JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The asterisk the Jacksonville Jaguars
had on their Web site next to New England's perfect record, a mark
indicating the Patriots were caught cheating in one game this
season, has been removed.
The Jaguars, who play at New England in the divisional round of
the AFC playoffs Saturday night, decided to remove the asterisk
Friday.
Jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman put the asterisk next to
the Patriots in his weekly "power rankings." Ketchman said he put
it there in "an attempt at subtle humor." It remained there,
mostly under the radar, for four months.
That changed this week, when several media outlets turned the
asterisk into a story.
"All of a sudden, the subtle humor was gone," Ketchman wrote
Friday. "All of a sudden, the asterisk was being treated as though
it was critical commentary.
"Retracting our position? No way. Hey, it was up there for four
months. There's no retracting that. The jaguars.com executive
committee just decided ... to take it down because our position had
become distorted."
Ketchman added that he "never thought an asterisk could cause
such a disturbance," citing all the e-mail he received this week
from angry Patriots fans.