Bill the Plumber

Yesterday I read that Bill Belichick did an exclusive interview with CBS.  I first heard about the interview through  this Associated Press summary.  Reading the summary I was like “What the hell?  Belichick are you an idiot?”  From the format of the AP story, and the CBS preview, it sounded like Belichick was a bitter man not taking the high road and attacking his attacker.  I thought, damn, why the hell did the guy talk and make himself look worse?

I thought that until this morning when CBS News finally linked the whole interview on their website.  When you watch the whole interview, you see an even-keeled, forthright, sincere Belichick.  Not the raving madman portrayed in the AP summary.  Its amazing how as the media, if you want to portray somebody in a certain way, it is really really easy to take a few words from their statements to portray the image and story you want.  Facts, reality, be damned.   It is the way of things which is why I personally try to find out the facts themselves rather than reading any  one independent analysis or report.

One thing that I really pulled out of the article was that Belichick said they have video of Walsh taking video.  That he was in plain view and wearing patriots gear.  That they were being obvious and non-discrete.  That in even one video, a taped coach of another team waved to the camera.  Add this statement to the fact that stealing signals is not illegal in the NFL, and you start to get an entirely different picture of what the ESPN’s, Peter Kings, and Spectre’s of the world want you to think.

I listened a lot to the Spygate controversy this week on the radio and TV. Yes, I’m a biased Patriots fan, but my opinion of the whole thing dramatically changed after listening to Goodell’s press conference, the Boston Herald retracting the walk-thru tape story, and John Tomase officially apologizing for printing the story. Let’s review some things I learned anew this week:

Fact #1: It is illegal to have cameras in unauthorized places. THAT’S IT! No more no less. Go re-read the rule.
Fact #2: It is NOT illegal to steal signals. Goodell said as much.

“According to NFL policy, it is permissible to scout people’s coaching signals, and as you know, clubs go to great lengths to protect those.”

Fact #3: It was NOT illegal for Matt Walsh to see the walkthru or tell anybody about it. Again, re-read Goodell’s statements.

Until this week, I didn’t know Fact #2 and #3 were true. So, what the Patriots are *really* guilty of is using a camera in an un-authorized place. (They are actually allowed to use cameras in authroized places, again, go read the rules). When you put it in that perspective, how trivial is this whole thing? Pretty….

If the media hadn’t made such a big deal out of this, the Patriots would probably have lost at most a 3rd/4th round pick, about as stiff of a penalty as your Superbowl winning Broncos, who CHEATED on the salary cap, not once, but twice.

It’s amazing to me the attention and outrage expressed against Bill Belichick and the Patriots for Spygate when there’s much more serious cheating going on in the NFL.  I mean, Belichick gets lynched for taping a team to figure out its tendencies.  A practice that I sincerely believe Belichick thought was a grey area in the rules.  Anyways, that’s what coaches are paid to do, analyze film to gauge a team’s tendencies.

In comparison, we have a multitude of other teams tampering with free agency.  For example, the 49er’s were recently penalized a 5th round draft pick for tampering with the Bear’s Lance Briggs in free agency.  The quality of players (or lack thereof) has a much more dramatic affect on the outcome of a game than whether or not a coach can crack an opposing team’s defensive signals.  How about the Patriot’s 2006 season?  Remember the Dion Branch fiasco when the Patriots were basically forced to trade their best receiver away at the beginning of the season?  Where was the outrage, outside of New England, when the Jets tampered with Dion Branch?  The 2006 AFC championship game against the Colts was so close one play could have changed the outcome of the game.  Ya think having Branch would have made a difference?  No, not at all  ;).

It doesn’t stop with free agency tampering.  Numerous teams have also violated the salary cap.  Those same 49ers were penalized $400000 for violating the cap in Steve Young and Brent Jone’s contracts.  The same Steve Young who lambasted Belichick and the Patriots on ESPN.  Its not just the 49ers.  The Broncos were penalized, not once, but twice for salary cap violations.  The first was in regards to John Elway’s contract.  Should the Broncos also have an asterix next to their superbowl victories?  Where was the outrage?   Spectre, where are you?  Oh, I forgot, you’re a senator from Pennsylvania, not one from Georgia or Wisconsin.

All and all, I’m fine with the Patriots getting punished by the commissioner.  What I’m not fine with is the Patriots being treated as a special case by the media and the fans.  I want to see equal outrage against other teams that violate the rules, equal press coverage.  Its only fair that fans in San Francisco, New York, and Denver experience similar humiliation and witch hunts.