by Tina Hartley

Created on: October 10, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Bill Belichick was a highly respected head coach in the NFL. Bill was named the AP Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2007. He is the only head coach to take his team to three Super Bowl victories in a four year span. He has more than three decades of experience as a coach in the NFL. The video-taping fiasco was no rookie mistake. His decision to have a camera trained on the opposing sideline was a blatant disregard for NFL rules.

Maybe Mr. Belichick thought he was above the rules. Perhaps, like many other rule breakers and criminals, he had been getting away with it for so long, he thought getting caught couldn't happen to him. What ever was going through his mind before, and during the illegal taping of the Jets coaches, it didn't deter him from breaking the rules. Bill's only defense was that he had made a mistake in his interpretation of the rules.

A memo sent the year before this incident by the NFL's executive vice president of football operations reminded teams of the rule that forbade video taping of opposing coaches. There is widespread belief that memo was generated because of the whispers of the Patriots consistent violation of that rule. The NFL attempted to discreetly warn Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots to stop their behavior. In all likelihood, that is exactly why the penalties were so severe. Bill Belichick blatantly disregarded a league rule. He ignored a warning from the league. There really is no question here; justice was served.

Now I'm not even a Pats fan. As a life long Steelers fan, there is nothing I like more than to see the Patriots lose (unless it's the Brownies). I was thrilled when they went down in the 2008 SuperBowl. But as a football fan you have to give it to Brady and the Patriots; they are a great football team. The current Patriots team will go down in history as one of the greatest football teams ever.

It's truly a shame this blight is on the Patriots record. In the future, fans will be talking about the awesome season of 16 0 and the debate on whether the Patriots can be considered a dynasty as were the Cowboys and the Steelers in earlier years. Then somebody will mention the video taping known as Spygate. What this did and will forever do is cast a shadow on an otherwise great football team. This is up there with the aterisk debate for baseball stats because of RoidGate. The Patriots deserve better.

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