At some point in the middle of 2015 — especially for those of us predisposed to dislike and distrust the NFL's front office — it became really, really easy to root for the Patriots.
We have Deflategate to thank for that. Whatever reasons you had for hating New England — maybe Spygate, overblown as it was, or maybe the organization's success, or maybe its smugness — were a lot easier to toss by the wayside because of the comically insane, incompetent stylings of Chief Ball Detective Roger Goodell.
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The NFL is a monolith, and an often despicable one. That fact should rise above all others when it comes time to decide who you don't like. If you think the league and its commissioner act too crummily and too destructively too often, you should've rooted for Tom Brady.
And for any number of reasons, really; science favored Brady, sure, but the end game was more about Goodell trying to legally establish his right to squeeze whoever he wanted for whatever reasons. It was gross, and it should've made a lot of people, even in the back of their minds, admit that it'd be hilarious to watch Goodell present the Pats with the Lombardi Trophy in January.
Thankfully, by virtue of his letter to Donald Trump, Bill Belichick has brought balance back to the force. If you felt weird about rooting for the Patriots, or disliking them a little less, Election Day's football link is the sort of thing that'll fix you up right quick.
Initially, the thought in plenty of places was that Trump, in reading the letter in its entirety during a Monday night rally in New Hampshire, had ... goosed the wording, maybe.
"Congratulations on a tremendous campaign. You have dealt with an unbelievable slanted and negative media, and have come out beautifully — beautifully. You’ve proved to be the ultimate competitor and fighter. Your leadership is amazing. I have always had tremendous respect for you, but the toughness and perseverance you have displayed over the past year is remarkable. Hopefully tomorrow’s election results will give the opportunity to make America great again. Best wishes for great results tomorrow."
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Not so, according to CSN New England's Tom E. Curran, who reports Belichick "dropped the note" to Trump, which Trump read onstage.
This is barely a political point: If you felt strongly anti-Goodell throughout the Deflategate process, you were rooting for the Patriots, if only through the transitive property. That was inevitably disorienting.
Now, though, you're seeing the Pats' head coach (and QB, to a less explicit extent) throw his lot in with the nationalist strongman. Bill Belichick doesn't just support Donald Trump, either; he seems to speak like him.
GIven your stance on Goodell — maybe you hate his authoritarian streak, or his apparent passion for lying in the face of obvious facts — there's a pretty good chance you aren't pro-Trump. So, now, you have a new reason to root against New England. Congrats, and welcome back.