out a bit.   After three years and 60 some entries, it's gotten a bit ridiculous, but damnit if I won't watch every single one of them.  There's even free video games online surrounding the hilarity.

Hitchcock was really good in using fetishistic scopophilia in films like Rear Window and Psycho.  That's when you are entertained by watching others' as in the case of Norman Bates looking at Marion Crane through the peep holes or L.B. Jeffries looks at his neighbors across the courtyard.   But what really ratchets up the excitement or terror is when you are simply observers, unable to control what's happening.  You simply sit and watch something.  In the case of the MarbleHornets videos, you are given a POV (Point of View) experience and the person filming takes you along on for the ride, passive and unable to control what is happening in the frame.

Monday Suck: Thoughts on Being Tebowed

Am I mad? Yes. Do I blame the refs? Yes, to a point. They blew calls on both sides of the ball. I get it. The lateral, the missed facemask, etc. We get it. We are not the NFL’s whipping boys, but no helmet to helmet calls? Come on, people.


Is Tebow a good story? No.

Why?  Because he’s what’s wrong with this league. The NFL is slowly becoming the WWE.

Hear me out.

Wrestling is an entertainment sport. It’s all about the drama and the showiness of the participants. The actual sport is an afterthought to the storyline.

The NFL is becoming an entertainment sport where QBs throw the ball for hundreds of yards for a game and never get touched. They’ve changed the rules to take out the violence and make it more marketable. It’s not about safety, it’s about longevity. Go back and watch those old NFL films from the frozen tundra of Lambeau field. The slow motion shots of snow falling on the line of scrimmage where a lineman stands at the ready with a broken nose and dried blood on their jersey. The crunch of helmets and the chance to see a running back barrel through a line to grab five yards and glory. That’s not there, anymore. It’s the hot dogging and pristine conditions and the Madison Avenue gloss of a game that used to be about something more. The will to win. The chance for glory.

But Tebow shows that it’s not about that. Tebow should have been on his ass for most of that game, not in praying position but in a fetal position. He’s a horrible passer who should have been picked off and pushed around. The Steelers stopped the running game and then dared him to throw and he did as if he was Brady or even a healthy Roethlisberger. And even still, you can say that in his first four seasons, Roethlisberger was an ugly passer and unconventional player whose face looked more like Bobby Boucher then Tom Brady. But the difference was that Roethlisberger took his lumps, he ran and was hit. He was down and dirty with the rest of the players. Tebow just stands out there, looks pretty, and throws horribly.

With that, I offer five things that need to be changed in the NFL by next year. Four for the league and one for the Steelers.
1. Fix the stupid rules of legal vs. illegal hits. We won’t hate what’s fair. Either a QB is a runner or a passer, but he can’t go back to being a passer when he tucks the ball and runs… even if he decides to get rid of the ball because a linebacker is coming right at him.

That being said, fine the Browns for putting Colt McCoy back out on the field when he doesn’t know what day it is.

2. Do something about social media and the ridiculousness of dumb people on smart phones. This goes out to Rashard Mendenhall from earlier last year and especially Maurkice Pouncey, who I lost a lot of respect for after seeing him implode on Twitter after the loss to Denver.
Sorry, but how does it feel to have young, impressionable fans see you drop the f-bomb and curse your followers? Not to mention, promoting a buddy’s rap album just after your team lost the AFC Wild Card game. Way to show solidarity.
3. Fix the officiating. Get all the officials into a refresher course, during the offseason, and retrain them on how to call a game. Officiating has been horrible this, all over the league. I know I’m one of those, “whiny Steelers’ fans” but the officiating stinks throughout the league. If they have other jobs during the year, then cover the cost. This crap needs fixed and refs make as much as any other mid level career man. There was a huge strike back in 2001 and it seems that the NFL has some extra cash this year from very lucrative television deals.

4. Enough with the marketing and capitalism of the game. Remember, Bubba Smith did spots for Miller Lite. Troy Polamalu, who I still think is one of the most aggressive and hardnosed players, does ones for shampoo. Granted, it’s not Joe Namath in pantyhose, but still. Stop making this league about the money and make it about the game. It’s football. It’s not entertainment. It’s a sport. It’s a rough and tumble sport. There are injuries. There will be blood. Stop wussifying this game for whatever reason you seem to be doing it and let the players play. If it’s too tough. They need to get a job elsewhere.

And this one goes out to the Steelers.
1. Get your shit in order. Figure out the clock management stuff better. Ben, you’re a hell of a QB but stop trying to be a damn hero and play the game. Be smart about it. You beat New England by out Bradying Brady. You have Antonio Brown and Mike Wallace, two of the fastest receivers on the planet. Give them the short drops and let them leg it out, because even when healthy, you have a tendency to inaccurately throw to them over long distances. And receivers and backs need to stop this juking crap you do when you square off with someone. Redman was doing his tornado stuff but that was after he was already hit. When you come up field and someone gets in your way, run over them. You’re liable to get a few more yards than by slowing your gait and trying to fake them out while three other guys are closing in on your position.