What if the Yankees cheated?

    During my recent trip to Boston for the holidays, I found myself engulfed in a sports euphoria that I have never seen or experienced before. When I walked into Bob’s, my routine first-stop sub-shop in Medford, the guy that was prepping my Jumbo Steak Tip sub was wearing a 2007 Red Sox World Series Champs T-Shirt, New England Patriots 2007 AFC East Division Champs hat and was sporting green Celtics wristbands.

When I told him I was in from out of town visiting family, he proudly offered me the “Welcome to the City of Champs” greeting. I ignored his greeting and was instead trying to figure out whether or not to ask him if he was wearing those same wristbands last year at this time when Kevin Garnett was scoffing at the thought of becoming a Celtic. Yes… he scoffed. I let it slide and decided it was time to start a blog.

Insert Digression Here: I hope that the true Celtic fans and bandwagoners don’t forget that the Big3 would be the Big2 if it were not for the Ray Allen trade.  Garnett’s getting all the love, but he wouldn’t be enjoying a renewed passion for basketball if Ray Allen didn’t agree to go to Beantown.

You may not know this, but ever since the Sox were down 3 games to 1 against the Indians and hanging by a thread in the ALCS, the Sox, Pats and Celtics have gone a combined 52-3! That is not a type-o. 52 wins and only 3 freaking losses…pretty amazing stuff. The city has gone completely insane. No wonder why Joey behind the counter is about to keel over. Well, either the sports excitement will kill him or the Jumbo Steak-n-Cheese Extra Cheese that he puts down everyday at lunch’ll catch up to him.

While I understand the hysteria, perhaps the most alarming element that stood out to me while I was there was not only watching the Pats go 16-0 – but witnessing the complete disregard that New England fans had for the fact that the Patriots got caught cheating in the season opener. I Know, I Know, Old news, right? Let it go, right? The Pats got caught red-handed. There was a tape. There’s no disputing it. Would Red Sox fans let it go if it happened to them? I think not. Not only are New England fans overlooking this – but the Associated Press has gone and named Bill Belichick the Coach of The Year. What????? Stop the insanity. I ask you this…

 Are Red Sox fans and Patriots fans the same group of lunatics? (I mean no disrespect by using the word lunatic.This summer I spent $450 on 2 tickets to see the Red Sox and Yanks play – I’m in that looney camp) Imagine for a moment what would have happened if the Red Sox found out that the Yankees had been using electronic devices to steal signals during a game? I’m not talking about stealing a sign from a catcher or manager, but Joe Torre sending a camera guy to the bleachers to figure out which nasty pitch Beckett is about to throw next. Is the guy on first about to steal? What about the hit and run?  Red Sox Nation would be going wicked crazy (one Boston term for wicked is “very”). The Mitchell Report wouldn’t even compare to the investigation us Sox lunatics would demand. Secret Service Agents, FBIers, The Mob – somebody get to the bottom of this. Ban Steinbrenner for life! Take away all 26 championships! Those Yankee %%$$#^% have always cheated! We knew it all along! I can hear it now as clear as a bell.

Patriots cheat, get caught and somehow, somewhere the rug has become big enough to sweep all this under. How do we know they haven’t cheated before? What about their prior Super Bowls? Are they tarnished? Should they be? Should there be an asterisk? It seems like the NFL and media alike are letting it slide because the Patriots were demolishing teams all year long and quite possibly trying to prove they didn’t need to cheat. But they did cheat (that makes them cheaters), and are now in the process of trying to make NFL history by going 19-0 and the coverage is non-stop. Is the message this: “It’s okay to cheat if the story turns out to be an historical event?” It appears that in this case the answer is yes. If so, then lay off Barry Bonds for allegedly cheating while breaking one of the most hallowed records in sports and leave Clemens alone. You can’t have it both ways. If you demand an asterisk next to Bonds and Clemens – then the Pats had a 16-0*season… Look out for Jacksonville.

 Thoughts?

 Remember, you probably didn’t hear it here first…

Next Blog: Next week I may try to figure out if Bob Stoops is the most overrated coach in College Football. How do they lose another BCS Bowlgame?

 By The Way – Elizabeth, can you please send me new releases, and please let Darren know if captioning is done.