NFL commissioner to Specter: Belichick’s been cheating since 2000
posted at 3:47 pm on February 14, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents’ defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots’ coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday.
“There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over,” Specter said…
“There were a great many questions answered by Commissioner Goodell,” Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters after the meeting. “I found a lot of questions unanswerable because of the tapes and notes had been destroyed.”
Goodell said Belichick told him he believed the taping was legal; Goodell said he did not concur.
“He said that’s always been his interpretation since he’s been the head coach,” the commissioner said. “We are going to agree to disagree on the facts.”…
Goodell also told Specter that that he doesn’t regret destroying the Spygate tapes or the notes.
“I think it was the right thing to do,” Goodell said.
Er, not to pee in the punchbowl of a scoop this glorious, but why is Arlen Specter investigating this?
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because arlen specters a douchebag…but thats beside the point. the point is, the patriots are bigger douchebags
ernesto on February 14, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Is there a law that was broken somewhere here?
CUS on February 14, 2008 at 3:53 PM
He is investigating this b/c the Pats beat the Eagles in the 05 superbowl.
So its obvious Specter wants to trophy transfer over to the Eagles ASAP.
Lance Murdock on February 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Heh. That just means Mangini was in on it too all along.
Big S on February 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Specter is a huge Eagles fan. I guess he’s still pissed about the Super Bowl a few seasons back.
krabbas on February 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Hey – you think my Eagles can get a rematch of the 2004 Superbowl, please?
Thanks a million.
Good Lt on February 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Was there really any doubt? Really?
Spirit of 1776 on February 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM
You know – without the cheating?
Good Lt on February 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM
That would get him re-elected in PA for life.
krabbas on February 14, 2008 at 3:55 PM
So, our do nothing elected officials have time to investigate baseball and football and not take care of real business.
Your tax dollars at work.
BobK on February 14, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Foul play in sports? Why, that’s never happened before.
Seriously, it’s just a bunch of steroid-juiced multi-millionaires in funny clothes hitting each other in taxpayer-financed playpens, fighting over a strange ball. Why the uproar?
jgapinoy on February 14, 2008 at 3:57 PM
The NFL has an anti-trust exemption with Congress.
amerpundit on February 14, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Because
a) The NFL has an anti-trust exemption, which requires them to have fair competition among those entities within the trust (i.e. the teams);
b) Because the NFL is lobbying congress to force cable companies to carry the NFL Network against their will (and Specter has received more than a few donation$ from Comcast);
c) Because numerous NFL teams have publically funded stadiums (at least that’s a justification I’ve heard, and I know it’s true, but they’re state or local $$$ and not federal);
d) Because Specter is an Eagles and/or a Steelers fan.
Of the above, I think a) provides a fairly reasonable justification, b) does with the caveat that Arlen is representing his donors, c) is a little dicier, and d) is dubious and will never be openly admitted as a reason for what he’s doing.
That being said, I sort of agree with an e-mailer to K-Lo on The Corner yesterday who, in reference to the baseball-steroid problems, noted that when the Senate is taking up it’s time doing stuff like this, it takes away time that they can be screwing up the country. Have at it, Arlen.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 3:58 PM
So it’s obvious Specter wants to transfer the trophy
trophy transferover to the Eagles ASAP.Whoops…
Lance Murdock on February 14, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Was that in the constitution somewhere? How come they’re so worried about this right as opposed to say….a real right like the right to bear arms?
wildweasel on February 14, 2008 at 3:59 PM
You’re probably right. Obviously, PA voters don’t care about issues or integrity, or Rick Santorum would still be in the Senate.
jgapinoy on February 14, 2008 at 4:00 PM
As usual – follow the money – all the way to Comcast.
huckleberryfriend on February 14, 2008 at 4:01 PM
Because his two largest contributors, Comcast and Comcast’s attorneys, Blank Rome LLP (also Comcast’s registered Washington Lobbyist), are into Specter for around $360K as of 04 and they are fighting with the NFL over The NFL Network.
TheBigOldDog on February 14, 2008 at 4:01 PM
They don’t have a Constitutional right, but the NFL’s antitrust exemption agreement requires fair games.
amerpundit on February 14, 2008 at 4:02 PM
He’s a douc**?
