February 2, 2015, Groundhog Day
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, auguring six more weeks of winter (the calendar says seven anyway)... in what has already been a cold, snowy, unpleasant winter in much of the North, anyway (this morning, a miserable slush-fest, our own city's Lord Mayor supposedly made his way to Staten Island groundhog ceremonies notwithstanding his dropping the groundhog last year which probably killed it).
It being Groundhog Fay, our national religion played to form: the team that apparently cheats has (of course) won the Super Bowl.
The sporting realm had been one of the last bastions of fair play in this society (banking, the law, business in general, education, etc. having long surrendered fairness to the relentless pursuit of mammon). Indeed, the perceived lack of fairness (along with the boringness from almost no scoring) is one of the reasons my countrymen don't like that other bullsh*t sport beloved everywhere else (known as futbol to our South): think about the total arbitrariness, what with the flops and the bogus "officiating," often awarding the game to one side or the other on dubious "fouls" and penalty kicks.
So... Americans usually take offense at things like steroids in baseball, Lance Armstrong, or other things that undermine fair play in sport. This could be because unlike most countries that have community and family connection and human value (as opposed to ruthless sociopathic capitalism and a simulacrum of national cohesion and civility), at least we have fair play in sport (if nowhere else).
But, as the New England Patriots have just shown us... perhaps we don't even have that. Something to ponder... on Groundhog Day.