Patriots Running Up the Score

The topic of the Patriots supposedly running up the score continues to be a sports talk staple. A couple of things occurred to me while listening to the blather.

First, when speaking of highly paid athletes - many people pull out the justification that pro athletes are entertainers and when compared to TV and movie stars and that the athletes are actually underpaid. (As an aside I also remember many of the very same people who are now complaining about Tom Brady and the rest of the starters playing in the 4th quarter are the very same people who were complaining that in pre-season games that Brady and the starters did not play enough - that the consumer wasn't getting their monies worth.)

Second, often pro football players are compared to gladiators in the ring.

My mind has coupled these two thoughts and now I cannot help but seeing Maximus from the movie Gladiator when I see Patriots coach Bill Belichick. My hope is that the Patriots crush the Colts on Sunday and at the end of the game Belichick throws his headset into the crowd yelling:

"Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"