Theworldisnotenough on February 14, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Oh, and just for the record, I completely side with the cable companies in their battle with the NFL over the NFL Network.
Instead of running to the Feds to try to get them to force the cable companies to carry the NFL Network, the NFL should lower their charge for carrying it to something the Comcast, Time Warner, and any other cable holdouts believe is fair.
It’s called the ‘free market’, NFL. Look into it.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 4:03 PM
If only Belichick and Specter would line up properly for a live test of the “single bullet” theory.
Alamo on February 14, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Hah. I just read the first post.
Theworldisnotenough on February 14, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Why havent you heard an uproar about this from the rest of the league GM’s, Head Coaches, and Coaches??
Everybody did it. Belichick learned the technique while on the Detroit staff many years ago. Eventually that head coach was on a staff with Tony Dungy!! Think Saint Tony does this? Crap, read up on some of Jimmie Johnson’s comments about what he did and knew about when he was a head coach.
The Parcells-Belichick coaching tree is now far and wide. Ok, so the Goodell made an expample. People have to move on.
And for cripes sake, Spector is the worst one to be pushing this issue considering his backing by Comcast who has been at war with the NFL over the NFL Network.
Rich on February 14, 2008 at 4:04 PM
I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!
Goodell is embarassing.
drjohn on February 14, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Arlen Specter has already been on the NFL’s case for violating its antitrust exemption. The exemption is overt Congressional approval to ignore laws that almost every other business has to obey, so continuation of that exemption should be debated by Congress.
This may be a push to get the NFL to do what he wants regarding the NFL Network. Or, it may simply be that he thinks he can get some extra votes from Eagles fans if he can prove that the Patriots’ Super Bowl win in 2005 was tainted.
Ha We on February 14, 2008 at 4:05 PM
Also, Tom Brady should only have one ring and no SBMVPs. Let’s all remember the “tuck” rule vs the raiders. Next, don’t forget Carolina kicker John Kasay kicks off out of bounds with thiry two seconds left and the Pats get the ball at the 40. Finally, when he legitimately won it against the Rams, he only threw for like 130 yards and one touchdown. His teamate Ty Law had thirteen tackles, two passes defensed and an interception for a touchdown. Brady is a fraud and so are the Pats.
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 14, 2008 at 4:08 PM
It’s really ridiculous that Congress would have anything remotely close to oversight of the NFL.
CP on February 14, 2008 at 4:08 PM
I was just saying the same thing to my wife this morning. What business is it of Congress that over-paid athletes are sticking needles full of gonad-killer in the buttocks? Who cares? Why should our pansy-ass government officials care if Belichick is a cheater?
The crooks won’t even disclose their pork spending habits and they have the nerve to chastise people over cheating.
robblefarian on February 14, 2008 at 4:10 PM
Fiddling while Rome burns
Wade on February 14, 2008 at 4:10 PM
Maybe Lord Belechick should have thought twice about running up the score so often this year.
Karma pal, karma.
And I’m loving every single millisecond of this.
benrand on February 14, 2008 at 4:11 PM
I’d be shocked if this isn’t something every team has been doing. Kind of like the steroids debate. I hardly think that the violators are entirely limited to the violators on display. As a deterrant I think the penalty should be more harsh then a few hundred thousand dollars and a draft pick. It seems to me that the risk of getting caught is still too small in comparison to the reward. In other words, its still worth it for teams to cheat.
What I don’t understand is how the leagues and the government (who shouldn’t be sticking their noses into this anyways) doesn’t understand that all they need to do is make the penalty for cheating so harsh that nobody wants to risk it. Say, for example, if any team gets caught pointing a camera where it doesn’t belong then every player on the team loses a year of pay, coaches included. The money the organization was supposed to pay the players will be donated to a charity voted on by the fans so as to maximize embarassment. I guarantee you that no team will ever miss a year of pay because no team will be willing to risk that.
Zetterson on February 14, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Because Specter is a camera hogging, jock sniffing tool.
