Aztecs and Gladiators vs. Zen Football
there's been much recent commotion
concerning a leather covered ellipsoid
treated as an object of devotion
by the pompous honchos of the NFL
and dozens of sports writers as well.
It's used in a thrilling annual semi religious rite
by men athletically skilled but often otherwise not bright
who are willing to put their own bodies to the toll
of winning what is called The Super Bowl.
While mercenary bookies and speculators
compare and bet on these modern Gladiators
many of whom not much later will become total wrecks
as if dismembered in even more tortured games by Aztecs.
So why also punish them or expect them guiltily to flinch
over lacking a half pound of pressure per square inch?
Especially in circumstances of treacherous snow and rain
which might cause few dearly learned skills to remain,
Why not, instead install, a simple rule change
to allow a somewhat larger pressure range?
hzl
5/8/15
ESPN Wisconsin - 01/21/15 Personal preference
www.espnwisconsin.com/common/page.php?feed=2&id...Football air pressure is a hot-button issue this week because the league is investigating ... I always like it to be on the high range because of my grip pressure. ....p><p>Like ex-Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings, whom the Minnesota Vikings .... p><p>Since then, Thompson has picked Western Michigan's Greg Jennings ...WAUK
ESPN Wisconsin - 01/21/15 Personal preference
www.espnwisconsin.com/common/page.php?feed=2&id...Football air pressure is a hot-button issue this week because the league is investigating ... I always like it to be on the high range because of my grip pressure. ....p><p>Like ex-Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings, whom the Minnesota Vikings .... p><p>Since then, Thompson has picked Western Michigan's Greg Jennings ...WAUK
10 Of the Most Brutal Ancient Sports | Kizaz
kizaz.com/2013/07/07/10-brutal-ancient-sports/Jul 7, 2013 - Bill Shankly's famous words on football being more important than life and... The gladiatorial games were probably an import to Rome, but they became a vital ...TLACHTLI/ANCIENT CENTRAL American BALL GAME/AZTECS ... of chariot racingcompared to the modern speed machine, the sport was much ...
Probing Question: Is football similar to Roman gladiator ...
news.psu.edu/.../probing-question-football-...Sep 14, 2009 - American football has many similarities with gladiator games, says Garrett Fagan, associate professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean ...Pennsylvania State UniversityMissing:aztec
From: hzlehrer@hotmail.com
To: hzlehrer@hotmail.com
Subject: Zen Football
Date: Fri, 8 May 2015 05:50:03 -0400
At Salem State University in Salem, Mass., Thursday night, Tom Brady responded to questions about DeflateGate like it wasn’t even a thing. (Charles Krupa/AP)
The day after the DeflateGate report broke — a report that implicated Tom Brady in a cheating scandal that put quite the asterisk next to the New England Patriots Superbowl win — the star quarterback was scheduled to speak at Salem State University in Salem, Mass. The event sold out within 20 minutes; kids wearing “Brady” jerseys would attend. Canceling the event would look bad, but an ill-conceived, off-message response to a question about DeflateGate would be worse. A scowl, a smirk or even a pregnant pause could spell disaster. Even a “no comment” wasn’t safe.
So Brady showed up and — excuse the baseball metaphor — knocked it out of the park. As usual.
“I don’t have really any reaction,” he told his interviewer, sportscaster Jim Gray. “Our owner commented on it yesterday. It’s only been 30 hours so I haven’t had much time to digest it fully but when I do I’ll be sure to let you know how I feel about it.
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In closing: “We’ll get through it,” as the Boston Globe reported.
Though the atmosphere was thick with anticipation of a major gaffe, Brady instantly shut down the media hordes waiting to pounce. The performance was stunning, but not surprising. No matter what is at stake — a football game, a football career, a reputation — Brady remains the National Football League’s unflappable Zen warrior. And, whether he’s punished by the NFL for his alleged role in or knowledge of DeflateGate, he’ll always have something many pro athletes don’t: the ability to ride the wave.
Before the DeflateGate report, Brady’s most recent Zen moment was ahead of Pats vs. Seahawks at Superbowl XLIX. Though scheduled to play Seattle (which went 12-4 in the regular season) in a matter of days in America’s biggest TV event of the year, Brady fielded questions in January about DeflateGate like it wasn’t even a thing.
“I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. I’m very comfortable saying that,” Brady said, adding: “I think there’s a lot of people who have more information than me.”
Then, in a masterful twist that may have betrayed Jedi training, Brady, wearing an ill-fitting ski cap complete with pom-pom, seemed like he was the one ready to start the investigation. “I have questions, too,” he said.
What? It was as if a child, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, started asking about the true nature of a cookie. He even questioned the “gate” of DeflateGate.
