Tom Brady And The Liberal War On Success

[rangerrebew]

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Tom Brady And The Liberal War On Success

Posted By W. James Antle III On 3:06 PM 01/24/2015 In | 3 Comments



Can we be honest for a minute about the latest liberal crusade gripping the country like a deflated football?

If you are sincerely concerned about fair play in sports and waiting patiently for the NFL to conclude its investigation of “Deflategate,” this column is not directed at you. Maybe you’re a New England Patriots fan or just a neutral observer. Maybe you don’t care about football at all.

 
But for the rest of you, the mob salivating over the prospect of finding something to diminish the Patriots’ 2014 achievements, let’s face it.

You hated Tom Brady before the national media lost its collective mind over the air pressure in footballs.

You hated Tom Brady before Spygate.

 
Your hatred of Brady goes back much further than that. You despised him in high school, when you wanted to sit with the jocks in the cafeteria. You detested him when he was dating the cheerleaders.

You loathed Brady when he upset your team in the Super Bowl. You screamed with rage when he dissected your team’s secondary like a surgeon and exposed the Swiss cheese-like holes in your coverages. You were outraged when he didn’t come out of the game after throwing at least four touchdown passes.

Then when he married a supermodel? Game over.

You don’t hate him because he cheats. You hate him because he wins. If he’s exposed in the current NFL probe, that’s something you’ll love.

 
I get it now, but for a long time I didn’t. I could understand why people disliked Bill Belichick, even if I didn’t agree. But Brady wasn’t much of a trash-talker, at least off the field. He was no Richard Sherman. He usually says the right thing in public. His teammates seem to enjoy playing with him and for him, even if he occasionally yells at receivers who run the wrong routes or referees who make unfavorable calls.

Few professional athletes have the character of Mother Teresa. If they’re even as decent as Tim Tebow, they’ll soon be out of a job. But if I had to compile a list of the biggest jerks in the NFL, Brady would not rank very high.

Tom Brady is a winner. He has won 76.5 percent of the games he has started. He has been to the AFC Championship the majority of seasons he has played. He has three Super Bowl rings. He is about to make his sixth appearance in the big game.

A certain amount of jealousy is human nature. But the contempt for Brady’s sustained success goes beyond that. It’s a larger liberal war against success, based on the sentiments expressed by the senior senator in the Pats’ home state, Elizabeth Warren, and then later repeated more pithily by Barack Obama.

All those records? Tom Brady didn’t build that.

Success cannot be earned, the game must be rigged.

You don’t care that he has three rings, because Spygate. You don’t care that when throwing fully inflated footballs he completed 82 percent of his passes against the Indianapolis Colts just this year, because cheating.

I can already hear you saying, “Wait a minute, Antle. I’m no liberal. I’m a true-blue red-state American and I just don’t like the cut of Brady’s cheating-assed jib.”

The liberals have gotten to you anyway. They know you don’t like Boston, the city closest to where Brady plays, or California, where the quarterback is from. You might not even like Michigan, where Brady went to college.

The same politics of envy that liberals exploit to make some people crave tax increases on the wealthy has turned you against the winningest quarterback of our time, a hero to the blue-collar and culturally conservative parts of the Bay State, a true Patriot.

If the rules were broken, they were broken and someone needs to be held accountable. Personal responsibility is a conservative value. As Belichick is fond of saying, “It is what it is.”

What I’m talking about is the pure joy some people feel at the possibility a new anti-Brady talking point exists, the unadulterated glee that accompanies each Patriots loss.

Drew Bledsoe, the man who lost his job to Tom Brady, doesn’t feel this way. Neither apparently does Rich Gannon, who lost the “tuck rule” game to him.

Brady has been battered by some elite NFL pass rushes. Does he have the pocket agility to evade the rush to judgement?

If Brady loses the upcoming Super Bowl, there will be only one consolation. All the people who hate winners will transfer their bile to the Seattle Seahawks instead.

W. James Antle III is managing editor of The Daily Caller and author of the book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped? Follow him on Twitter.


Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com

URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/24/tom-brady-and-the-liberal-war-on-success/

[massadvj]

There is a political dimension to Deflate-gate, but this isn't it.  Poor James Antle III twisted his brain into a pretzel trying to find some angle to capitalize on the currency of the controversy and target the message to right wing liberal-haters.  I am not as concerned about what his rant says about liberals as I am about what it says about his opinion of us, that he thinks we might buy into such hogwash.

Back in the day, something like this could have been used to line the birdcage with.  Today, it has no use at all.  That's a real shame.