Sugar Land on February 14, 2008 at 4:12 PM
Brady needs *’s next to his #’s
Chakra Hammer on February 14, 2008 at 4:12 PM
choking > cheating
JVelez on February 14, 2008 at 4:12 PM
I don’t think Washington DC should concern itself with the NFL or MLB. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money and it’s completely outrageous!!!
I couldn’t care less what those athletes do and neither should our government. Why don’t they just go after Wrestling?!
Oink on February 14, 2008 at 4:13 PM
Guys like Arlen Specter and Henry Waxman are bored with the day to day operations of government and don’t fell like worrying about filling potholes and about getting some old lady’s missing social security check. So they want to appear important and hold hearings on irrelevant issues like Bill Belechik making videos and Roger Clemens giving himself a shot in the tuckus. I turned on the radio yesterday and there was blowhard Waxman carrying on about a cyst on Roger Clemens tuckus in 1998 in Toronto. And then he was carrying on about some blood on Clemens’ butt and whether Roger used a bandaid. My gosh, we are paying these bozos like $165,000.00 a year for this!
Larraby on February 14, 2008 at 4:14 PM
In terms of baseball, MLB couldnt govern itself, it gets whats coming to them.
NFL…another story
JVelez on February 14, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I’m all for harsh penalties, but you’ll never get them to agree to take away money from the players per the NFLPA, not to mention state labor laws in the states where those teams play.
But you can still hammer the organization, both with direct (and very stiff) fines, as well as penalizing them draft picks, which leaves the team developmentally challenged for the future.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 4:16 PM
as a bitter Panthers fan, I demand a Super Bowl Trophy.
I’m guessing Belchick had some sort of super duper chip implant on the Football that made John Kasay kick the ball out of bounds.
jp on February 14, 2008 at 4:16 PM
Wait, I thought the memo about taping came out last year?
I’ve also been illegally rolling through stop signs for 20 years.
That’s about the only comparison I can make with this so-called scandal. But, hey, if it makes you feel better about your team losing, have at it. :)
reaganaut on February 14, 2008 at 4:19 PM
yes yes I know what I was saying was completely unrealistic. I was just exaggerating to make a point. The punishment doesn’t have to be what I offered. It just has to be something harsh enough to make the reward not worth the risk. The punishment is the only thing that will prevent players from sticking needles into their asses. The punishment is the only thing that will prevent teams from sticking cameras where they shouldn’t go. The punishment that the gvt and the league settled on here will not deter anybody from trying this again in the future. Hence, its all a complete waste of time.
Zetterson on February 14, 2008 at 4:23 PM
Chakra Hammer on February 14, 2008 at 4:12 PM
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 14, 2008 at 4:08 PM
Brilliant points from both of you to be sure, but again what does an NFL rule have to do with the U.S. Senate?
I don’t think it a coincidence that two of McCain’s biggest apologists on HA also happen to be pleased that Arlen Specter is sticking his nose into sports.
billy on February 14, 2008 at 4:23 PM
Hey, has the new Democratic (and hardest working) Congress EVER pass a budget for this year yet?
CUS on February 14, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Just for the record, the “Tuck” was a 25 year karmic payback for this call:
Rich on February 14, 2008 at 4:27 PM
You sure got that right.
But what the hell, it’s not like there’s anything, you know, “important” that the senators should be doing with their time these days anyway. And when, exactly, did congress get the power to regulate pro sports?
bofh on February 14, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Haha, so true. That’s the first thing I thought when I was reading the comments. “My God I really do disagree with those two about EVERYTHING!” I figured there had to be some common ground somewhere. Guess not though.
Zetterson on February 14, 2008 at 4:29 PM
I have a feeling that after this, whoever might be guilty will have the hammer dropped on them hard. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has really mishandled this situation by making it look like he was trying to sweep stuff under the rug and ignoring Specter’s request for a meeting since November. If it turns out that there is more to this story, both he and the NFL are going to get a big black eye.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 4:32 PM
He’s a Jets fan, most likely.