“This isn’t ISIS,” he said. “You know, no one’s dying.”
Making a molehill out of a mountain — it was nothing that Brady hadn’t done before and wouldn’t do again.
Brady as a college player of questionable talent, when he wasn’t even getting field time at the University of Michigan: “I remember Tommy saying, ‘One day, Mom and Dad, I’m going to be a household name,'” Brady’s mother toldthe New York Times magazine last year.
Brady on those who worry about the Pats’ record: “The e-mails I get from people that are always so concerned, and I’m always e-mailing them back, telling them: ‘Nobody died or anything. It’s just a loss.’”
Brady on the prospect of hanging around the NFL too long, like Brett Favre: “I just know that I’m sitting here at age 37 and I feel perfect at the end of 16 games.”
Brady on the menorah on display in his home: “We’re not Jewish … But I think we’re into everything.”
Brady on the media: “So when people criticize me, and they should — that’s what you do as an athlete. You go out there, and that’s what happens. You deal with it and laugh with it and hope they sell a lot of newspapers. Because there’s going to be the next article the next day, and the next article the next day.”
Brady in 2009 on rumors that his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was pregnant: “It’s just not something we discuss with anybody. It’ll be obvious when it happens.”
Brady on fame: “It’s pretty cool when you’re younger and you go up to a bar in Boston and they let you in because you’re the quarterback and it’s like, hey, bring all your friends in. That was great.”
Tom Brady is at peace — so Tom Brady is bland. Tom Brady is boring. But that’s also part of what makes him great, both on and off the field.
Take his 2005 profile in GQ, “The Best There Ever Was.” The title is significantly more audacious than anything Brady had to say. The article opens with Brady beginning to tell a story of how he almost got into serious trouble with some shady dudes — but then he stops.
“The things they were choosing to do didn’t … fit with my plan,” he said, shutting down the story before it really began.
When asked about his golden-boy image, the quarterback replied: “I hate that golden-boy image!”
“I don’t look at myself like that at all!” he said. “For me to believe I can’t do anything wrong, I think that’s all bulls—t. I’m 27 years old, I go do the same s—t every 27-year-old guy does, I mean, I drink, I—”
“Search the Internet for porn?” the interviewer asked.
“Everything,” he said. “I am no different.”
That non-denial denial — Brady didn’t cop to watching smut — was the talking point of the piece. Along with a photo of Brady holding a baby goat.
Or take “Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything,” a 2006 biography. Charles Pierce wrote about a credit-card commercial in which Brady starred with some teammates. The handsome star with the model wife delivered his one-liner, but it was the rotund offensive linemen who stole the show.
“They were all individual performers, each of them sharper and more vivid while wearing a face mask than their quarterback was in his suit,” Pierce wrote.
But Brady’s manner is also a boost. He is imperturbable on the field; calm and collected in the pocket. He doesn’t panic when a defensive lineman tries to tear his head off, but rarely scrambles for extra yardage, either. He is also blah off of the gridiron. The beautiful wife and fashion spreads are like spice on an otherwise bland dish.
In advertising and athletics, he sticks to the script. He rarely, if ever, slips up. It’s what makes him reliable, marketable — even electable.
“Indeed, his ease in the spotlight — the way he actually draws strength from pressure — is what has prompted speculation that he might run for U.S. Senate someday,” David Kamp wrote in GQ.
DeflateGate may have dented Brady’s chances at a political career, but the controversy shows once again how he’s achieved so much. The man simply doesn’t sweat.
And the Wells report shows Brady at his coolest. Even as the NFL was investigating him, Brady was texting his alleged co-conspirators: “You good Jonny boy?” When Patriots equipment assistant John Jastremski answered that he was “nervous,” Brady reassured him: “You didn’t do anything wrong bud.” When told that he would be asked about the deflated balls, Brady again told Jastremski: “No worries bud. We are all good.”
Keep calm and carry on, Brady seemed to be saying, as if he were in the huddle during one of his famous fourth-quarter drives.
Brady refused to hand over his phone, text messages or e-mails to investigators. Though the scandal has tarnished his reputation, Brady’s silence during and after has limited the damage, like throwing the ball away rather than getting sacked.
On Thursday night, as Jim Gray began asking Brady a question, the pro-Patriot crowd started to boo the journalist.
“He didn’t do it!” one fan yelled.
“Who cares?” another hollered.
“I can’t usually say those things,” Brady said with a laugh.
His silence may be scandalous, but it’s also golden.
Michael E. Miller is a foreign affairs reporter for The Washington Post. He writes for the Morning Mix news blog. Tweet him: @MikeMillerDC
Justin Moyer is a reporter for The Washington Post's Morning Mix. Follow him on Twitter: @justinwmmoyer.
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