Well except the Celtics rebuild started with assets like Garnet, Pierce, Allen and Rondo and the Sixers started with injured Bynum, Holiday, Thad and Evans. It’s like comparing a Mercedes to a Kia. Same timeline, but one team started from scratch, the other started with a full cupboard.

This. The schools don’t need to pay the students. Let other people do it, but get it out into the open and make it legal.

The schools don’t need to pay the athletes, they need to drop the silly amateur rules. The law school student can clerk for the firm down the street. The music student can play a gig on the weekends. The athlete ought to be able to make money off being an athlete. Bring it all above the table and out of the shade.

The margin between winning and losing in the NFL is very small. The communication issues, even if anticipated and prepared for, are another strike against the visiting team. If your opponent cheats, that is not on you, that’s on them. Your job is to still try to win, but it doesn’t excuse the cheating.

And if you prepare for a thief and the thief still breaks in, it doesn’t make the thief any less of a thief. Houses with security systems are broken into every day. Steelers likely did prepare for the Pats communication chicanery, doesn’t make it any less irritating.