Shula on wrong foot</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>By Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Staff</p> Don't they learn?</p> I can just imagine how many of Don Shula's former Dolphins players are calling him today, wondering just what he was thinking with his inane asterisk talk. For all intents and purposes, he pretty much assured the Patriots are going to run the table this season -- matching the perfection done only by Shula's '72 squad -- by calling into question the validity of their accomplishments.</p> This is a team that finds disrespect when they're not a two-touchdown favorite. Bring up asterisks, validity, and cheating accusations and, well, you're actually watching what happens: A convincing 9-0 mark and very few standing in the way of perfection. The 2007 Patriots will go down as the best team in the history of the NFL, a powerhouse in the dynasty they've already created for themselves this decade.</p> But...oh, right. The camera stuff.</p> "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 New York Daily News. "Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,000, and they lost a first-round draft choice. That tells you the seriousness or significance of what they found.</p> "I guess you got the same thing as putting an asterisk by Barry Bonds's home run record."</p> Ah, yes, the old asterisk, our nation's crutch to be forever attached to records and marks we deem not to have been accomplished the same way as our sporting forefathers. Now Shula, the architect of the last team to go undefeated for an entire season, wants one attached to the Patriots for what they've accomplished (9-0) in the wake of Spygate.</p> But shouldn't his precious Dolphins have the same stigma attached to them?</p> Writes the Associated Press's Jim Litke, "If Shula believes that, then he ought to negotiate a twofer and paste the other asterisk next to his own undefeated team. He was still the coach of the Baltimore Colts at the end of the 1969 season, when then-Miami owner Joe Robbie approached him and signed Shula to a contract. The NFL charged the Dolphins with tampering and awarded their first-round pick to the Colts. Undaunted, Miami reached the Super Bowl in 1971, then rebounded from a loss to the Dallas Cowboys by winning the next two, including the perfect 17-0 campaign."</p> The team lost a first-round draft choice. That, oh, and I quote, "tells you the seriousness or significance of what they found."</p> The 1972 Dolphins might as well have played a schedule full of high school teams based on their strength of schedule. Their opponents had a winning percentage of just .400, and let's not forget that there was no salary cap in Shula's era. Asterisk? The 1972 Dolphins ran up the score against the Patriots, 52-0, that season, but you don't hear anything in regards to a "lack of class" on Shula's part. Asterisk?</p> As we've learned time and again, in lieu of getting all riled up by a lack of respect, Patriots fans should embrace the ill-advised comments of guys like Shula, whose words only do more to fire up the New England players in the quest that they all tell us isn't a primary goal this season, but in reality is a primary goal this season.</p> Mind you, this isn't Cris Collinsworth, Shannon Sharpe, or some other TV talking head questioning the team's past glory. This is one of the most respected head coaches in the history of the game calling out the best team in the NFL. As weeks pass, it's no longer the rest of the NFL that's in jeopardy of watching the Pats steamroll the rest of the league, it's the very proud members of that 1972 team who very well might watch their claim to glory fall in a matter of eight weeks.</p> And yet, here's how many games in which the Patriots have demoralized the opposition without the use of cameras: eight. And the ninth, the New York Jets, are in for some kind of beating when they come to Foxborough next month. Belichick might insist that Eric Mangini use cameras just so that fewer players leave the field on a stretcher.</p> Spygate was an embarrassment for the franchise, no question. But it has no bearing on what the team is doing now in its shadow, and those who can argue otherwise are probably still tracking Sasquatch, obsessed with the makeup of Dallas grass seed, and planning family vacations to Roswell.</p> But let's go easy on ol' Don. After all, it won't be easy for him to watch a team go 16-0 the same year his former team goes 0-16. It has never been a worse time to be a Miami Dolphins fan.</p> "Every year, the 1972 Miami Dolphins pop champagne when the final undefeated team loses, preserving their 17-0 squad as the last to enjoy a perfect season," writes Yahoo's Dan Wetzel. " It's a rite of autumn in the NFL."</p> Actually, it's not. The assumption of a big party every time an undefeated NFL team goes down late in the season is an urban myth. Oh, sure, glasses may clink here or there where former teammates reside near one another, but it's not the revelatory get-together that we were once led to believe.</p> "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," former Dolphins tight end Jim Mandich told the Daily News. "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."</p> That's good of Mandich to try to clean up the mess Shula left for him, but it's too late now. The '72 Dolphins can thank him for assuring New England's train doesn't derail.</p> And in case they forget about it over their bye week, I'm sure someone else will be dumb enough to further question things in the next 10 days so that there's a fresh new reason for motivation. Nobody ever learns. And the Patriots only get stronger the more people doubt them.</div></p>
