Hmm...I think auto racing and football are different things. There are ways to throw the game without throwing the game. Play the backups....just to get a look at them, or avoid injury to the starters.
And what if I said boxing instead of racing?
My point wasn't about losing the game, it was about winning the game.
The writer was pointing that the team lost the first pick because they won, and that the head coach was fired.
I'm not saying that the two are related, but that if the coach was fired for not losing, that would be considered a crime in some circles, especially when betting on games is involved.
What racing and football do have in common is the team aspect of a single owner organization sponsoring multiple cars. NASCAR expects all the drivers to do their best to win; a driver who purposely spins out in order to help another driver on the team to win violates the competition clause in the team charter.
How about today's game between the Buccaneers and the Saints? The Bucs already had the game won with 36 seconds left to go, but wide receiver Mike Evans needed one more reception for five yards in order to tie the record and personally received $3 million dollars.
Does it look like the Saints tried to stop Evans? Did anybody on the Saints want to be THAT guy who prevented Evans from getting $3 million when they already lost the game?
Nobody's going to get fired over that. I'm just saying that Kraft said going into the season that he knew Mayo was going to have a hard time and that he supported him in these "rebuilding" times, and now he's firing Mayo in his first season as head coach for having a losing season (and nothing more)?
I'm just saying that they can't publicly say it was because he won when he was supposed to lose, because winning hurt the team's position going into next year. Nobody gets fired for winning (unless you're a boxer who was supposed to lose the "big fight").
-PJ