In preparation for its initial season in 1960, the New England Patriots (then known as the Boston Patriots) opened their first training camp on July 4, 1960, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and I was often there watching them create a team. (Remember their first starting quarterback? Answer at the end of the column.)
I became somewhat fanatical about them and my Mondays were always better when the Pats triumphed on Sundays. However, over the decades, my zeal mellowed into that of a more casual fan. Consequently, I was surprised this past June, as my wife and I emerged from the New Century Theater production of “Bakersfield Mist,” to realize I was thinking about National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell and the whole “Deflategate” mess instead of about the story we had just seen.
The play was about a woman who thought she had discovered an unknown Jackson Pollack painting. An art expert, exhibiting all sorts of pomposity, arrived at her home to view the work. He quickly decided it was a fraud but the woman introduced a clever CSI-type forensic twist to the story. There was a fingerprint on the back of the canvas and what if she could prove that it belonged to Pollack? The expert would have none of it. His word was unchallengeable and he stormed out of the house.
The “Deflategate” issue has now been resolved and the Patriots’ quarterback, Tom Brady, will miss the first four regular season games this fall. But on that night in June it was still an open question as to what would happen.
As I pondered the situation, I substituted Goodell in the role of the art expert in the play, and Brady in the part of the woman trying to prove she was correct with scientific evidence. Just as in the play, Goodell, the authority figure, refused to accept any information that he was wrong. The attitude of both the art expert and Goodell was “science be damned,” and their chief concern was the maintenance of their individual authority and reputation.
The NFL (which some people call the No Fun League) has denied scientific findings before. I am referring, of course, to the concussion problem that has caused some players to re-evaluate their willingness to participate in the sport. It’s not the first time such concerns have threatened the game, as football was nearly banned in the nation a century ago.
Back then, dozens of college players actually died from game injuries and serious debilitating injures were common. It took pressure from Teddy Roosevelt and others to get equipment improved and the rules changed to save the game.
Football can still be dangerous and recently thousands of former players sued the league for compensation to pay for the long-term injuries and depression they continued to suffer long after their playing days. A settlement that may cost the NFL more than $1 billion was reached last year and the league now has developed a concussion protocol for all players suffering head injuries. Medical science is finally making inroads into the sport.
Here’s another sign the league is taking a more enlightened view of science. There is apparently some thought on the rules committee about narrowing the width of the goal posts to make field goals more challenging. I read there was a plan to place electronic chips inside the footballs that were kicked in field goal attempts during some pre-season games. The chips would determine an average of how close the balls come to the uprights and aid the committee in determining how much the width should be contracted.
I have not seen any results concerning that experiment, but let me save the league a lot of trouble. Instead of worrying about the width of the goal posts, change the way field goals are scored. If the ball is between the goal line and the 15 yard line, a successful kick is worth three points; between the 15 and the 30, two points and between the 30 and the 45, one point. If the ball is not inside the 45, a field goal kick is not permitted at all.
My thinking is simple: the closer a team gets to the goal line, the more they should be rewarded and the defensive team punished. Similarly, the defense should be rewarded for keeping a team away from the goal line. It has always bothered me that a team could get points even though they were out near mid-field. For whatever it’s worth that’s how this fan feels. Now let’s go Pats!
Rich Szlosek can be reached at richszlo@crocker.com.
Trivia Answer: Ed “Butch” Songin quarterbacked the Patriots in the team’s first two seasons. He died in 1976 at the age of 52.