IMOTGP commentary: Cheaters? Jamie Vardy, Jay-Z and the meaning of it all

Pot calling the kettle black!

Football fans saw Monday night that Leicester City moved closer to the Premier League title when Tottenham failed to beat Tony Pulis and Weak Bromwich Albion. It means that the Foxes have a seven-point lead with three matches left.

It was important news since reports are surfacing that Jamie Vardy will be suspended for the trip to Man United for the above point and scowl at referee Jon Moss. Vardy was given a second yellow card for diving in the 2-2 draw with West Ham United, and is thus a cheater.

You may be saying, 'Wait a minute, IMOTGP, that man Vardy is pointing at isn't Jon Moss.' You are correct, observant readers. In our photo, Vardy is pointing at another J, none other than famed rap impresario and businessman extraordinaire Jay- Z, aka the Jiggaman, aka Hova, aka many other names.

We know you come to the IMOTGP blog for the hottest stories and there's another cheater in the news besides Jamie Vardy. It's none other than the Jigga himself - alleged to have 'cheated' on his wife, Beyonce, aka Sasha Fierce, aka Queen B. This explosive news rocked social media when 'B' released her incendiary, stunning album Lemonade.

While most media have focused on the infidelity of the marriage between the couple,  we want to explore the idea of cheating itself and why it rankles the masses in comparing these two incidents.

First, Beyonce and Jay-Z. Maybe he enjoyed the company of another woman as alleged. But is that 'cheating?'  Are there laws against such a thing? Sure there are consequences but that's only if you get caught. Oops, sorry Jigga, we guess the jig is up. But must his good name - or names - be sullied in the process? And should we cry for Queen B? Well rest assured, she can now find herself a QB. We know she has eyes for top-level pro athletes.

Speaking of such brings us to one Jamie Vardy, a success story in his own right who shares a similar life background to Jay-Z. One was born in the Marcy section in Brooklyn and worked his way out of the projects while the other grew up as a Yorkshireman through and through in a hardscrabble steel town named Sheffield. Vardy is the latter one.

Vardy played on youth teams before landing at Fleetwood Town, in the Conference Premier - one of the lower levels of English football. He reached the top but those roots of steel stayed with him to this day - just like Jay-Z stayed true to his Brooklyn roots.

So what Vardy did against the Hammers - was it cheating? Yes, because referee Moss saw it as such. But many would have looked the other way, and many times a referee would not make that call whether he was blinded by the Foxes' success, their star man's high-wattage displays on the pitch or maybe just because he was too bored to blow his whistle on another dreary night in England.

On the ethical scale, we believe that media coverage of diving's ills are much too sensationalized. It's not like Vardy tried to hurt somebody. And cheating brings tremendous risks. In other words, and words that Jay-Z can understand, whoever said illegal was the easy way out, couldn’t understand.

So yes, call Jay-Z and Jamie Vardy cheaters if you must. But remember that a wise man once said, "'Hov, how you get so fly?’ I said ‘From not being afraid to fall out the sky.'" Which means if we say sure Jay-Z slept with another woman besides Beyonce and sure Vardy dove we also say you don't reach the highest echelon in the esteemed worlds of rap and Premier League football without pushing the boundaries a bit. And that's all that's going on here.

This has been an IMOTGP commentary.  Thank you and continue to follow us for all your football and pop culture needs.