Quote:
Originally Posted by pilight
It's just football, not rocket science.
I recall plenty of former players, ever some former QBs, who said Brady and the Patriots cheated and got a competitive advantage from improperly inflated balls.
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Yeah, same. ISTR Sean Salisbury, who I definitely remember playing in the NFL, being one of those guys at the time.
I *am* a little bit OK with a little bit of the "if you didn't play..." attitude, specifically when it comes to guys talking about "heart" or "the will to win" or "intangibles". If you're some 5'6" schlub who can't be arsed to get off the couch, don't go around telling me that like Brady is better than Dak because he has the "will to win". That said, one of the big reasons why I prefer the "stat nerd" variety of sports comentators - like Mina Kimes and Gregg Rosenthal for two - is that they just straight up don't use those arguments. Players have abilities and those abilities have limits. For some guys those limits are higher than for others but there's no point in talking about "heart" or whatever; at the end of the day it's what the players do, not what you think is going on inside of their heads, that counts.
IIRC that's specifically what got Barkley going on the "living in their mothers' basement" comment: some idiot was denigrating a professional NBA player for not having the "guts" or whatever. By the time you've reached that level of play, you are mentally pretty damn tough, one way or the other. Even if you're big and clumsy like Javale McGee, you were still a stud at lower levels of play and you're only big and clumsy relative to other NBA players. And people at home, you're just not on their level at any point, and pretending that any amount of that ability comes from willpower and not a ton of talent mixed with practice really makes you look dumb.