Heh, heh, heh...
I am Boston born and bred, and was a fan of the Patriots since their AFL beginnings, when Babe Parilli called the signals. If there is any NFL team I want to see win, it’s the Pats, though my fervor is significantly dimmed by the fact that the team’s coach is a cheat.
Nevertheless, I realize today that seeing Tim Tebow upset the New England Patriots would make me happy. Not because it would reinforce the nutty belief of the (polls say) almost half of the public who apparently think God is a Denver fan, which is only a reminder that half the nation is below average intelligence, but because it would undoubtedly make all the fanatic Tebow-haters miserable. And since their misery will be entirely the result of these mean-spirited individuals’ own lack of graciousness, tolerance, respect and fairness, they will richly deserve their fate.
Maybe they’ll learn something. I doubt it, but you never know. Yes, that silly half of the country will be insufferable, but I’ll deal with them later.
GO DENVER!
__________________
Update: Never mind!
Ethics Alarms 
I think it is better to wish for something because of someone you know. I’ve told this story before, I think, but my ex-boss for ten years was a Giants fan (I live in Rhode Island) and he gloated when the perfect season failed to materialize. When Tom Brady hurt his knee in what was thought to possibly be a career ending injury, he immediately texted a few of his subordinates and said, “Where’s you perfect season now?” This is a man who himself has lived through a life-threatening illness.
He is an asshole, and every time the Giants fail, I cannot help but feel maybe this jerk is just a little more miserable because of it.
Is this ethical thinking? Probably not. But this is the man who made my life increasingly miserable over the course of a decade, not some random group of people.
My brother, no Tebow fan, says if Tebow takes this possible defeat (it’s 35-7 right now, so it seems pretty likely) with grace and civility, he hopes people will lay off. Chances are good they won’t. It’s a shame.
I dunno. I think my example is more reasonable than yours, but I’ll hope the local team does well just so the vast majority of people I know are happier.
Go Pats.
41-7 as of now. Is it a possibility that Tebow is thinking about Jobe?
GO PATRIOTS!
Oh, SURE. Now you’re all about the Pats.
In related news, what the hell just happened with that shove?! (around 11:20 EST). I saw the replay and saw everyone off the field, and was like, what just happened?
Twitter says it was Von Miller, a rookie with at least two other fines for roughing. This guy sounds like a real winner…
Ha! And what ethical principle are we exhibiting here, Mr Marshall? I can’t quite figure it out.
The ethical act of confession, and the values of candor, self-criticism, and contrition. Plus anyone who hates someone just because they are pious should be discouraged from such attitudes, which are disrespectful, unkind and unfair, and having such attitudes lead to unhappiness furthers the goal of a more ethical society.
I can go on like this forever….
If you mean changing my loyalties as soon as the Denver Broncos were sunk? Oh, there’s no excuse for that at all. Except I secretly wanted the Pats to win all along. Arlington Massachusetts, you know. The Red Sox. The SS Constitution…Cheers…Bunker Hill. Haavad.
Can we get some Dunce recognition for Von Miller, who tweeted after the game:
“Was not a cheap shot, hit was totally legal, Play wasn’t over, I could’ve loafed and said game over, but I didn’t. Never quit, never give up”
as he shoved someone who wasn’t looking and got an unnecessary roughness penalty? Some people might actually read that and think that’s some sort of excuse for bad sportsmanship.
I am ever your student. You know I actually tried to come up with a name for the ethics of “changing the team you’re cheering for based on the score”, like Situational Ethics, or Utilitarianism and started reading on Wikipedia about the different definitions and competing schools of thought on Ethics, like Pragmatic Ethics, Consequentialism and Deontological Ethics, and decided it was way more complicated than I thought it was going to be.