New Claim of Cheating Emerges Against Patriots

[lordofgun]

INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newenglandpatriots/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’ pattern of illicitly videotaping the signals of opposing N.F.L. coaches began in Coach Bill Belichick (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/bill_belichick/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s first preseason with the team in 2000, a former Patriots player said. The information was put to use in that year’s regular-season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/tampabaybuccaneers/index.html?inline=nyt-org), Belichick’s debut as New England’s coach.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/sports/football/22patriots.html?ex=1204261200&en=7b8ddff987863917&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

[X-Era]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/sports/football/22patriots.html?ex=1204261200&en=7b8ddff987863917&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

Suddenly I want to watch, "Hang em High"

[Jan Reimers]

Belichick is a scumbag, pure and simple. I really want to see him dealt with severely.

[Goobylal]

Saw that article. The revelation that they've been doing it since 2000 and are the only team to have been doing it, means they're guilty and their SB wins (each by 3 points, which is enough for even the smallest advantage to influence) are bogus.

[mybills]

Belichick has said that he misinterpreted the league’s bylaws, telling Goodell that he thought it was permissible to use electronic equipment as long as the information was not used in the same game. That explanation has been greeted with disbelief by some peers and league officials.

He's very good at playing dumb!
---------------------
Executives dismissed any lingering notions that the Patriots’ taping opponents was a common practice around the league.

“I don’t want the outside perception to be, ‘Boy, there are all these teams and they’re all doing all these things,’ ” said Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and a member of the competition committee. “Because it’s not true.”

Everywhere I go, it sounds like their fans are still in denial. :coocoo:

[Novacane]

All it takes to go from dumb ass loser to genius is cheating :up:

[Jan Reimers]

Belichick has said that he misinterpreted the league’s bylaws, telling Goodell that he thought it was permissible to use electronic equipment as long as the information was not used in the same game. That explanation has been greeted with disbelief by some peers and league officials.

He's very good at playing dumb!
---------------------
Executives dismissed any lingering notions that the Patriots’ taping opponents was a common practice around the league.

“I don’t want the outside perception to be, ‘Boy, there are all these teams and they’re all doing all these things,’ ” said Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and a member of the competition committee. “Because it’s not true.”

Everywhere I go, it sounds like their fans are still in denial. :coocoo:
31 of the other 32 NFL coaches seem to understand the rules perfectly. Belichick must be the stupidest genius ever.

[Mitchy moo]

Belichick has said that he misinterpreted the league’s bylaws, telling Goodell that he thought it was permissible to use electronic equipment as long as the information was not used in the same game. That explanation has been greeted with disbelief by some peers and league officials.

He's very good at playing dumb!
---------------------
Executives dismissed any lingering notions that the Patriots’ taping opponents was a common practice around the league.

“I don’t want the outside perception to be, ‘Boy, there are all these teams and they’re all doing all these things,’ ” said Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and a member of the competition committee. “Because it’s not true.”

Everywhere I go, it sounds like their fans are still in denial. :coocoo:


According to ne39 the pats have done nothing wrong.

[mybills]

31 of the other 32 NFL coaches seem to understand the rules perfectly. Belichick must be the stupidest genius ever.

"stupidest" I love that word! :chuckle:

[feelthepain]

According to ne39 the pats have done nothing wrong.
And this will soon blow over and be forgotten!

[mybills]

Speaking of the devil...

[im4bflo]

And this will soon blow over and be forgotten!

kind of like a 1-15 season?

[ddaryl]

And this will soon blow over and be forgotten!

Only if people like yourself roll over and ask the NFL commish to rub your tummy.. like the good dog you are.

As long as pressure is kept up it won't go away.

and I still fail to realize why every single sports fans is not outraged by this. This is as bad as using performance enhancing drugs, or failing a piss test, and we all know how everyone reacts to those 2 situations

[YardRat]

I hope the entire organization goes up in flames. Yank them off to LA and let California have their team...Give everybody a fresh start.

[Jan Reimers]

I really want Matt Walsh in front of Congress. He might blow this thing sky high.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

And this will soon blow over and be forgotten!

I don't think so...not now that they have really ticked off a powerful US Senator who is in a position to make life difficult not only for the Pats, but for the NFL:

"But Specter, a one-time district attorney in Philadelphia, didn't react favorably to the Patriots' responses to his investigators.



"Well, I think that it is somewhere between absurd to insulting that they won't let us talk to the witnesses," Specter said. "Whoever heard of not being able to talk to someone because it is hearsay back from somebody else who talked to them. You have to question hearsay and reliability. I'm not prepared to accept what somebody else says these key witnesses say. What kind of an inquiry would it be if we accepted what somebody else tells us what was said?" '
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3259486&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines

The last thing that you want to do is make a US Senator feel like he or his staff have been insulted...trust me, that is NOT something that you want to hear him say about you or your organization!

I'll be honest: I did not think that this was going to amount to much of anything after the NFL slapped Belichick and the Pats with the fines and lost draft pick initially. And, not really after Spector first started asking questions. But, now.... I don't think that Spector is going to let go of this and, if he continues to feel like he;s getting jerked around by the NFL, the Pats and the Jets, I think that he is going to make sure that this story doesn't go away until he is good and satisfied that the Pats have really been punished (Spector's history is that he is not a man to be trifled with or to let go of something once he sinks his teeth into it).

I think that Spector no longer trusts Goodell or the NFL to handle this issue fully and that, if he doesn't start getting some cooperation from them, he may very well use his influence to drag the NFL before a committee that will have subpoena powers to examine the issue. This is not some junior US Senator that we are talking about here: this the minority chairman of the committee that oversees the NFL's anti-trust exemption and a man who, as recent chairman of that committee, has built up a lot of respect and influence amongst his colleagues--if he gets really ticked off and wants his committee to investigate or hold hearings on this subject, there will be an investigation and/or hearings.

I think the NFL is really taking a risk by having its teams and people blowing Spector off at this point.

BTW: If Spector decides to take it that far, his Senate committee can grant M.Walsh the immunity from prosecution that he wants with just a flourish of the pen...I think that right now he is giving the NFL a chance to take care of that, though, as a test, before he has to do it.

[feelthepain]

I don't think so...not now that they have really ticked off a powerful US Senator who is in a position to make life difficult not only for the Pats, but for the NFL:



I was just finishing the sentence Skoob started.

[Mitchell55]

I dont know how they got only 1 draft pick taken. In other sports you would get suspended for that. How is it that if a player smokes a joint he gets a 4 game suspension and if a coach cheats for 6 years, he gets a under 1 million dollar fine and a loss of a draft pick (and still gets in the top ten on the draft board). This stuff needs to change just like the steroid pollicy needs to in baseball.

[njsue]

Suddenly a foul odor is trickling down I95 from Foxsboro, MA all the way to Washington DC.

[mybills]

Suddenly a foul odor is trickling down I95 from Foxsboro, MA all the way to Washington DC.
So that's what I smell!!!
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o198/mybills/fox.jpg