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For every (perfect) season there is a time...Just not right now

Posted February 4, 2008

An acquaintance once described Super Bowl Sunday as “the greatest secular holiday of the year!” “Secular holiday” is, of course, an oxymoronic statement, since “holiday” is the simple contraction of “holy day.” But I didn’t bother mentioning this to my fellow party-goer. Instead I simply asked, “What about the 4th of July?”

Maybe he thinks church and state are not separate because he just stared at me and blinked. Whatever the cause of my friend’s dull senses that Sunday in late January twelve years ago, I must acknowledge his general point that the Super Bowl is a civic event, not an ecclesial one.

So, why am I writing about it? Well, for one, I love football. It’s almost as cool as baseball. But I write mainly because there is an ethical issue to comment on this year.

One sports headline this morning read, “Giants ruin Patriots’ bid for perfect season.” That’s a giant (pun intended) false assumption.

The Giants played well last night, but they didn’t ruin things for the Patriots. The Patriots did. And I don’t mean just because any losing team needs to examine themselves before blaming their opponent.

I mean the Patriots are not 18-1. They are 17-2. The Patriots were caught cheating during a game with the Jets earlier this season. They were recorded on video stealing play calls from the Jets. “Thou shalt not steal.” Or, as Jesus summarized it: “Love thy neighbor.”

Spying on someone to gain an advantage over them is not neighborly. It is stealing.

In every sports league I’ve ever encountered—on TV or in actual real life—cheating leads to disqualification for the event in question and often elimination from further competition. The latter is too much to expect from the NFL when it comes to a serious money-generating enterprise like the New England Patriots. (Notice how profit makes ethics malleable?)

But, if the NFL had a shred of respect for themselves and all the rest of us, they would record that game as a loss for the Patriots. By cheating, they forfeited the right to compete in that game.

And pu-leez don’t tell me, “It’s OK because everyone’s doing it.” I know Jerry Tarkanian said, “9 out of 10 teams cheat and the other one is in last place.” That’s funny. But ultimately it reveals more about Tarkanian’s character than about athletics.

What do the actions and inactions of the NFL reveal about it's character?