So Vikings coach Mike Tice has finally admitted that he scalped his Super Bowl tickets. That’s a direct contradiction to what he was saying just a few days ago when he claimed that though he routinely scalped tickets as an assistant coach, he never scalped tickets after he became head coach.
While the practice, though against league rules, runs rampant within NFL clubhouses, it appears that Tice is being made an example by the league.
Tice may have helped to dig his own grave deeper than it could have been by being so candid to Sports Illustrated reporters. Though he was quoted as saying that his lawyer had put a gag on him, he continued to talk and when he spoke, he displayed absolutely no message discipline. He should have stuck to his original line of "I am confident that when the league is finished looking into this, everything will be fine. I’m confident nothing is going to come of this."
But if there’s one thing Vikings’ fans have learned about Tice, it’s that he can’t keep his mouth shut. Tice kept the story alive by feeding SI.com reporters eye-dropper doses of story hooks: He didn’t scalp tickets as a head coach but did as an assistant; then he admits to scalping Super Bowl tickets as a head coach.
Either keep your mouth shut or, if you’re gonna confess, confess everything, show remorse, and don’t try and justify it by saying everyone else does it–leave that arguement to others.
The manner in which Tice handled this story practically begs the league to come down harder on him than they may have otherwise because this story has become an embarassment not just for Tice, but for the league as a whole.
This whole mess should surprise no one; Tice is, after all, the lowest paid coach in the league.