Monday, January 29, 2018

We Don’t Hate the Patriots…We Envy Them!


By Anthony Strait, OTSL Panelist

     We all love a good underdog story. Who doesn’t love the classic tale of an individual or group of people who rise above all obstacles and become a symbol of greatness? It makes for good television and stories we can tell for years. But what happens when that loveable underdog continues to win? What happens when that symbol of greatness continues to be so great that we forget they were even underdogs in the first place? Its real simple, we grow to hate them. We start to despise their winning and deep down we wait around for them to ultimately fail because that will teach them for becoming bigger than we want them to be. Secretly however, it becomes pretty clear that we wish to be like them. We are a society that builds up greatness like Lego blocks only to tear it down when we get sick of it.            
            
     How else can you explain some of the more successful people in the world seemingly having a large collection of critics? Everyone hates or supposedly hates the Kardashians because they are so famous despite their perceived lack of talent. How many people bash the family but deep down wouldn’t mind having their sizeable bank accounts? Beyonce, Jay-Z, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart and now even Cardi-B’s success story isn’t safe from the bitterness of haters. It definitely rears its ugly head in the world of sports. Everyone hates the Duke Blue Devils and the New York Yankees are the evil empire. Sydney Crosby is a crybaby and LeBron James has his very own “I Hate LeBron James” Facebook page. We latch onto anything that will discourage us from facing the honest truth: maybe these individuals are just simply that good.
            
     This ideal brings me to the NFL team everyone loves to hate, the New England Patriots. You pretty much heard it all about this team over the past decade. They are cheaters, the referees have been bought off by owner Robert Kraft. QB Tom Brady and all the very unflattering jokes about deflated footballs. Coach Bill Belichick and “SpyGate”. The question is, if they supposedly can’t win without somehow cheating, then how come they have been so consistently good for so long? Once upon a time however the Pats were the underdog story heading into Super Bowl XXXVI. They faced an uphill climb against the St. Louis Rams and the “Greatest Show on Turf” with a backup QB name Brady. The Rams themselves were a loveable story, just two seasons prior winning it all but they were now the brash team that people wanted to see lose at any cost. Adam Vinatieri kicks a game winning field goal; Tom Brady leads a Super Bowl-winning drive to set up that field goal, wins MVP and we have a great story. We can now cherish it and move on right?
            
     Except the Patriots didn’t just fade into obscurity. They added two more Super Bowl wins over the next three years. The Indianapolis Colts complained about the Patriots grabbing and holding receivers in the 2003 AFC Championship Game. They held onto that excuse deep into their playoff rematch the next season. With the rules changed and actually favoring their vaunted passing game, the Peyton Manning-led Colts offense that scored the most points in the NFL was held to just three measly points by New England. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick only got more powerful when guys like Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Junior Seau joined the fray. The 2007 New England Patriots went 18-1 including playoffs. We put an asterisk to it not due to them losing the Super Bowl to the Giants, but because of “SpyGate”.
            
     “SpyGate” took place in week one; the team lost draft picks and was labeled cheaters…and they were blowing teams out after the fact as well. Teams like the Jets and Steelers always have them on the brain even when New England is not their next opponent. That tends to happen when you can never figure out a way to beat them. It becomes an obsession. Hard to ignore that the Steelers upset loss to the Jaguars was in some part due to them looking ahead to New England. Oh and who can forget “DeflateGate”? The biggest waste of money and resources ever. The idea that somehow under inflated footballs was such a big factor in a 38-point blowout win where the Patriots RAN for over 150 yards shows just how much we want to take away from their success. Truth is we wish our teams were as good and consistent in any year let alone the past 17. The Ravens, the entire AFC East, Seattle and now Jacksonville can be added to the list of teams that whined about some unfounded advantage when in reality they just can’t beat New England. After all, it’s pretty difficult to beat a team that doesn’t beat itself.
            
     The key to sustained success is consistency. The Pats have had the same coach, same quarterback and stable front office for 17 years. They have a system and culture in place where no matter how players come and go, the team is always set up to compete at a high level. Bill Belichick is surely not the guy you want to go out and grab a cold one with, and his post-game pressers can cure insomnia. Tom Brady has the super-model wife; millions of dollars; boyish looks even now at the age of 40; and STILL plays like a Hall of Famer. Robert Kraft is the owner of a team of cheaters according to critics. He always pays off the refs and the league always help the Pats even as the league spent a year trying to punish them for a few ounces of air in a football. All of these are reasons to hate this bunch except for the obvious one: they are just damn good.
            
     The fans, especially on social media, provide the greatest commentary on our envious ways. Think back to the Super Bowls against the Seahawks and Falcons and the AFC title game against the Jaguars. Social media was a parade of Pats haters licking their chops, ready to bash the Pats when they were losing those games. Social media had Tom Brady memes all lined up to mock arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. When the Patriots came back and won all three games, it was a different tone. Memes and still shots from the conspiracy theorists filled Instagram trying to prove -- without merit -- how the Patriots cheated to win. They always cheat right? Twitter gets bombarded with explicit language cursing the team to no end and seeing your friends cry over the most hated team ever on Facebook tends to provide great entertainment. We’d just rather drink acid then tip our hats to a team that has simply done it all and continues to do so.
           
