One sports pundit on talk radio came up with a great observation regarding Deflate Gate, the name connected to the New England Patriots for allegedly deflating footballs to gain an advantage in their last playoff game against Indianapolis. He said if space aliens were observing earth and tapped into the endless amount of news coverage devoted to the suspected sports scandal, they would leave our plant wondering what kind of idiots are running the most advanced society earth has to offer.

Within the last two weeks, New England has dominated the news. First, Deflate Gate provided the soft news - no pun intended - while this week was dominated by the hard news coverage of one of the strongest winter storms to ever hit the Boston area.What gives Deflate Gate story traction is that it involves superstar quarterback Tom Brady who is married to a super model, and the fact that the New England Patriots are the most polarizing franchise in the NFL, thanks to a history of shady conduct and stretching the rules of the game.If alien visitors would have trouble understanding Deflate Gate, they would also find the Super Bowl, the mega sports event in America, an enigma. The National Retail Federation says it expects 184 million fans to tune in to Super Bowl XLIX Sunday, and that the average viewer will spend $77.88 to celebrate.While this Sunday's big game has been grabbing all the attention, there was a special charity flag-football game on Wednesday between the Wounded Warriors Amputee Football Team and NFL Alumni. Called "A Tribute to Heroes", it was played to raise awareness and support for our wounded warriors and their families.The Wounded Warrior team was made up of men and women who lost limbs while serving in the U.S. armed forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. Among the NFL Alumni who took part were former Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Danny White, and Rocky Bleier, a wounded Vietnam veteran who returned to the NFL to help the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls.Deflate Gate is trivial when compared to the real world experiences of those in the military who laid down their lives and sacrificed for us.They are the true American warriors.By JIM ZBICKeditor@tnonline.com