Why Punish Patriots For Cheating?

Congress Never Gets Punished

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – “Let’s get down to the heart and soul of deflategate.  The rulebook is what has been violated here.  It’s been defiled according to some.  [mocking] “The Patriots are guilty.  You know what they’ve done?  They’ve cheated.  They cheated again.”  Okay, so they violated the foundational rule in the rulebook of the NFL.”  Check out today’s transcript for the rest….

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  Let’s get down to the heart and soul of deflategate.  What is it that people are complaining about?  What is it that happened that should not have happened?  There is a rule in the NFL rulebook that specifies what PSI a football must be inflated to so that it can be used during an NFL-sanctioned game.  You have to inflate it to a certain amount of PSI and all the balls have to be the same.  This only makes sense if you have a game that’s played and you’re trying to establish some kind of consistency in it so that no matter where you play and no matter what the conditions are, no matter in what city you play and what stadium you play, that the ball, the central part of the game, is always the same.  For example, a yard is always measured the same.  The stripe on the sideline is always the same width.  The hash marks on the field are always the same width.  The goalposts, always the same height, always the same distance between the bars.  The crossbars are a certain distance from the ground.  These are rules.  I imagine that there is actually somewhere an NFL rulebook.  They might even have a pocket NFL rulebook kind of like we have pocket constitutions.

The rulebook is what has been violated here.  It’s been defiled according to some.  [mocking] “The Patriots are guilty.  You know what they’ve done?  They’ve cheated.  They cheated again.”  Okay, so they violated the foundational rule in the rulebook of the NFL.  If you’re playing a game that has ball in it — baseball, football, basketball — the ball is central and is required to play the game, correct?

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So whatever league sanctions the activity, it ought to be able to have in its foundational law the definition of what the ball is, the definition of how big the ball is, the specifications of it.  This is not at issue here.  No one is saying there shouldn’t be or can’t be a law or a rule that the NFL has to specify the ball, exactly what it is, define it.  Let me use a word here.  The NFL can enumerate specifications for the ball.  It can even enumerate how it’s manufactured.

Gee, where’s Mr. Church going with this?  Some people are suggesting that the Patriots ought to be disqualified from playing in the Super Bowl if inflategate is true because they cheated.  They broke NFL rules.  We’re Americans.  We’re not cheaters.  We can’t have that.  We’re not going to let you break the rules.  We’re going to ridicule you.  We’re going to try to stop you from participating in the championship game.  We’re going to fine you.  What happened to the New Orleans Saints four years ago in bountygate?  They allegedly broke the rules, didn’t they?  Apparently in the sports world rules matter.  Not only do rules matter, the specificity of rules matter.  I should be very encouraged and heartened by this, shouldn’t I?  Rules help to keep men honest.  Rules help us to play the same game or execute certain business decisions and interact with one another in different fields, etc., etc. on what is called a “level playing field.”  Rules are beneficial in other words.  Those that break and violate rules, especially those that cheat on the rules, should be punished, severely in some cases.  I agree.

I’d like to present to you another rulebook.  Hear that?  That is my eleven-year-old, very well-worn but beloved copy of the pocket Constitution of the United States.  Many of you have them from the Founders Tradin’ Post.  We’re supposed to send them out, we don’t always do so, but we’re supposed to send you a free one with every order from the Founders Tradin’ Post.  I have purchased over 30,000 pocket constitutions in the last six years from the National Center for Constitutional Studies.  We’re probably one of their biggest customers.  What is the Constitution at the end of the day, class?  It’s a rulebook.  It’s a rulebook for Congress.  It’s a rulebook for the executive.  It’s a rulebook for the judiciary.  It has a set of rules in it, doesn’t it?  It tells Congress how it’s going to meet, when it can meet, and when it meets it tells them what they can do, what they can’t do.  It enumerates the size of the congressional ball.  It enumerates the PSI the congressional ball is to be inflated to, doesn’t it?  It’s a flipping rulebook in other words.

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Well, if we are so devoted and devout in observing rules, and if we must punish people that violate rules, like the New England Patriots, shouldn’t we then disqualify nearly all of Congress, nearly all of the executive branch, nearly all of the judicial branch?  They violate their rulebook every day with impunity.  As a matter of fact, most of them haven’t even read the rulebook.  I’ll give you one better than that.  Most of them won’t even acknowledge that there is a

rulebook, other than the arrogant and the hubristic statement that we have the power to write our own rules.  You have the power to write your own rules of conduct.  You don’t have the power to write your own rules for how you rule.

FOLKS, a message from Mike – The Project 76 features, Church Doctrine videos and everything else on this site are supported by YOU. We have over 70, of my personally designed, written, produced and directed products for sale in the Founders Tradin’ Post, 24/7,  here. You can also support our efforts with a Founders Pass membership granting total access to years of My work for just .17 cents per day. Thanks for 17 years of mike church.com! – Mike

If we’re going to have these vainglorious discussions here about how the Patriots or any other sporting franchise must abide by and must obey the rules, maybe we ought to have conversations about how our legislatures ought to abide by and obey rules.  Every state in this union has a constitution, every single one of them without exception and without fail.  In each one of those constitutions, there are rules.  There are enumerations on what they can do and what they cannot do.  Question: Does even your state legislator obey the rulebook?  Do they?  Mine doesn’t.  They’re all cheaters, in other words, or most of them are cheaters.  It’s not fair to say all of them because not all of them, but most of them, vast majorities of the legislative class of people are cheaters.

End Mike Church Show Transcript