The Vikings' totally gratuitous passing TD at the end of the game was merely the latest in a series of acts by modern coaches that represent poor sportsmanship at its worst. For decades, there was an unwritten agreement among all coaches not to purposefully run up the score on opponents. Even the few college powerhouse programs, that routintely won most of their games by 40-50 points, put their 2nd and 3rd stringers in after the outcome had been decided.
Buddy Ryan and Jimmy Johnson were the first NFL coaches who brought the unprincipled, bad sportsmanship act into the league. In recent years, Bill Belicheck has made it into an art form. In response to these unprecedented acts of poor sportsmanship, every jock sniffer in the media defends the coaches, with the typical, scripted response being "If you don't like it, stop them." This mantra is quoted so often that it's almost like some of the other party lines we've talked about here, which seem to be dictated from somewhere off stage.
When I coached youth sports, we ran into this kind of thing a few times. In such cases, the behavior of said coaches was roundly condemned by everyone. In the NFL, it is now apparently acceptable to blatantly run up the score on the opposition, in the eyes of fans and jock sniffing "journalists" alike. That sends out yet another disastrous message to young people everywhere. It also fits in nicely with the selfish, boastful arrogance that we see in nearly every black player.
As you know, I happen to think much, if not all, of these sporting events are scripted entertainment, just like all the other poisonous garbage on television. If we accept that these games are true, competitive events, then we should condemn this kind of poor sportsmanship. Grantland Rice summed it up best: "It matters not whether you win or lose, but how you played the game." That used to be a very popular and well-known expression.