(PS: Go Seahawks)

[musiclady]

Tom Brady is an obnoxious, arrogant cheater who happens to be a good QB, playing for a great team with an arrogant, cheating coach.

The idea that the accusations of the Patriots' cheating stem from a 'war on success' is just silly.

The Patriots have cheated before, and they most likely will again.

Tom Brady will go down in history as a great football player, and Belicheck a great coach who were both lousy human beings.



Not exactly a rarity in the NFL.....

[massadvj]

Not exactly a rarity in the NFL.....

Or sports in general.  Athletes must, in order to succeed, be entirely focused on self and self-improvement.  That often conflicts with societal boundaries. 

[andy58-in-nh]

There remains no evidence - none - documentary or anecdotal, that the Patriots purposely deflated their footballs. A million cameras and eyes on the game footage last week have revealed nothing that the NFL has seen fit to present.

If they did - and it remains far from clear that they did - then appropriate punishment should follow. Even then, it is a minor offense.

To hear Tom Brady referred to as a "cheater" is indefensible. Of what malfeasance has even been accused before?

Nothing.

Did the Patriots make confusing substitutions in their playoff game with the Ravens? Of course they did - as have many other teams over the years. Is it legal? It is absolutely legal.

Did the Patriots tape signals of other teams a few years back? Yes, and that was illegal, and the league correctly punished them for it. Never mind that every team tries to steal signals, usually by having an assistant coach in the press box with binoculars eying the opposing bench. Apparently, that's okey-dokey in the NFL. But was Tom Brady somehow implicated in that earlier scandal? No - he wasn't even tangentially involved, nor was he accused.

On the other hand, why aren't we talking about the real scandals in the NFL, as committed by other teams, including the Ravens and Seahawks?   

Unless you think that serial spousal abuse (Baltimore), repeated PED violations (Seattle), and dishonest team injury reporting (multiple teams) to avoid salary cap hits are less damaging to the "integrity of the game" than using footballs underinflated by one pound of pressure, then we need to leave the Patriots alone and enjoy the game next week.

[musiclady]

Or sports in general.  Athletes must, in order to succeed, be entirely focused on self and self-improvement.  That often conflicts with societal boundaries.

True.

But there are many, many athletes out there who never violate societal boundaries.

I think it's a long-time problem that society has overlooked the bad behavior of athletes because they're good at what they do.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Are instances of cheating, drug, alcohol and spousal abuse, gambling, or imply just being a jackass at work more prevalent in sports than in any other business or segment of society?

My question is why do we seek to elevate athletes, people who are who they are because they can run faster, hit harder, jump higher, etc than the rest of society?

Why do we have such elevated expectations from athletes, and why would we demand a sterner standard for them that we do from the rest of society?

P.S. It's not whether or not Brady, Belachick and the Patriots gained anything from cheating, but the fact that there was cheating that's the problem. It's far too obvious that someone did something to effect the outcome of the under-inflated balls, and that it was done because under-inflated balls are the preference of Brady. You cannot argue that 2+2 does not equal ___ just because the answer isn't visible; the deflated balls are the proof of cheating. Someone in that organization cheated and some one in that organization is responsible for the cheating. To argue that no one is as absurd as Obama always not being blamed for everything that goes wrong because there's no physical evidence of his doing it.

 

[andy58-in-nh]

Are instances of cheating, drug, alcohol and spousal abuse, gambling, or imply just being a jackass at work more prevalent in sports than in any other business or segment of society?

My question is why do we seek to elevate athletes, people who are who they are because they can run faster, hit harder, jump higher, etc than the rest of society?

Why do we have such elevated expectations from athletes, and why would we demand a sterner standard for them that we do from the rest of society?

P.S. It's not whether or not Brady, Belachick and the Patriots gained anything from cheating, but the fact that there was cheating that's the problem. It's far too obvious that someone did something to effect the outcome of the under-inflated balls, and that it was done because under-inflated balls are the preference of Brady. You cannot argue that 2+2 does not equal ___ just because the answer isn't visible; the deflated balls are the proof of cheating. Someone in that organization cheated and some one in that organization is responsible for the cheating. To argue that no one is as absurd as Obama always not being blamed for everything that goes wrong because there's no physical evidence of his doing it.

Luis, you raise some very good questions.

I suppose the reason why we idolize athletes and in turn, expect so much from them is because it is an intrinsically human desire to seek heroes. At one time or another, we all want to look up to someone for inspiration and guidance. That our idols nearly always fall short of our expectations does not seem to dissuade us from elevating mere hope over experience. Nor should it. Hope and faith are sometimes all we've got to keep us putting a foot on the cold floor in the morning and getting on with the day.