BKennedy on February 14, 2008 at 4:33 PM
ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA)
Top Contributors
1999-2004
Blank Rome LLP $258,550
Comcast Corp $101,750
2001-2006
Blank Rome LLP $164,750
Comcast Corp $102,750
2003-2008
Blank Rome LLP $197,500
Comcast Corp $100,100
TheBigOldDog on February 14, 2008 at 4:35 PM
That would certainly explain why the Patriots were so outplayed in the Super Bowl, and couldn’t stop the Giant’s defense. They looked confused for the entire game. Word has it that Billy had the last regular season game taped, or was filming during the Giants walk through just before the Super Bowl game. Only problem was that the Giants weren’t taking any chances and let them think they had the correct signs, but the Giants brought a whole different scheme to the big game.
.
He was probably filming while a defensive coordinator for the Giants under Parcells. You could sure earn the respect as a great defensive coach if you had all the other team’s signs.
.
And to think I used to think he was a good coach. ‘doh! Oh well, I’m a lifelong Giants fan so I’m glad he got what he deserved…
stacman on February 14, 2008 at 4:38 PM
He doesn’t even know. A lot of the problems that come up in the senate involve big words and stuff he can’t remember. Just let him have his fun.
I heard him say that he started to worry when the Patriots beat the Eagles. Hmmm. He is the Senator from PENNSYLVANIA and got worried when the Pats beat the Eagles. Yeah, he must be a Jets fan?!
malan89 on February 14, 2008 at 4:38 PM
I defintely see your point about Specter doing the bidding for Comcast, but fairness demands that people also call the NFL out for demanding the Feds do their bidding to force Comcast, Time-Warner, et al. to carry the NFL Network at rates those companies think is unfair.
Had the NFL not started pushing the issue with the Feds, there would be less reason for Specter to get involved.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Sorry, but I don’t see anything wrong with what Specter is doing, especially when NFL teams get special tax breaks, funding, and special eminent domain privileges to build their stadiums.
ninjapirate on February 14, 2008 at 4:45 PM
I think Specter and Kerry went to the NFL, the NFL did not go to the Feds first. They got involved over the NFLN games not being broadcast. That’s when the NFL said they’d accept binding arbitration or something to that effect.
TheBigOldDog on February 14, 2008 at 4:45 PM
I’m glad our esteemed Congress has nothing better to do than dabble in professional sports controversies.
Valiant on February 14, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Specter may be trying to base his inquiries on the Commerce clause in the Constitution. Let me see if I can assemble some logic here.
1. The NFL is involved in interstate commerce, so their activities are under Congressional oversight.
2. The success or failure of teams in the NFL affects the ability of individual teams to profit from sales of merchandise, etc.
3. The success or failure of teams in the NFL affects the local economies of the cities having NFL teams e.g. A good team brings out more people to games who go to bars and restaurants etc.
4. If one team cheats to gain a distinct advantage over their competitors, the stand to gain monetarily unfairly over other teams
5. Thus, Congress needs to investigate the NFL to see if they are conducting interstate commerce legally.
Now, that argument doesn’t work all that well for the NFL since they have revenue sharing among the member teams, so even if one team gains a monetary advantage beyond ticket sales and local receipts, the whole league benefits. Perhaps that is beyond Specter’s understanding. But then, grandstanding an issue is not. It’s all about the show.
Mallard T. Drake on February 14, 2008 at 4:50 PM
It actually started well before that.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 4:50 PM
I was just trying to piss off the angry Jets fans who still go down the merry “but they videotaped the first game of the season! They must have cheated!” line of reasoning.
Let me get this straight, once and for all. The Pats are cauht at the beginning of the season before any possible competitive advantage could be gained. They then went 17-1 for the rest of the season. And you don’t think the NFL would have caught them again?
And they wouldn’t have caught them on this stunt for seven years, e.g. 112 regular season games? I call BS.
BKennedy on February 14, 2008 at 4:52 PM
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:
Patriots. Cheat.
Cheating cheaters don’t win Superbowls. Cheaters.
JetBoy on February 14, 2008 at 4:53 PM
The revenue sharing applies primarily to TV money. Ticket sales are shared somewhat as well, although a crappy team with lower ticket sales playing at home will cause both teams to a lower revenue pool for that particular game.
Other things, like revenue from T-shirt and other types of merchandise sales are most decidedly not shared, as well as the ancillary benefits to local economies that come from having a team.
thirteen28 on February 14, 2008 at 4:55 PM
And sucky teams like the NYJets don’t win superbowls either. They usually drop out somewhere around Game 9, because they just can’t compete.
