Douglas over Tyson wasn't that big an upset either. By that time, Tyson had fallen in with Don King, a soulless man who never gave a shit about Tyson the way Kevin Rooney and Cus D'Amato had. King was out to make himself a shitload of money and he didn't care if Tyson fell apartin the process. Not only that, buy Tyson's personal life was in shambles. Robin Givens had divorced him in 1989 and at this point the tabloids were still telling her Tyson marriage horror stories.

Douglas, on the other hand, lost his mother to a stroke two weeks before the fight and was hellbent on winning the fight for her. That, and he had a 12-inch reach advantage on Tyson. It was only an upset because the bookies were idiots. Holyfield's win over Tyson (the one without the biting) was considered an upset by Vegas too.

To: National Football League; Commissioner Roger Goodell

We the fans of the New England Patriots demand that the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell review the last 1:40 minutes of the Super Bowl held February 3rd 2008. At 1:22 in the fourth quarter, after Jacobs attained a first down the clock was stopped. The following are the rules regarding clock management in a game.

1. The stadium game clock is official. In case it stops or is operating incorrectly, the Line Judge takes over the official timing on the field.
2. Each period is 15 minutes. The intermission between the periods is two minutes. Halftime is 12 minutes, unless otherwise specified.
3. On charged team time outs, the Field Judge starts watch and blows whistle after 1 minute 50 seconds, unless television does not utilize the time for commercial. In this case the length of the time out is reduced to 40 seconds.
4. The Referee will allow necessary time to attend to an injured player, or repair a legal player’s equipment.
5. Each team is allowed three time outs each half.
6. Time between plays will be 40 seconds from the end of a given play until the snap of the ball for the next play, or a 25-second interval after certain administrative stoppages and game delays.
7. Clock will start running when ball is snapped following all changes of team possession.
8. With the exception of the last two minutes of the first half and the last five minutes of the second half, the game clock will be restarted following a kickoff return, a player going out of bounds on a play from scrimmage, or after declined penalties when appropriate on the referee’s signal.
9. Consecutive team time outs can be taken by opposing teams but the length of the second time out will be reduced to 40 seconds.
10. When, in the judgment of the Referee, the level of crowd noise prevents the offense from hearing its signals, he can institute a series of procedures which can result in a loss of team time outs or a five-yard penalty against the defensive team.
Nowhere in the above rules does it state that in the conditions of what was happening on the clock should be stopped. Also in addition to this six seconds were added to the game clock. Had this illegal clock stoppage not occurred there would have been 40 seconds less time on the clock, 46 seconds less if you consider the six seconds added on after the play. This means that after that play, if the clock was running the way it is supposed to by the rulebook, there would only be 42 seconds left on the clock. Furthermore if this was not enough on the subsequent play time was not taken off during the play followed by a random flashing of numbers on the clock.
The following drive took the Giants a total of 52 seconds on the game clock from the point that six seconds were added to the clock. However if the time was managed the way it was supposed to be there would have been no time left on the clock after Eli Manning was tackled at :50 seconds on the game clock. This irrefutable proof demands that Super Bowl XLII be reviewed from the point of the first illegal stoppage.
We the fans of the NFL demand that Commissioner investigate this matter as it is in his ability and it is his responsibility. The following is what the commissioner may do in this matter.

Commissioner’s Authority
The Commissioner has sole authority to investigate and to take appropriate disciplinary or corrective measures if any club action, nonparticipant interference, or emergency occurs in an NFL game which he deems so unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of a game.
No Club Protests
The authority and measures provided for in this section (UNFAIR ACTS) do not constitute a protest machinery for NFL clubs to dispute the result of a game. The Commissioner will conduct an investigation under this section only to review an act or occurrence that he deems so unfair that the result of the game in question may be inequitable to one of the participating teams. The Commissioner will not apply his authority under this section when a club registers a complaint concerning judgmental errors or routine errors of omission by game officials. Games involving such complaints will continue to stand as completed.
Penalties for Unfair Acts
The Commissioner’s powers under this section (UNFAIR ACTS) include the imposition of monetary fines and draft choice forfeitures, suspension of persons involved, and, if appropriate, the reversal of a game’s result or the rescheduling of a game, either from the beginning or from the point at which the extraordinary act occurred. In the event of rescheduling a game, the Commissioner will be guided by the procedures specified above ("Procedures for Starting and Resuming Games" under EMERGENCIES). In all cases, the Commissioner will conduct a full investigation, including the opportunity for hearings, use of game videotape, and any other procedures he deems appropriate.

Please do the right thing and investigate this game.


Sincerely,

The Undersigned

It's a compelling, rational argument but it'll never get overturned. Things like that simply don't happen, because it damages the game. Right or wrong, calls always stand. They HAVE to stand.

