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Shelbyville, Tennessee ~ Friday, August 29, 2008
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So, should the Patriots get an asterisk too?
Posted Saturday, December 29, 2007, at 10:40 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
Ok, the New England Patriots have now had an undefeated "regular season". This is a new record (16-0). With the cheating that was discovered earlier in the season, should their place in the record books be marked with an asterisk (as many have suggested Barry Bonds' should be). Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Mr. Bonds' alleged use of steroids, but the Patriots were actually caught cheating and fined by the NFL. Surprisingly none of the commentators tonight even bothered to mention the whole video-taping of the opposing teams' sidelines. I guess that might have tarnished the NFL Network's image.
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wow I had already forgotten about that. Yes the cheating should be noted in my opinion.
I was watching the channel with Bryant Gumbel. I believe I saw a clip referencing the violation.
Regardless, I think the person responsible for authorizing and using it, presumably Belichick should have the asterisk not the team.
We must have missed that clip then. Regardless, assuming that Belichick was the one initially responsible for the infraction, didn't the entire team benefit? Also, there's no way that anyone could say that Brady didn't know about, and benefit from, the cheating. Some people say that it wasn't "cheating", but it was "scouting". Seeing as how the cheating involved filming the defensive signals from the opposing team's bench, and the teams were specifically warned about this from Roger Goodell, how could anyone defend this? In my opinion it's the same as if they had all popped on a drug test and the league said "Ok, just pay a fine and don't do it again". It's still cheating.
The filming was the violation, not the "scouting". Do the other teams not "scout". Do their quarterbacks benefit from that scouting? I am not condoning or defending cheating. I just feel that condemning the team might be excessive.
If I were filming, I would keep it from as many people as possible. Not only to reduce the chance of being caught but also to protect my key people from culpability. I would not be surprised if if Brady did not know HOW the information was being gathered.
So if Brady and the players did not know, should they be tainted. The reason it was probably not boohooed too much is because they were not the only team doing it, just the one used as an example.
If my company president was condoning and conducting industrial espionage, I would really resent being called a cheat because of his actions. Would my company benefit, probably, but should I be considered the same as the president?
If your company was up for consideration for some sort of an award and your executives were caught conducting industrial espionage, I guarantee that they would be pulled from consideration for this award. Regardless of who knew about the infraction, everyone benefited from the ill-gotten intelligence. I'm not saying that the New England Patriots aren't a good team, Belichick isn't a good coach, or that Brady isn't a good quarterback, I'm just saying that the team, as a whole, should be penalized for the incident. That's part of being a team.
There was a comment made by a reader saying the Patriots were the only team caught not the only team doing it. That doesn't make it right but it does change my opinion of the offense. I also think it's ironic that the man who blew the whistle was the man who was doing the same thing FOR the Patriots two years ago. Anyone who has a clue about the game understands the virtual impossibility of it being used in that game. For someone to view and decypher a signal and then forward it to your defense ( who don't have headsets) is virtually impossible. I think the Patriots vindicated themselves by winning the next 15 games. I think it's natural to want to see Goliath fall to David. It seems like sour grapes and jealousy to me. This team earned their place in history. One shouldn't look for excuses to tarnish it.