BKennedy on February 14, 2008 at 4:55 PM
And the Jets “cheat” tamper with players and coaches, and harass women, throw beer bottles and spit at them when they won;t strip in public. So what’s your point?
TheBigOldDog on February 14, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Justice will be served
The NFL with its’ free agency and draft system has created a system where any team can have a shot. Good coaching, good planning and good luck are truly required to make any franchise successful, not just loads of cash.
Careers are made and broke on success. Cheating changes the entire field. Coaches that lose are fired, players who don’t produce are released, ticket owners are cheated, and lets not get into the gambling dolloars which you may or may not approve of.
We are talking BILLIONS folks. plus lives and livelyhoods. Plus D@MN1T they cheated and they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it!
Its not just football, its’ fair vs unfair.
@ntif@n on February 14, 2008 at 4:58 PM
Ok, I put down the standard challenge, tell me how they cheated. Tell me how filming something that is done in the open, can be see by every fan in th stands, is cheating. Tell me how doing something from the sidelines that can be done legally from a press box or luxury box, provides and unfair competitive advantage.
TheBigOldDog on February 14, 2008 at 5:00 PM
If they’ve been taping since 2000, that means your head coach is a cheater, doesn’t it?
SnarkVader on February 14, 2008 at 5:04 PM
Baseball…football…our elected federal legislative branch continues to embarrass itself. Every day some jihadist motherfuc&*% somewhere is planning how to blow up Americans, and our intrepid political class reserves all of its indignation and moral outrage for professional athletes. With their shared collective IQ of about 3, these athletes and politicians deserve each other.
Rational Thought on February 14, 2008 at 5:08 PM
For you football nuts. A great story on Ernie Adams who is a special assistant on Belichick’s coaching staffe. The loss to the Giants took a little of the shine away thoough:
Rich on February 14, 2008 at 5:10 PM
try again
Rich on February 14, 2008 at 5:10 PM
Unless you actually know the agreement, I would tend to disagree with you. I am basing my statement on the fact that if you look at the NFL gear for different teams, it’s the same design for all teams, just names and colors change. I would guess the NFL merchandising arm takes all the money and then divies it up among the teams. Do they split it proportionatlly based on sales?
Mallard T. Drake on February 14, 2008 at 5:17 PM
The fact that Specter is on Belichick’s case makes me like Coach Bill even more.
BB=Evil Genius
AS=Well, his initials are one letter short…
The best thing I can say about AS is that he fought cancer like a champ.
darkpixel on February 14, 2008 at 5:21 PM
THIS is news? How about building the damned fence? How about fixing our tax system? How about controlling spending and cutting pork. GIVE ME A FRIGGIN’ BREAK ARLIN!!!!!!!
– sigh –
cannonball on February 14, 2008 at 5:26 PM
For what it’s worth, this isn’t exactly a new practice. A couple of weeks ago, Jimmy Johnson told the Boston Globe:
Ed Driscoll on February 14, 2008 at 5:33 PM
Because he does not know anything about baseball or steroids? That is just a guess… Or was that rhetorical?
al sends
afterdarknesslight on February 14, 2008 at 5:44 PM
What is wrong with taping the oppositions signals. This is just quicker than having someone write the stuff down.
davod on February 14, 2008 at 5:46 PM
Any fines handed out will simply be passed on back to the consumer. No different than any other large business. The consumer pays for the NFL investigation, then for any penalty resulting from the investigation.
a capella on February 14, 2008 at 5:54 PM
I’m a Bills fan, and there’s been alot of talk/speculation the past few months, and especially the past week, of them being sold and moved to Toronto. One of the things mentioned was the anti-trust. The NFL was quick to quell the fears that the team would move. Buffalo’s owner is 89 yrs old and won’t be around forever, and many viewed the Canada games as a pre-cursor to the Bills being sold to some Canadian billionaires who were like giddy schoolkids announcing the upcoming games in Canada. I can only hope the Buffalo group is given a chance to buy the team. Despite having losing seasons for the past 8yrs. the Bills still sell out just about every game in one of the largest stadiums in the NFL.