Yeah, don't ever question the Patriots or their methods or you'll get trampled through the press then on the field. BillBelicheat shouldtrade in the stars and stripes for a swastika. It would suithis regime better. The truth is that I could respect the Patriots a lot more if they would justtake responsibility forthe cheating, then just go out andwin. No, they have to run up the score then sling dirton everyone that doesn't kiss their butts and carrythe type of attitude exemplified by this article. That's okay, the Patriots have sucked before and they will suck again. Let's just see who's still got the guts to ride that bandwagon when the DWO is burning it down.</p>
Dale; Does this mean we are circling the wagons? If so, I can't participate for obvious reasons.</p> Though, I agree w/ Dale's sentiment that what goes up must come down. Dynasties eventually end... just ask the 49ers.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Yeah, don't ever question the Patriots or their methods or you'll get trampled through the press then on the field. BillBelicheat shouldtrade in the stars and stripes for a swastika. It would suithis regime better. The truth is that I could respect the Patriots a lot more if they would justtake responsibility forthe cheating, then just go out andwin. No, they have to run up the score then sling dirton everyone that doesn't kiss their butts and carrythe type of attitude exemplified by this article. That's okay, the Patriots have sucked before and they will suck again. Let's just see who's still got the guts to ride that bandwagon when the DWO is burning it down.</p> </div></p> Swastika? Are you serious?</p> Belichick runs up a few scores and now he's killing millions of Jews?</p> That's going way over the line.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (agoo101284)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Yeah, don't ever question the Patriots or their methods or you'll get trampled through the press then on the field. BillBelicheat shouldtrade in the stars and stripes for a swastika. It would suithis regime better. The truth is that I could respect the Patriots a lot more if they would justtake responsibility forthe cheating, then just go out andwin. No, they have to run up the score then sling dirton everyone that doesn't kiss their butts and carrythe type of attitude exemplified by this article. That's okay, the Patriots have sucked before and they will suck again. Let's just see who's still got the guts to ride that bandwagon when the DWO is burning it down.</p> </div></p> Swastika? Are you serious?</p> Belichick runs up a few scores and now he's killing millions of Jews?</p> That's going way over the line.</p> </p> </div></p> Over the line? You mean like Pats fans calling me a terrorist or suggesting that I would look forward to Patriot players being injuredbecause I don't like the Patriots? Yeah, like that hasn't happened more than once. I'm not saying Belicheat is killing Jews. I am saying that this attitude of "Shut up about our cheating or we'll beat the crap out of you" is more Nazi Germany than it is American.</p> </p>
Nah DolfanDale thats typical American, now I'm American too and I've learned that too. If given the chance Americans will do all kinds of things to you, just watch what they've done in the middle east, and tell me who dropped the nukes on japan? Americans are the most aggresive people on earth.</p> And yeah DolfanDale I know deep down in your heart, you want the Pats to lose so bad that you'll go out and celebrate their loss, you hate them with passion, and at the same time you hate that the Dolphins have to play us one more time this season.</p> Keep calling Bill a Nazi. Thats your choice.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Nah DolfanDale thats typical American, now I'm American too and I've learned that too. If given the chance Americans will do all kinds of things to you, just watch what they've done in the middle east, and tell me who dropped the nukes on japan? Americans are the most aggresive people on earth.</p> And yeah DolfanDale I know deep down in your heart, you want the Pats to lose so bad that you'll go out and celebrate their loss, you hate them with passion, and at the same time you hate that the Dolphins have to play us one more time this season.</p> Keep calling Bill a Nazi. Thats your choice.</p> </div></p> Let me clarify how I feel about the Patriots. Actually, as hard as this is to believe, I don't really hate the Patriots football team. As a football coach, I hate Bill Belicheat with a passion.(I don't know him personally and have enough perspective, regarding the game of football, to not wish him anything but football failure.) I don't blame the Patriot players for Spygate. I don't blame the Patriot players for running up the score. I hang that totally on Bill Belicheat. The only Patriot player thatI hate is Rodney Harrison. I can't stand his "us vs the world" gimmick. It was old several years ago. When you add his proven guilt regarding HGH, his gimmick becomes unsufferable. However, I don't hate him with a real world hate. Just a football hate. I don't want to see the man injured or suffer anything other than defeat on the football field. I can't stand Randy Moss, but that started when he pushed that lady with his car while he was with the Vikings. Actually, I like Tom Brady and admire his poise on the field. Wes Welker was quickly becoming one of my favorite Dolphins and I have been happy seeing him do well with the Patriots even if that means good things for Belicheat. I will admit that I find the Patriot bandwagon a difficult fan base to warm up to. It gets old hearing Patriot fans cry about not being respected while they show no respect for any other team in the NFL. This new "Shut up about our cheating or we'll beat you down" attitude is particularly nauseating. I won't bother to celebrate a Patriots loss, but it might give me a warm fuzzy.</p>
