Don Shula + *Unbeaten Pats = Sour Grapes

I don't like the Patriots, but this sounds like sour grapes from Shula ...

From the NY Post

Shula: Pats deserve Spygate asterisk

Don Shula, the coach of the only perfect season in NFL history, believes the Patriots have a legitimate shot at running the table and joining his '72 Dolphins in going undefeated in the regular season and playoffs. But if they can pull it off, Shula insists the NFL needs to place an asterisk next to the Patriots in the record books because Bill Belichick got caught cheating in the Spygate scandal. Shula admires the Patriots' team, but then, without being asked, he said Spygate negatively impacts the way they should be perceived this season. "The Spygate thing has diminished what they've accomplished. You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. They've got it," Shula told the Daily News. "Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,00 and they lost a first-round draft choice. That tells you the seriousness or significance of what they found."

 

They were fined a half million and forfeited a first-round pick... yeah, nothing happened.

It's the same logic, to me, as Merriman being ineligible for Defensive Player of the Year last year because he was busted for steroids. They are tainted.

AND it's sour grapes from Shula.

HE should not being putting this thought out there.

But people should be more supportive of this.

Has America's morality and ethics become so malleable?

 

What the hell IS it with those guys?

Like, in every other realm of sport, if a hallowed record falls the previous record holder(s) at least makes a show of respect and admiration to the record breaker.

But all these '72 Dolphins guys hold to this undefeated season thing like it's their lone thread of validation in the universe.

It's extra annoying because the constant coverage of the NFL demands that talking heads start yammering about a team possibly beating their record if they start, oh, 2-0. So we get what amounts to a whole season of Dolphins trying to actively jinx the fastest-starting team or, in this case, lobbing big tubes of bellyache.

 

From Gary Myers' Shula piece:

The perception has been that the '72 Dolphins are sitting around ready to drink up if the Patriots lose. "I think the champagne celebrations have been blown out of proportion," Shula said.

In fact, Jim Mandich, a tight end on that Dolphins team and now an analyst on their radio broadcasts, resents how that team has been portrayed.

"You guys put forth the myth that we are pathetic losers down here clicking champagne glasses and clinging desperately to a record set 35 years ago," Mandich said yesterday. "Somehow we've been portrayed as being evil. We don't ever blow our own horn. It's a great record, but the record doesn't get beaten. The Patriots have assembled a powerhouse of a team. They are a classy bunch of guys and play ball the right way. If they want to join the unbeaten club, come on aboard."

Anderson admits that if the record stands, "We would not be unhappy. We're not trying to be obnoxious about it, but we're proud we have a record nobody else does. If New England does it this year, we will sit and raise a glass of champagne to them."

 

Seriously. They'd be respected even more if they would just shut up-no one's going to forget the only undefeated team in NFL history.

And of course every time the last undefeated team loses each season, we have to hear about it. Not to mention we have to hear Berman and his champagne cork popping noises.

 

Um, I'm no NFL type, but doesn't the record in fact "get beaten?" They play more games than they did way back when, don't they?

 

You don't have to hear Berman. I haven't heard a word he's said in about a year. It's wonderful.

 

Not winning-percentage-wise.

But, yes, to me it would be beaten.

Plus, the Pats will have beaten the Colts (twice probably), the Steelers, The Cowboys, the Giants... plus the Super Bowl team.

The 1972 schedule had, what, three games against winning teams?

 

for the most part, the '72 fish are a bunch of bitter old timers' who hate that no one -- and i mean NO ONE -- considers their undefeated team among the greatest ever. once they lose the "only undefeated team" tag, they fade into oblivion everywhere except in south florida.

personally, i'd wish shula and the others would just shut up already. one reason to root for the belicheats is that if they go 19-0, maybe after this year there won't be any reason to monitor the "popping the champagne" boys.

the '72 fish were one of the most overrated teams ever. their schedule was super soft. and they didn't exactly maul their opponents like the pats have.

and no, i'm no patriots looser fanboy. far from it. but the bitter old men need to go away.

 

Can't say strength of schedule really matters here. But playing more games does.

And I agree that Shula was out of line here.

 

I'm getting pretty tired of this asterisk talk. Every time someone nears a record, somebody wants to put an asterisk by it.

Ford Frick lives! (the bastard).

 

Shula wants an asterisk if the Patriots go unbeaten.
Fine. Give his team an asterisk because he didn't have to coach in the salary cap era.