Back to the original subject, Fox News reported a couple days ago that Jay Glazer still has copies of the Spygate tapes.
Fires1 on February 14, 2008 at 6:10 PM
I think most of us would agree that this situation would be best handled without the meddling of Congress (seriously? Those guys are going to be the arbiters of ethical business practices?).
In that spirit, I just want to say that from what I’ve seen so far, Roger Goodell is the best professional sports commissioner I’ve ever seen. Compare how he has dealt with the NFL’s problems with how Bud Selig has dealt with the MLB’s problems. Goodell clearly has taken the approach of, “It’s silly to try to go back and change history, doling out punishments for things that happened before I was commissioner.” Clearly, Goodell takes a ‘no-BS’ stance with the league (Pac-Man, Rodney Harrison, Tank, the Bengals, etc.). The Patriots cheated this year and were punished this year by the current commish–that’s how business is done. 3/4 of a million dollars and 1st round draft pick are not small things, so the Pats were definitely punished. Just because I’m a Chargers fan doesn’t mean I should be moaning about the Patriots cheating against us in the playoffs in San Diego last year–that won’t put Nate Kaeding’s kicks through the uprights, but it will cast a shadow over the last 7 years of professional football. Most figured (or knew) that some teams have cheated over the last few years; I think it’s best to accept that previous commissioners should have done a better job, and move on.
PaisleyCow on February 14, 2008 at 6:56 PM
Uhh, Sports are bad, uhnkay.
2Tru2Tru on February 14, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Heres how:
There are typically three coaches sending in defensive signals. The films work by matching the defense to the signal and establishing a pattern or rotation the coaches who are sending the signal to the field.
The advantages may or may not help in the current game but can help in future games. Plays like zone blitzes are the most valuable because if you can pick up what side a blitz is coming from, you can watch your wide out on that side and audible your slot reciever to the same side. You’ll wind up with single coverage or possibly no coverage on one of them. More times than not, a couple of plays will determine the game. Knowing the defense is a huge advantage.
Big Orange on February 14, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Quit leaning on Snarlin’ Arlen’!! Bela-cheat is a freakin’ lowlife, strip every ring, melt them down into a cheaters’ trophy and force them to display it for five years.
ColdBore76 on February 14, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Specter shouldn’t be sticking his nose in this but this little nugget of information should at least be opined on. As an Eagles fan I was rather surprised how well the New England Patriots played in the second half of that Super Bowl. Seems every time we blitzed they just happened to call little dump passes. Many blitzes are masked and there are fakeouts and everything but if your stealing the signals through cameras that the NFL obviously thought were against their rules, you get a significant competitive advantage. Why was Belichick so horrible in Cleveland and so good in New England. Brady is good, but your a hell of a lot better if you know the other teams play when they are calling it in. I also couldn’t help but notice how horrible they looked in the playoffs. They didn’t play well. But watching Belichick get completely outcoached by Tom Couglin, somebody that Eagles fans are very familiar with, made me realize just how important that advantage was against elite teams. It’s going to be a rough road for Belichick now that he doesn’t know the play before it happens.
LevStrauss on February 14, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Oh and as a disgruntled Eagles fan I’d like to add that the year we lost to Carolina when their offensive and defensive line dominated us, they were on steroids, even the punter.
LevStrauss on February 14, 2008 at 8:47 PM
What’s this have to do with defending the American people and deporting the Mexican Racist Illegal Aliens from our country??
DfDeportation on February 14, 2008 at 8:52 PM
Give the guy a break. All that hard work cheating, and he got beat by Eli Manning and the Giants? bummer
funky chicken on February 14, 2008 at 8:57 PM
This is what Senators do to make themselves feel relevent.
For the record: I may not be Belichick’s biggest admirer, but I like that he wears sweat shirts when he coaches, like a high school coach, that he almost always outcoaches the other team, and that he insires his players to act like they’ve been there before.
He’s just a really good coach. If he’s cheating on the spying game, then slap him around some and find out who else is doing this — shock warning! Maybe someone else is spying! — and let’s maybe not take so much schadenfreude out of this comeuppance.
Come on. You guys know he’s great.
