I think people these days are getting too hung up on the “integrity of the game” issue. That went out the door years ago; fans need to accept it.
People who are taking their sports so seriously as to get upset over these kinds of things need a reality check. This also goes to those same “fans” that get in shouting matches all the time about what the coach or team “should have done” (everyone knows at least one “armchair coach/quarterback”), but I digress. It’s entertainment, not anything that’s ever going to seriously affect 95% of the population.
Do fans really think that a majority of professional athletes care about them personally or preserving their “beautiful game”? A lot of fans need to get over themselves.
I love my Cubbies and Bears as much as any MLB or NFL follower out there, but I’m not going to sit around worrying or lose any sleep over what really goes on behind the scenes in any sport. It’s entertainment; a chance for me to get together with friends and watch some good smash-mouth football or hear the crack of a bat on a hot summer day with a beer and dog in my hand.
Chalk me up as another voice in the echo: Congress should stay the hell out.
[quote]tedro wrote:
rainjack wrote:
Goodell should have told Specter to go to hell.
Specter has no business playing enforcer. Unless the NFL asks for his help, he should just shut up and color. He’s worthless.
And Specter could have taken the NFL’s antitrust exemption with him. We could also quit subsidizing public stadiums, or prevent the nfl from broadcasting over the air.
The government has a huge interest in making sure that the game stays fair, and the nfl needs the government if it wants to keep functioning as well as it has the last 20 years.[/quote]
This is the leverage that Specter has over the NFL.
The antitrust exemption saves the league and their teams billions.
[quote]tedro wrote:
And Specter could have taken the NFL’s antitrust exemption with him. We could also quit subsidizing public stadiums, or prevent the nfl from broadcasting over the air.[/quote]
First off - Specter is not the God you give him credit for being. He has a vote on whether or not to recommend that the exemption be withdrawn. He can’t yank it unilaterally.
Subsidizing of stadiums is at the local level - I can’t recall any federal funds being used to fund an NFL arena - with the exception perhaps of the one in DC. But hell - tear it down for all I care.
The gov’t would have to first fight off the lawsuits from the networks - if the gov’t even has the right to tell networks what they can and can’t broadcast, other than for sex, language, and violence.
It would never happen. Not over something as stupid as this.
[quote]tedro wrote:
The government has a huge interest in making sure that the game stays fair[/quote]
Why? How does it really affect them?
I’m not trying to start something with you; it’s just that it seems like I’ve heard this before but have never really heard a good reason as to why the government has a legitimate interest in making sure sports are fair.
As far as the NFL needing the government to run smoothly, there you may be right. I don’t know enough about it to fairly comment, so I’ll stay out of that discussion.
Ah, good old Specter at it again. First he threatens them with the anti-trust exemption because he doesn’t like the way they do business, and now he’s conducting an “investigation” regarding spying incidents. I’m quite surprised that Goodell gave him that information rather than telling him to bugger off. I know spying on another team is against NFL rules, but I don’t think it’s a federal crime, so why Specter feels the need to poke his face in the matter is beyond me.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
First off - Specter is not the God you give him credit for being. He has a vote on whether or not to recommend that the exemption be withdrawn. He can’t yank it unilaterally.
[/quote]
No, he can’t. But if Goodell literally told him to go to hell, I don’t think it would sit well with the rest of the US senate.
I was just using that as an example as to why government, any government, has a reason for being involved in the nfl.
Something as stupid as competely ruining the game of football? Do you have any idea how much the economy is affected by the NFL, especially local ones? Lose the integrity and you lose the fans. Lose the fans and you lose a 6 billion dollar a year industry.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
rainjack wrote:
UtahLama wrote:
This is the leverage that Specter has over the NFL.
The antitrust exemption saves the league and their teams billions.
Pull that plug and the NFL is in deep doo doo.
Does Congress really want to be the ones that kill football? Talk about political suicide.
Should the NFL kill itself to cover up the Patriots cheating?[/quote]
And this is where the wheels fall off your argument. It’s not that big of a deal. At least not as big a deal as you are making out of it.
If you are so concerned with cheating, why not turn all of professional sports over to the fed? God knows there is cheating going on somewhere that could kill the respective sport.
Governemtal interference will kill sport quicker than any supposed cheating scandal.
[quote]tedro wrote:
No, he can’t. But if Goodell literally told him to go to hell, I don’t think it would sit well with the rest of the US senate.[/quote]
Maybe so, but the first thing any politician would do would be to stick his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing before committing suicide.
It would seem to me that if this were indeed the case, that the entities holding the debt for these stadiums would want a guarantee of a winning season, or even perhaps a playoff appearance. But you never see that.
[quote]Something as stupid as competely ruining the game of football? Do you have any idea how much the economy is affected by the NFL, especially local ones? Lose the integrity and you lose the fans. Lose the fans and you lose a 6 billion dollar a year industry.
[/quote]
You make your own argument as to why this will never happen. Money. Take away football to spite Goodell? It would never happen. SO the Pats got caught. Next year it will be another team doing something. Or a player doing something. It is an imperfect system run by imperfect people. That is absolutely the wrong reason for involving the Fed. They are even more imperfect than Goodell. They are politicians for pete’s sake.
