After a tumultuous season that featured a decline in ratings partially blamed on National Football League players protesting injustice and inequality during the national anthem, America will get to enjoy a Super Bowl devoid of ungrateful players insulting the mythical โtroopsโ and the long-dead corpse of Francis Scott Key by kneeling during โThe Star-Spangled Banner.โ
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Itโs almost like they planned it this way.
An on-the-field referee was the first to congratulate Tom Brady when his New England team eeked out a come-from-behind win against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Helped by the not-at-all-related fact that the Patriots were only called for one penalty during the contest, many people are calling the dynastyโs latest Super Bowl appearances a โfix.โ
I donโt believe in conspiracy theories like this. Just becauseโaside from the week after Trump referred to the mothers of NFL players as โbitchesโโnone of the Patriotsโ players knelt during the national anthem this season, it doesnโt automatically mean that the referees would cheat for New England. Even if you bring up the fact that Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a huge Trump supporter and the NFL has been worried about Trump calling them out, it doesnโt make the conspiracy theory ring true.
After all, thereโs no evidence whatsoever that the Patriots would cheatโexcept for the one time they were convicted of cheating in deflate-gate in 2015. And the other time they were punished for manipulating the injury list. Oh ... and spy-gate. But aside from those isolated incidentsโand the ESPN article that showed how the Patriots continually cheated over the years and the NFL covered it upโthere is absolutely no basis for anyone to assume that the NFL would cheat for the Patriots.
As for the Philadelphia Eagles, why would the NFL possibly want them in the Super Bowl?
Youโre probably going to mention that Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins sold out Colin Kaepernickโs protests, arenโt you? Accusing Jenkins of taking a payoff to end the demonstrations during the anthem is easily disproven by the fact that ... hold on, let me look this up.
OK, it turns out that Jenkins stopped protesting immediately after NFL owners agreed to fork over $100 million to the Players Coalition, the group of protesters that Jenkins started. But that doesnโt mean anything. Two plus two doesnโt always equal four. Iโve seen some of the NFL playersโ Wonderlic tests that prove it sometimes equals 22. Again, itโs probably just a coincidence.
I think the NFL just got lucky. If you bring up the fact that billionaires who spent $100 million to make the protests disappear would probably shell out a few more shillings to referees, you sound stupid. And please donโt show me that video of the ref congratulating Brady after the quarterback threw the game-winning touchdown.
Iโm sure he was saying, โAre you going for 2?โ or something like that. Just because this whole thing seems shady doesnโt mean that it is. How dare you?
What really matters is that NFL fans will get to enjoy a Super Bowl without politics. Except for the political statement of the national anthem. And the halftime show featuring the white guy who made a controversial cameo in the Patriotsโ second Super Bowl win. And the team named the โPatriotsโ playing the team named the โEagles.โ
Iโm sure itโs a big, spectacular, lucky coincidence. After all, this is America. You canโt just say disparaging things without any facts or evidence. That would be ... umm ... whatโs the term for that?
No! I wasnโt going to say โpresidential.โ
OK, I was going to say that. But still ...
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