Arthur Blank was not happy the Patriots made a 28-3 joke with their Super Bowl rings

You may recall that the New England Patriots, a team with a very normal quarterback, defeated the Atlanta Falcons in last year’s Super Bowl. Maybe you, like many of us, laughed it off and quickly got on with the business of living, because you know, it’s totally just football! That’s all it is.

Arthur Blank may have moved past it, too, but he recently let it be known that there was one thing about the loss that bothered him quite a bit besides, you know, the loss itself. That thing was when the hilarious and clever Patriots decided to put 283 diamonds on their Super Bowl rings. Get it, because 28-3?

Anyway, Arthur Blank didn’t appreciate that.

For any number of reasons, this isn’t what I want the media focusing on this week, and it was predictable that would be the quote that got blown up out of a very good profile of Blank and the power dynamics among NFL ownership. C’est la vie.

You really can’t blame Blank for being mildly annoyed that arguably the most successful franchise in the history of the NFL would feel the need to troll an opponent, especially when the two owners appear to be friends, but the Patriots have been unapologetic steamrollers of hopes and dreams for a long time now. We were annoyed, it’s sort of nice to know Blank cares enough to be annoyed, and we’re on with our lives. Really.

The larger story makes Blank look pretty good, I think, and it is absolutely worth your time to read. The more we learn about the backroom dynamics of the NFL, the more interesting the looming labor showdown between the union and the league promises to be in 2020.