[quote]CC wrote:
tedro wrote:
The government has a huge interest in making sure that the game stays fair
Why? How does it really affect them?
I’m not trying to start something with you; it’s just that it seems like I’ve heard this before but have never really heard a good reason as to why the government has a legitimate interest in making sure sports are fair.
As far as the NFL needing the government to run smoothly, there you may be right. I don’t know enough about it to fairly comment, so I’ll stay out of that discussion.[/quote]
Sports are taxpayer subsidized. The interstate nature of sports makes it more than an individual state matter. Any time commerce becomes interstate the federal government has say in the matter.
That alone is enough to give jurisdiction but when you add in anti-trust exemptions and allowances for ridiculous things that would never be legal in normal society like the draft, oversight becomes mandatory.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
rainjack wrote:
UtahLama wrote:
This is the leverage that Specter has over the NFL.
The antitrust exemption saves the league and their teams billions.
Pull that plug and the NFL is in deep doo doo.
Does Congress really want to be the ones that kill football? Talk about political suicide.
Should the NFL kill itself to cover up the Patriots cheating?
And this is where the wheels fall off your argument. It’s not that big of a deal. At least not as big a deal as you are making out of it.
If you are so concerned with cheating, why not turn all of professional sports over to the fed? God knows there is cheating going on somewhere that could kill the respective sport.
Governemtal interference will kill sport quicker than any supposed cheating scandal. [/quote]
The commissioner blatantly lying to the public and covering up that the team that has won three recent Super Bowls has been cheating is not a big deal?
It is not the cheating, it is the cover up that makes me wonder.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
The commissioner blatantly lying to the public and covering up that the team that has won three recent Super Bowls has been cheating is not a big deal?[/quote]
Not as big as deal as you obviously think it is. Maybe if it were anyone else but Specter leading the charge, I could give a shit, but he’s a fucking low life piece of crap.
[quote]It is not the cheating, it is the cover up that makes me wonder.
[/quote]
You are normally libertarian/conservative leaning. I have to wonder why this issue has you singing like a left-wing big gov’t liberal.
I can only think that your hatred of the Pats has caused you to blur the lines of common sense just to exact some revenge.
I don’t know why it’s cheating. Isn’t that why they have signals to begin with instead of just yelling out the play? Hell, I played baseball for 14 years. Baseball has it right. We changed the indicator up every game so that no one could steal the signs. How hard would that be for NFL teams to do? Instead, they put a backup QB next to the coach with a bright white hat on and have him wave the same signals over and over again. Duh. And then they get mad about it? C’mon.
And get congress out of sports, period. If they want to go ahead and create a Department of Sports Management or cover it from the GAO, fine, but the legislative branch should concentrate on bigger issues.
Something as stupid as competely ruining the game of football? Do you have any idea how much the economy is affected by the NFL, especially local ones? Lose the integrity and you lose the fans. Lose the fans and you lose a 6 billion dollar a year industry.
[/quote]
And that $6 billion would be spent on other products, or God forbid, savings and investments?
[quote]rainjack wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
The commissioner blatantly lying to the public and covering up that the team that has won three recent Super Bowls has been cheating is not a big deal?
Not as big as deal as you obviously think it is. Maybe if it were anyone else but Specter leading the charge, I could give a shit, but he’s a fucking low life piece of crap.
[/quote]
I cannot stand Specter either. I hate that he is my Senator.
Not at all. I hate that my state subsidized the onstruction of all these new baseball and football stadiums.
I am glad Specter shined the light of day on this cheating scandal but I will be pissed if he drags this into Congressional hearings. Now that the truth is out the NFL can try to fix the problems and win me back as a fan.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
CC wrote:
tedro wrote:
The government has a huge interest in making sure that the game stays fair
Why? How does it really affect them?
I’m not trying to start something with you; it’s just that it seems like I’ve heard this before but have never really heard a good reason as to why the government has a legitimate interest in making sure sports are fair.
As far as the NFL needing the government to run smoothly, there you may be right. I don’t know enough about it to fairly comment, so I’ll stay out of that discussion.
Sports are taxpayer subsidized. The interstate nature of sports makes it more than an individual state matter. Any time commerce becomes interstate the federal government has say in the matter.
That alone is enough to give jurisdiction but when you add in anti-trust exemptions and allowances for ridiculous things that would never be legal in normal society like the draft, oversight becomes mandatory.
[/quote]
I get why the government has jurisdiction and now I see why the NFL needs the government. However, I still don’t see how this pertains to the government having an interest in fairness of the game. Why does “the government [have] a huge interest in making sure that the game stays fair”? How does it serve them, other than to get their name in the paper?
I get why the government has jurisdiction and now I see why the NFL needs the government. However, I still don’t see how this pertains to the government having an interest in fairness of the game. Why does “the government [have] a huge interest in making sure that the game stays fair”? How does it serve them, other than to get their name in the paper?[/quote]
It is the fans that have an interest in the fairness. The government is merely representing our interests. That is why we elect them.