Thursday, September 13, 2007

Enough?  Too Much?

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg)—New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team another $250,000 for videotaping New York Jets coaches during a game, the National Football League said in a statement. The team also may lose a first-round draft pick.

What do you think?

(19) Comments
Posted by Wendy at 2021 hrs
Culture

  1. Am I missing something here?

    Was a rule in the books against filming coaches?

    What was so wrong?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 13, 2007 at 2042 hrs


  2. OK,

    Just looked up some more stuff.  Rules are in place, many rules.  Not only is the act it self against the rules, but the camera man was on the jet’s sidelines.  All cameras must be under a roof…..

    From reading the post I pictured the camera man zooming in from the coaches box.

    I say fair.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 13, 2007 at 2109 hrs


  3. Nowhere near enough.  This is the NFL’s Black Sox scandal. 

    Ban Belicheat and everyone else involved for life, including Mr. Clean.  Forfeit their 2007 season.  Reduce their 2008 salary cap.  And take away picks #1, 2 and 3 next year.  Cheaters don’t belong in this league.

    Posted by Headless Blogger on September 13, 2007 at 2134 hrs


  4. I would support taking away there first 3 picks.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 13, 2007 at 2218 hrs


  5. From what we can gleen from the punishment it’s obvious Belicheck not only knew of the ruse but he condoned it, and may have instituted the program.
    The Pat’s will also lose one of their two first round picks next year, if they make the play-offs. They will, so the total penalty is much worse then being reported by dead tree media.
    Baby Daddy was the recipient of this cheating so, yes, he should pay a price as well.
    He will pay that price, because karma is a bitch. Just wait for it…wait for it

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 13, 2007 at 2220 hrs


  6. The penalty is fine except he should have been suspended for at least 4 games.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 13, 2007 at 2223 hrs


  7. I agree with Dan - Belichick should have been suspended in addition to the penalties assessed.

    Yes, this is a pretty big deal.  Imagine knowing exactly which side that blitz is going to come from, or what the specific coverage is going to be before the snap.  It would be a huge competitive advantage for the offense.

    It’s time to allow teams to have a defensive player on the field with helmet communication just like the offense.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 14, 2007 at 0804 hrs


  8. The reasonable penalty is forfeiture of any game in which they can be shown to have cheated.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 14, 2007 at 0834 hrs


  9. Based on the fact that the league specifically addressed this issue before hand, I think the punishment was a bit light.

    Its one thing for a coach to find ‘a new way’ to gain an edge, but since this was specifically addressed, they should have come down harder.  (on the coaches/management) not on the team in a way that will hurt the fans.

    The fans didn’t cheat, to hurt the future success of the team penalizes them.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 14, 2007 at 0910 hrs


  10. Based on the circumstances, the penalty is probably fair. Because this penalty set a precedent, Goodell had to be careful with his decision. Forfeiting the game was never going to happen. Taking away draft picks from NE is almost not a penalty since they are probably the deepest team talent wise in the league. Heck, from what I have read, only their first and second round draft picks from 07 made the team this year. They also have two 08 first round picks, one from SF and their own. They will forfeit their own, which without a doubt would have been the worse of the two picks. But the same penalty for other teams, like Oakland or the Pack, would be a much more severe penalty.

    I liken this a lot to Watergate. NIxon didn’t win because he spied and in fact certainly didn’t need to do so to win. Same with NE. The Patriots didn’t need to cheat to win, but were so paranoid they did anyway. Kind of sad really.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 14, 2007 at 0930 hrs


  11. This is absolutely huge.  In a society that has been demanding more accountability for wrong doers this is a slap on the wrist.  What some do not know is that the Pats have two first rounders next year.

    It is also big because even if this only benefits the team three or four times in a game if two of those times lead to a score that is the difference between winning and losing.  It could well be the diffference between 14 wins and 10 wins.

    Any significant penalty will have the round about affect of hurting the fans if it causes the team to lose.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 14, 2007 at 0936 hrs


  12. I’m not a huge football fan, so I don’t know a ton about the rules and all that, but to me this seems pretty light.  These guys make a pretty good amount of money from what I understand, so this just does not seem like a very good way to deter them from cheating again.  From what my husband tells me, this isn’t the first time they’ve done it, either.  I think taking away their picks is good, but I think at least a game or two suspension would be in order as well.