As for the issue of the footballs, I would not so easily rule out natural explanations, especially given the continuing lack of evidence of malfeasance. Weather, in the form of temperature change and barometric volatility might well explain the mystery of the detumescent pigskins. I suppose we'll find out eventually.   

[truth_seeker]

The rewards for winning far exceed the penalties for cheating. Hence win at any cost, morality, honesty, good sportsmanship be damned.

I only watch a couple of playoff and bowl games, maybe the Super Bowl, but maybe not.

They are just not that important, in my opinion. Plus when I think the athletes often could not possibly complete a college program in academics, it moves more and more to thugball, complete with rapists, street thugs, etc.

Why waste my time and attention?

[jmyrlefuller]

Mr. Antle conveniently ignores one fact: the NFL has built itself on parity: in other words, every team has a chance to succeed and, over the long run, will, at least according to the law of averages.

Yet Brady's team has made the playoffs every year he has played, and their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills, have never been allowed to enter the playoffs since Brady took over. Something is wrong.

The salary cap is supposed to prevent teams like the Patriots from holding on to people like Brady for their entire careers. Even Peyton Manning has ended his career as a Bronco and not a Colt. Again, something is wrong.

Brady can succeed all he wants, but when he hoards all the success to one team, that's not success. That's monopoly. That's a kingdom. That is against everything a republic stands for.

Besides, quite frankly, seeing Brady make 13 consecutive playoff appearances gets, well, redundant and boring.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Luis, you raise some very good questions.

I suppose the reason why we idolize athletes and in turn, expect so much from them is because it is an intrinsically human desire to seek heroes. At one time or another, we all want to look up to someone for inspiration and guidance. That our idols nearly always fall short of our expectations does not seem to dissuade us from elevating mere hope over experience. Nor should it. Hope and faith are sometimes all we've got to keep us putting a foot on the cold floor in the morning and getting on with the day.

As for the issue of the footballs, I would not so easily rule out natural explanations, especially given the continuing lack of evidence of malfeasance. Weather, in the form of temperature change and barometric volatility might well explain the mystery of the detumescent pigskins. I suppose we'll find out eventually.   

There was a guy (scientist) on FOX a couple of days ago who whod written a book about the science of football. He dismissed the natural theory. He even ran tests before coming on and concluded that the rate of deflation was too high for a natural explanation. 

[mountaineer]

Can I not dislike someone without being accused of jealousy? So tiresome.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Mr. Antle conveniently ignores one fact: the NFL has built itself on parity: in other words, every team has a chance to succeed and, over the long run, will, at least according to the law of averages.

Yet Brady's team has made the playoffs every year he has played, and their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills, have never been allowed to enter the playoffs since Brady took over. Something is wrong.

The salary cap is supposed to prevent teams like the Patriots from holding on to people like Brady for their entire careers. Even Peyton Manning has ended his career as a Bronco and not a Colt. Again, something is wrong.

Brady can succeed all he wants, but when he hoards all the success to one team, that's not success. That's monopoly. That's a kingdom. That is against everything a republic stands for.

Besides, quite frankly, seeing Brady make 13 consecutive playoff appearances gets, well, redundant and boring.

Crappy management at all levels of the organization.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Mr. Antle conveniently ignores one fact: the NFL has built itself on parity: in other words, every team has a chance to succeed and, over the long run, will, at least according to the law of averages.

Yet Brady's team has made the playoffs every year he has played, and their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills, have never been allowed to enter the playoffs since Brady took over. Something is wrong.

The salary cap is supposed to prevent teams like the Patriots from holding on to people like Brady for their entire careers. Even Peyton Manning has ended his career as a Bronco and not a Colt. Again, something is wrong.

Brady can succeed all he wants, but when he hoards all the success to one team, that's not success. That's monopoly. That's a kingdom. That is against everything a republic stands for.

Besides, quite frankly, seeing Brady make 13 consecutive playoff appearances gets, well, redundant and boring.

So, the point that the author should have been making is that the Patriot's various known incidents of cheating (we can't be so presumtouos as to believe that they've been caught every time they've cheated) is indicative of the Socialist/Progressive idea of equality as a result of Central Planning, since in every society that the Socialist "imposed parity/fairness" model has been tested, those who wish to get better than what others have, but being denied the opportunity to do so by free market rules, do it by stealing, cheating, and engaging in Black Market activities.

In the case of The Pats, what we have is the upper crust of a Socialist Society doing everything possible, even when nothing needs to be done, to remain in that upper crust.