By C. Ron Allen
In the days leading up to Sunday’s matchup between the Patriots and the Seahawks, I knew the game had the potential to be the greatest Super Bowl of all time when all was said and done.
As I diehard New England fan, I also knew the Patriots were in for a fight against the Seahawks.
But good lord, I did not expect the melee that occurred in the closing seconds of the epic game. It was downright embarrassing. (By the way, the odds of a fight on the field were 18 to 1.)
With the Patriots having secured another title with an interception just moments before to seal what was a 28-24 victory, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was attempting to simply take a knee with 20 seconds remaining at his 5-yard line.
Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin and Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski got in a shoving match and then Patriots guard Ryan Wendell pushed Irvin from behind by, fueling the flames.
As I told family and friends before kickoff, we all knew who would take home the Lombardi trophy. Still, regardless of who came out on top, we would all be privileged to watch these two teams do battle.
To his credit, and I’m sure it was at the urging of a publicist, Irvin, on Monday, apologized “to all of the younger kids for my actions last night.” He said he was overcome with emotion after seeing teammate Michael Bennett get hit and was only trying to protect his brother and it got out of hand.
But what Irvin has not yet realized, is this is a job – a profession – and there is a certain conduct that is expected from professionals.
I understand his emotions. Tempers were tight on both sides. Imagine being a member of the Patriot’s organization going into that game. They went in under a cloud after two weeks of questioning whether Brady and Belichick cheated in Deflategate. Is that considered pressure?
This is no different from what my sister did during a game of monopoly, when I was trouncing her, she flipped the board and walked away. Would that be considered brattish?
A dear friend said that’s Irving’s style. Well, while Irving’s style may be popular with many fans, that type of personality won’t work very well in a world beyond professional sports.
It was evident there were two athletic cultures on the field on Sunday.
The Patriots stayed focused on the game because they were professional football players, as was evidenced by their plays and actions. The Seahawks played pretty well, too, but the contrast in styles was a stark difference.
For example, Sherman mugged for the cameras in the second half. And after scoring a third-quarter touchdown that put his team up 10 points, receiver Doug Baldwin made a lewd gesture, appearing as if he were pulling down his pants to do something he might do in the bathroom, not on the field. He was hit with a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Baldwin said he directed the gesture at an unnamed Patriots player.
And there was Irvin’s saga.
After the game, Gronkowski said that those little fights tend to happen, especially in a game with such emotion.
I differ. The super bowl is not any regular game. With an average of 114.4 million people watching around the world, there’s a lot of discipline and decorum that’s expected during the most watched event in American TV history.
Irvin became the first player in Super Bowl history to be ejected from the game.
Is that the record you want your kids or even young people, who look up to you as their hero, to have long after you’re gone?
But then, I wonder if that anger was directed more toward his coaching staff than the opposing team.
In the end of Super Bowl XLIX, the only things deflated were Pete Carroll and the Seahawks.