Videogate & the Patriots: Right or wrong?
Videogate...Puh-lease

Videogate....uggh. As much as I hate to add to the clutter of coverage on this topic, I have to throw out my 2 cents or I'll bust. Look closely at the screen....this is as close as the world gets to black and white. Black letters on a white page. Period. Maybe I'm the product of having grown up in such a litigatious (is that even a word?) world but if you call this "cheating", then it should be noted there are many degrees of cheating. Cheating is NOT black and white. Just like violations, misdemeanors and felonies-the law is broken in all 3 instances-there is a huge, huge difference in degree. Manslaughter is a more serious crime than a parking ticket. The law allows for shades of gray and the laws of the sports world must similarly allow for this.

Let me just say this: God Bless you, Sean Salisbury of ESPN. Of all the opinions I've heard on this, his is closest to my own. The Patriots broke the video tape rules? Fine. Fine them $50,000. Fine them $100,000. Fine them 1,000,000. But fine them and let us get on with our lives. This is not Watergate. The Patriots didn't hire Ethan Hunt to break into Jets HQ and steal the CD-Rom of the Jets/Patriots gameplan so they could win last Sunday. The Patriots are not out consorting with or consulting with Iran or North Korea on nuclear weapons. They were stealing coaches' signs. Big deal.

Sign stealing is as much a part of the sports fabric of our country as anything. Baseball players, coaches & managers have prided themselves on stealing signs throughout the century. (I refer to Baseball, here, simply because there is a far bigger history of sign-stealing.) There are some managers who had coaches specifically assigned to watch the other team's dugout to try to de-code their signs. It happens every single year, from Little League to Babe Ruth. Every team uses signs. Every team tries to give fake signs. Every team tries to disguise their signs. Every team tries to figure out the other team's signs. Are you telling me you've NEVER been on a baseball team where you picked up the other teams steal sign or bunt sign-whether it was touching the belt, or clapping 2x, or taking the hat off or right hand in the back pocket....if you figured it out, you yell out to the team in the field "He's stealing....be ready!" Or "Be ready for the bunt!" Realizing the signs have been figured out, the coach adjusts on the fly and changes to a different sign or set of

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