     The Super Bowl is coming up and again we will sit and hope for the Patriots to lose, hoping that this era of greatness will FINALLY end rather than take the time to enjoy something we may never see again. Deep down however, anyone not a Patriots or Eagles fan will be wishing it was their team playing for it all. Why do they ALWAYS have to be so good while our favorite teams struggle to get over the hump? The Patriots have owned their division and no one has come close to challenging them. The Steelers, Ravens and others spend all offseason building to take them on but still fail. Belichick is still around and Brady still plays at a high level. Critics will be glued, waiting for the next “AH-HA!” moment when they think the Pats got a break and then will use it to fire up the next round of “The Patriots are Cheaters” talk should they win another Lombardi trophy.

     We don’t hate the Patriots because they are pure evil. Heck, we don’t even hate them for beating our teams. We hate them because they’ve been SO good for SO long. That wasn’t the plan way back in 2001. They were suppose to have their moment and then go away, but they are still here and still going strong. New England has been the prime example of sustained greatness in sports. We desire to be great and we hate it when we helplessly watch someone else be what we want to be.  Greatness, no matter any walk of life, breeds contempt and spite. It’s the way nature tends to work. We hate what we wish to be plain and simple. Fans and teams around the league don’t hate the New England Patriots, we simply envy them.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

U.S. Soccer’s Glimmer of HOPE


by Anthony Strait, OTSL Panelist

            Perhaps there has been no one who has been as successful and as equally polarizing to the game of soccer than Hope Solo. The 5’9” goalkeeper from Richland, Washington has the kind of career resume many can only dream of. She is a world cup winner, two-time gold medalist and has 200 caps as a national team member. She also holds several U.S. goalkeeper records -- male and female -- including wins and clean sheets. She’s the first goalkeeper male or female to record 100 shutouts in a career. There is no question Solo is one of the most decorated soccer players to represent America.

            Solo’s on-field career also comes with plenty of controversy off the field. In 2007 she publicly criticized her coach after being benched just before a World Cup game. That led to a suspension and many of her teammates shunning her for much of the post-World Cup matches. In 2014 she was arrested (though not convicted) for assaulting two family members.  Solo was later suspended 30 days when her husband -- former NFL player Jerramy Stevens -- was pulled over for driving drunk in a team van. Then after a 2015 that saw the women’s first World Cup win since 1991; Solo’s U.S. soccer career came crashing down in 2016. Following an upset loss to Sweden in the Olympic Games in Rio, Solo was essentially fired from the national team following comments where she called the Swedish players “cowards”.

            So when the outspoken Solo announced her intentions of running for U.S. Soccer president you couldn’t help but give a raised eyebrow. Many others rolled their eyes at the idea and dismissed it right away. She’s one of eight candidates running for the position and clearly has a slim chance of winning, but if we have learned anything when it comes to elections is that no one candidate should be overlooked. Perhaps what U.S. Soccer as an organization needs is a dark horse to provide a change in perspective.

            U.S. Soccer itself has gone backwards. While the women’s team has all the wins and acclaim, the pay gap between the men and women has been an issue for the last few years. The women were paid half of what the men get for merely showing up when they won the 2015 World Cup. The Women’s team has been subjected to playing in far less idea conditions than their male counterparts. It got to the point that in 2015 they refused to play a friendly in Hawaii due to the field being in poor and dangerous shape. The men’s team failed to even qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. It will be the first time since 1986 that the men’s team will be home watching after qualifying for the previous seven World Cup tournaments. Bruce Arenas resigned as head coach and now there is a vacancy in the position. The development for the women’s side has been far more advanced than the men’s side. Compared to other countries, the talent gap as well as the level playing field has never been greater.

            Hope Solo is not the only candidate who was a US National team player; former men’s team player Eric Wynalda is also among the candidates. Yet she may be the best to understand both sides of the aisle. She has been vocal and active in the fight for equal pay for women. While her comments have led to backlash and even punishment; far too often her comments, like her activism fall into the double standard column since male athletes have said and done worse and have hardly been punished. Hope also may be aware of developing the next generation of stars for both men and women teams. While the women’s side has been able to get stars like Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd they’ve also been fortunate with the additions of young budding talent like Mallory Pugh.

The Men’s team hasn’t been as lucky. Most boys in the U.S. play other sports like basketball and football and not all of the ones who do play come from a soccer background like a Michael Bradley or Christian Pulisic. Solo herself was raised in a broken home and may know a thing or two about needing to find diamonds in the rough like a Clint Dempsey.

U.S. Soccer could also benefit from a culture change. Solo charged former FIFA president Sepp Blatter with groping her at an event in 2013. Seeing the fallout from USA Gymnastics and USA Swimming’s failures to act upon allegations of sexual misconduct, perhaps Solo’s history can be useful to prevent something similar happening. Solo has certainly been held responsible in the court of public opinion so there is no question she would not have a problem holding others responsible for their actions.

On Sunday the Women’s National team honored her with a commemorative jersey for her 200 appearances. The man presenting the jersey, current U.S. Soccer Vice President Carlos Cordeiro, was called out by Solo in a candidate forum just 24 hours prior to the ceremony. If anything, it was symbolic of Hope Solo, never afraid to rattle the cage even as her achievements as a player take a back seat.

Hope Solo may be far from a perfect candidate and yet she may be exactly what U.S. Soccer needs in the current political culture we now live in. She’s stressed the importance of transparency as far as development and growing talent. She has been one of the major voices for equality as far as the more successful women’s team being treated on the same playing field as the men. It’s pretty easy to dismiss her however because of her past and her trademark outspoken nature makes many uncomfortable. After the men’s team embarrassed themselves and the women still feel like mere afterthoughts in spite of its success, her bluntness may be needed. The only question that remains is will anyone care to listen.