"52 points? [Was that] really necessary?" my girlfriend texted, as the New England Patriots put the final nail in the Washington Redskins' coffin a few weeks ago.

"They have coaches and players, too," I responded, writing off her opinion as that of the novice sports fan. "One day," I explained, "they'll need to convert a tough fourth down — why not get the practice against a live defense?"

It all seemed so logical then. And, had I not been watching ESPN the next day, I would've lived my life believing that only novices thought that way. But it didn't take long for the boys from Around the Horn to duel over who could display his contempt for Bill Belichick most loudly. Pardon the Interruption host Michael Wilbon was kind enough to defend Belichick by reasoning that little should be expected from "a liar and a cheat."

"But what about the children?" critics ask. Won't they learn bad sportsmanship from the Pats? Isn't this why children's sports often have the Mercy Rule, which ends games early rather than souring children on sports by making them stick it out during big losses?

If you're like most people, myself included, senior night in high school was the end of your sporting career. In the years since you started playing sports, you'd probably learned to win (or lose) with class, to respect your opponent, to be able to give him a firm handshake and a confident "Good Game" afterwards, win, lose, or draw.

The NFL is a bit different. The basic rules of sportsmanship still apply, sure. We like seeing players from opposing teams help each other up and slap each other on the helmets after they make a play. When the coaches go to midfield to shake hands, and the players gather in a circle at midfield to give thanks for being paid millions to play a kid's game, we nudge that little footballer nearby as if to say "you see that? That's sportsmanship. That's the right way to compete."

But none of that has anything to do with what's on the scoreboard (Belichick's handshakes are the subject of another day). I'm not only arguing that it's not wrong to "run up the score" in professional sports; I'm arguing it's impossible. Let's face it: in a National Football League built on parity — what with salary caps, free agency, revenue-sharing and the draft — teams that lose aren't doing so for lack of talent.