Ah, it's amazing how quickly things can change. In the blink of an eye Bill Belichick went from NFL icon to the most despised coach in history. From genius to evil genius. From arrogant, self-promoting egomaniac to... well ok, that part hasn't changed.

And the "Spygate" outcry is all completely deserved, right? The public denouncements? The fines from the commissioner? The ruined legacy? The tainted Superbowls? All of it just deserts for the Richard Nixon of coaches... Or is it?

First I'd like to clear up a little misconception people seem to have. The Patriots weren't penalized for "spying." Coaches often have team employees spy on the opposing sideline to try to interpret signals. It's part of the game and it's allowed by the NFL. Shoot, from what I understand, a coach could station an entire platoon of spies on their sideline armed with binoculars, telescopes, laptops, stenographers, lip-readers, psychic friends, etc. and that would be perfectly ok, it's just the video camera that was against the rules. So isn't this level of outrage just a tad ridiculous considering that the only problem was the equipment being used, but spying itself is considered acceptable by the league?

Think about it. They're penalizing Belichick for using an efficient tool, not the act of spying. Which makes about as much sense as Major League Baseball deciding to allow corked bats then saying, "But if we catch anyone using a power drill to do it, there'll be hell to pay!"

Further evidence that this incident was overblown: it already happened. Last year during the Patriots-Packers game in Green Bay the Patriots were caught using a video camera on the sidelines. Most people see this as evidence of a pattern of cheating by Belichick. I see this as a good indication of how ridiculous the outcry over "Spygate" has become. Because you know what happened at that time? When it came to the Packers officials' attention that a Patriots employee was using a camera, they were so shocked, so outraged, so ready to exact justice on the evil, cheating Patriots that they -Gasp!- asked the employee to put down his camera.

This is how serious they considered this transgression. "Hey, lose the camera, buddy." There was no whistleblowing to the commissioner. There were no fines, no lost draft picks, no horde of outraged media members. It went no further than that at that time, so why has it become a major scandal now?

I actually have an answer for that one.

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Reflections on Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots video-taping scandal?
We want to hear your view. Write now!