Spygate: a stance

Senator Arlen Specter is still not giving up on this one just yet, so if we're going to have to talk about this INSANELY tedious story in the future, it's only right that you know which side of the fence we're on.

Now first of all let's clarify one thing: We're primarily football fans here. We aren't out to back up one side of the argument, merely to give opinions. If someone does wrong, we'll call them out on it, but at the same time, we have to be rational.

Wheras the Patriots are culpable - and this is not a defence of them - some of the media coverage has been atrocious. The most obvious and glaring example, John Tomase's Boston Herald article on the eve of the Superbowl was an obvious attempt by both writer and newspaper to grab the national headlines, especially at a time when the eyes of every beat writer in the U.S was on the Patriots. Tomase and the Herald will long be held responsible for what happened in the game, whether right or wrong, you should never put yourself in a position to be the scapegoat for someone else's failure.

My personal (and I won't include Fran in this, as he may have his own thoughts) opinion is that the issue should be left alone now. Regardless of whatever anyone says, the Patriots were punished. Imagine if Miami had lost it's first round pick this year? Does anyone think that wouldn't have been a punishment? I've read hundreds of comments that suggest that the Pats got off lightly regarding Spygate, simply because they already had a good team and had less need of the draft choice than some teams.

Rubbish.

If you'd have said to Belichick et al, that 3-4 years down the line this would blow up like it has, and they'd lose their first round pick in 2008, do you think they'd have carried on? Do you think they'd even have risked it even if they thought the chances of getting caught were slim? My opinion is that they wouldn't. The Patriots haven't built a dynasty out of throwing away draft choices, and I'm fairly certain that whatever was gleaned from those tapes was not as important as the ability to add first round talent down the line.

The effect on the Patriots' legacy is a big question. Of course, in time we may forget, but right now, every bitter fan in the country has all the ammunition they need to asterisk the Dynasty of the early 2000's. Do I blame them? No, not particularly. Like I say, I'm no Patriots fan and I don't mind seeing them lose.

But the fact is they didn't win those championships based on that film. We've all seen it now, and it's hardly anything that anyone with eyes couldn't second guess anyway. Most of the signals are blatant, signalling 4 fingers for 4-deep coverage is a prime example. Even players and coaches from the losing sides have been quick to say that blaming these tapes is a cheap get out clause for the way they played. As Mike Martz put it: "Let me make this clear: we lost to the New England Patriots in the Superbowl because we turned the ball over three times."

So my final thoughts? The Patriots did wrong, and in this situation they deserve to be punished, if only for having the sheer brass balls to send a man to videotape an ex-employee during a road game. On the other hand, it's over and done with (until the aforementioned Senator recovers from his Chemotherapy at least), and perhaps a better sign of class would be for opposing fans to stop using the tabloid slang - 'Belicheat' etc - that has become prevalent these days.