    Posted by Shana on September 14, 2007 at 1031 hrs


  13. By way of context, consider that the McClaren Formula 1 racing team has just been fined $100 Million, one fourth their annual budget, for simple possession of confidential information from competitor Ferrari, with no evidence that the information was used for competitive advantage.

    Posted by triticale on September 14, 2007 at 1143 hrs


  14. I think the penalty is more like a tap on the wrist.  New England is a desirable place to go because it has been so successful.  They will just have more cap money for free agents.  Reducing their cap for each provable infraction seems fair.  I remember hearing how Al Harris was quoted lastyear as saying “They are so good…It is as if they knew what we were doing before we did it.”  They have been doing this for years.  Maybe they aren’t good enough without cheating.  One known safety blitz that opens up the middle is a score 50% of the time or at least a big gainer.  Do that all game…?  How has Brady done so well with so many new receivers in the last several years.  Knowing where on the field they will be open seems a likely way.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 14, 2007 at 1325 hrs


  15. They need to fire the coach and everyone else involved and suspend them from the league for a minimum of two years. Then the Pats should forfeit all 07 season and playoff games against the Jets.

    I don’t think draft picks are fair because by next season this should be dealt with, not in the further future. The money is what it is - they’re all pretty rich on the one hand, and what damage is the money undoing on the other hand?

    Posted by tee bee on September 14, 2007 at 1353 hrs


  16. I think that the Patriots should have the game taken away from them.

    No, penalizing the team does not penalize the fans. The fans are free to continue to patronize cheating losers, or can select another team for which to cheer.

    Losing the game is the correct solution, perhaps amplified by a fine for the team management.

    Posted by Don Meaker on September 14, 2007 at 2058 hrs


  17. Al Harris was quoted lastyear as saying “They are so good…It is as if they knew what we were doing before we did it.”

    Is that a direct quote?  DAMN… Things that make you go Hmmmmm….

    They have been doing this for years.  Maybe they aren’t good enough without cheating.  One known safety blitz that opens up the middle is a score 50% of the time or at least a big gainer.  Do that all game…?  How has Brady done so well with so many new receivers in the last several years.  Knowing where on the field they will be open seems a likely way.

    Its a completely valid point.  I’m regurgitating things I heard on Bob and Brian this morning, but from all the logical conclusions they MUST have had success with this ‘strategy’ or they wouldn’t have put the effort (and pushed it after being caught) that they did.

    I don’t think it is a stretch to think the advantage might have been much larger than initial reaction would percept.

    Seeing how successful the patriots have been recently…  This may be a scandal bigger than Tim Donaghey (sp?)  and Bar-roid Bonds combined.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 15, 2007 at 0032 hrs


  18. No, penalizing the team does not penalize the fans. The fans are free to continue to patronize cheating losers, or can select another team for which to cheer.

    I suppose…  And Packer fans are free to chose a team that doesn’t have drunk-driving alcoholics, former drug addicts, wife-beaters… (rolling my eyes here)

    Get real dude… 

    Fans have as much or more emotional investment in a team/city than the players and coaches.  To suggest that fans ought to have to be the ones to abandon their team because a transient team employee pulls shit seems to be pretty short-sighted.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 15, 2007 at 0037 hrs


  19. Not really sure…
    At first, I heard Wayne Larrave (sp?)-the Packer announcer- just unabashedly wanting to level serious penalties against Belichek and the Patriots.
    While I have no real issue with that, I tend to disagree about taking away draft picks.
    If the team staightens up and flyies right from now on, why penalize a team that may not have 50% of the same players or only 50% -or less- of the coaches?

    The League should have:
    1. Fined Belichek the same amount
    2.Suspended him and his offensive coordinators for 3 games.
    3. Taken away the victory over the J-E-T-S (jetsjetsjets)
    4. Fined the team $750,000+

    I’m pretty sure that if some other coach were to think about doing something like this in the future, he would think twice.

    Posted by still Unreal... on September 15, 2007 at 1516 hrs


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