The Immoral Bowl

One of the biggest quandries of my sports life will happen in 13 days. Who do I root for in what I have dubbed "Immoral Bowl I," more commonly known as "Super Bowl XLII."

In one corner you have the New England Patriots, who are having an "historic" season. They are the first team to go 18-0 and look to become the 2nd NFL team in history to go undefeated. All well and good, except for the fact that in the first week of this season, the Patriots were caught using illegal cameras to tape the opponents' sidelines in order to steal signals and change their defense accordingly. The Pats' defensive players were also accused of using microphones in their uniforms to pick up offensive signals. This incident was considered so severe that the NFL fined the Pats and coach Bill Belichick a combined $750,000 and took away their #1 draft pick. All of this, while still mentioned frequently in the media, is largely dismissed as an apparition, and there's no way they can still be cheating, right? Or the great excuse, "Everyone does it, so it doesn't matter." First of all, are you telling me that the other 31 teams have just been lucky enough not to get caught? And even if every team does do it(HIGHLY unlikely), how does this make it right? Beacuse they're better at it? This is the Barry Bonds apologist excuse, and it doesn't fly with me.

Then you have the Giants, "led" by their "selfless" quarterback Eli Manning. The same Eli Manning that during the 2004 Draft refused to become a San Diego Charger. He didn't like the make-up of the team, he said. Regardless of the fact that when you are a number 1 draft pick, you are going to a bad team, everything Manning that day was low-class. When the Chargers still drafted him, he stood on stage with a pout on his face and even refused to put the Chargers hat on (a draft-day tradition). It would mess his hair, he said. The Chargers, left with no choice, traded him to the Giants(one of three teams he said he would play for). Unbecoming, selfish behavior by Manning, who has turned out be a subpar player until the last 4 weeks or so. And yet he is left off the hook by most media as well. The same people who wanted to run him out of New York in early December now talk about his "pressure under fire." At least he puts his helmet even though it messes his hair up.

So there you have it, folks. Who do you root for? The Cheat-riots or the Littlest Giants? The cheaters or the primadonnas? For those of us that still care about the integrity of sports, the choice is difficult. And for the first time in my life, I may not root for anyone in the Super Bowl.