I'm Feeling Smug

The recently fired coach of the Miami Dolphins football team, Brian Flores, is suing the NFL and the teams individually.  

No matter the validity of his allegations, that fact is amazing, in and of itself.  

The accusations, on the other hand, are not surprising.  Not to me, anyway.  

He says the owners are racists, hiring white guy after white guy for the front office and as head coaches, despite the league being 70-some percent men of color, despite those men having greater qualifications and more experience and, statistically, winning more games than their whiter colleagues.  

He says their posturing about inclusivity is a sham.  He has a text from Bill Belichick to prove it.

He also says that the owner offered him $100,000 for every game he lost.  The initial reaction was tanking - losing on purpose to end up at the bottom of the standings, thus getting a chance at a number one draft pick in the following year.  Another black coach made a similar accusation.

As the day went on, though, another theme emerged - gambling.  Perhaps there were bets relying on certain outcomes.  Given the close relationship between the betting world and the NFL, especially since remote gambling became legal ( and so heavily promoted by the league) that's not an unsurprising conclusion.

Why am I smug?  Because for decades, every time the fans on my couch clutched their hands to their head and wondered why??? I smiled and said payola, our catch-all phrase for all kinds of corruption.  And yet, you believe in the NFL, in the fairness of it all - as they countered with assertions of purity.

Well, guys, I now seem to have textual evidence on my side.

Smug.