Jaibones on February 14, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Well, at least I can rest assured the Bills aren’t cheating.
artlover on February 14, 2008 at 10:34 PM
I still do not know why this is cheating. Maybe I am missing something. Does this coach sneak into the other teams locker and video the defensive signals.
If he tapes the signals given on the field, how is this different from having someone draw the signals and have somone else map the play.
davod on February 15, 2008 at 5:50 AM
I just don’t see the point to all this.
First of all the interstate commerce clause is WAY overused. It was originally included in the Constitution to address goods being transported across states. I feel that applying it to this situation is a misapplication.
A football game is only conducted in one location, in one state… no interstate commerce. If a viewer wishes to view a game, that is a transaction between a customer and the cable company. The cable company is providing the game via an agreement between the NFL and the cable company. No physical goods are being transported between states.
Second, I think some of these teams are just acting like crybabies. “Waaahh… someone figured out our signals!” Then change the signals and make the other team pay for it! You don’t think that would be an advantage? Imagine what would happen if a team changed their signals halfway through the season. “Go ahead and figure out our signals… we’ll make you wish you hadn’t!”
dominigan on February 15, 2008 at 9:05 AM
Because you have to establish what coach is sending in the defense that particular play. They will change coaches every play and the film can make it possible to establish the pattern they use. Again, they’re not trying to get every single play, just a few.
Just looking at it from the field or the press box, you cannot process all of the info and pick up on the patterns and tendancies but the films and game polaroids can be taken into film study and picked apart. Over two or three years, you can build a nice library on teams who have kept the same coaching staff.
Big Orange on February 15, 2008 at 9:12 AM
I agree and would add that if you have the right coach watching the defensive coordinator signal in, and assuming teams don’t switch up signals, then maybe you can pick up one or two plays.
That said,here is a Statement yesterday from the Steelers:
Rich on February 15, 2008 at 9:58 AM
So. Ignore the fact that the following Pats were injured during/prior to the Super Bowl:
Ellis Hobbs – Hernia (he’s the one who couldn’t keep up with the Giant WR on the 17-14 TD, BTW)Not Listed on the Injury Reports!!!
Tom Brady – Right Shoulder
Benjamin Watson – Ankle
Jabar Gaffney – Shoulder
These players were injured during/prior to the San Diego game:
Tom Brady – Shoulder
Rodney Harrison – Thigh
Stephen Neal – Shoulder
Mel Mitchell – Arm
Donte Stallworth – Knee
Although many argue that injury was the rationale for San Diego’s loss 2 weeks before to the Pats, nobody discusses how the Pats managed to win despite their injuries…and conveniently eliminates that rationale from the realm of possibilties for how they could have lost.
So, thanks to you, this sport has now become one of identity politics.
Big Orange,
You’re still note gonna know squat about the calls, as those are called by 3 separate individuals each week, and those change each week. If that coach doesn’t change them weekly, then that’s really his problem, as they know there are people watching them constantly (and not filming them) to try & obtain an advantage.
*Ahem*,
JetBoy. Not only does that make your current coach a cheater, since he did learn from Belichick, but that also taints a previous coach as well.
Tuna, anyone?
Miss_Anthrope on February 15, 2008 at 10:37 AM
clarification, stacman: that thanks was not meant for you personally, but for those who’ve made sports one of identity politics.
Miss_Anthrope on February 15, 2008 at 10:38 AM
The coaches don’t always change and the signals dont change from week to week as there is no way the defensive players themselves could possibly remember all of the changes. The way this works is simple in concept, I’ve hepled with it. (not in the NFL by any stretch)
Jerome Bettis has said different several times.
I’m not saying the Pats are the only ones doing this, they are the ones that got caught. I promise you that I can take six or seven guys, the resources of any of the NFL teams, be allowed to film the defensive coaches and I will guarantee you I can pick up a few blitz packages. NFL caliber coaches can do alot more than I could ever do.
While I’m not saying everybody does this, it does go on alot in the NFL and college football at all levels. Compare the number of coaches you know that has been fired for rules violations to the number that have been fired for not winning.
There is a reason this is illegal.
Big Orange on February 15, 2008 at 11:11 AM
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