But it would be absolutely hilarious if the commissioner decided to award the game to the Patriots. The backlash that would occur in those 44 Non-New England states would be tremendous. There'd be riots, outrage, chaos, blood, death... it would be fantastic.

I'm not being a sore loser. Unlike whoever started the petition, I have no expectations that such a petition could ever work. Hell, I don't even really care about football and I have no idea what the rules they're citing even are. Football was my archnemesis for years. Back in the days when The Simpsons was at the top of its game, I used to get really fucking pissed off when some boring ass football game would push back the Simpsons start time til 8:30 or 9:00.

I just think it's funny how much people hate the Patriots. And since the only way that people could hate them more is if the NFL commissioner took the win away from the Giants and awarded the Pats a 19-0 season, then I'm all for that, because it's funny. I would love to see people have football-related aneurysms, because anyone who takes a sport that they don't actually play that seriously deserves to have their brain explode.

The fact is, the Patriots shouldn't have apologized for Spygate for exactly the reason that they gave: everyone was doing it. In outing the Patriots, Mangini basically played the part of mob snitch. Is the sport cleaner because of his snitching? Absolutely. But he's also more or less been blackballed. Most of coaches in the NFL are a lot madder at Mangini than they were at the Patriots. Some publicly, most privately. You know why? Because everyone really was doing it. If the NFL were the Mafia, Mangini would be lying in a ditch somewhere with his throat slit.

The fact also remains that well before the "everyone does it talk" started up, Belichick did apologize. This was the statement issued after Goodell's ruling:

Quote:

I accept full responsibility for the actions that led to tonight's ruling. Once again, I apologize to the Kraft family and every person directly or indirectly associated with the New England Patriots for the embarrassment, distraction and penalty my mistake caused. I also apologize to Patriots fans and would like to thank them for their support during the past few days and throughout my career. As the Commissioner acknowledged, our use of sideline video had no impact on the outcome of last week's game. We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress. Part of my job as head coach is to ensure that our football operations are conducted in compliance of the league rules and all accepted interpretations of them. My interpretation of a rule in the Constitution and Bylaws was incorrect. With tonight's resolution, I will not be offering any further comments on this matter. We are moving on with our preparations for Sunday's game.

As for running up the score, that's what happens when the media accuses a coach and a quarterback of garnering all their success via cheating. They're going to prove that they can win without cheating, and they're going to throw etiquette out the window.

As for arrogance, I don't understand where that claim comes from. Watch any press conference with Belichick or Seau. Seau is always very humble and Belichick NEVER has anything positive to say about his team. It's always, "Well, we should have played better." Moss is a dick, but Moss was a dick before he came to the Patriots. He was born a dick and no amount of coaching can change that. But hey, he's a great receiver.

Valdronius wrote:

So, uh, Ross.... How about them Argonauts? Lions?

MANCHESTER UNITED!!!!!!!

What Mangini did was definitely in the best interest in the league, both morally and ethically, but he overplayed his hand. If he was going to bring attention to a widespread problem, he should have done it at a point when it actually would have benifitted his team. Doing it after a 38-14 loss hurt him a lot more than it hurt the Pats in the long run. His future employment options are severely limited now. As for the non-apology, any other coach would done the same thing. So would any public figure who got caught with his or her hand in the cookie jar. Sorry or not, you never give a real apology, because it's a sign of weakness.

I don't think you understand what arrogance is. It is certainly spiteful to break a record just because you can, but it's not arrogant. Arrogance is Joe Namath guaranteeing a win in Super Bowl III. Arrogance is a sense of entitlement, which is not something the Patriots had. The Patriots didn't come into the 2007-2008 season saying they would win the Super Bowl. They were certainly HOPING to win, but they weren't guaranteeing it. After last season had fell apart with a brutal loss to a hated rival, they were looking to prove that the dynasty wasn't dead, that they could still win. After Spygate, they certainly turned bitter, but not arrogant. Patriots fans, on the other hand, were completely arrogant. No Patriots fan believed for a second that the Giants would win, and the average prediction in Boston was that the Patriots would win 91-3. So the fans got what they deserved.

As for the records, the Pats didn't do anything wrong. If a record only exists because every team handles each other with kid gloves, then the record is worthless. If you can break a record, break it. There's no other sport where a team could have done that. The Yankees can't just suddenly decide one day that they're going to have Jeter break the home run record. But at the same time, you reap what you sow. Some day a team will have the chance to run up the score against Belichick, and you can bet they'll take it. And you'll fucking love it. And they paid the ultimate price for the records. When you play your first string every game all season, you wear them out. The Patriots that went into Super Bowl 42 were exhausted and battle weary. The Giants, on the other hand, were not. Manning and his team were focused and full of energy. And they made the team the media had hyped as invincible look like motherfucking clown shoes.