The cheating New England Patriots
As a fan of the Buffalo Bills, I want to start this post by wishing Kevin Everett a full recovery. Kevin, a reserve tight end for the Bills, got a serious cervical spine injury last weekend, during the game against the Denver Broncos. Such injury was described as "potentially lethal and grave" by the Bills' doctors, and it is feared that Kevin won't be able to walk again. I sincerely hope it is not the case, and once again, I wish him a full recovery from this injury.
In the league spectrum, as a Bills fan it is also normal to feel some sort of dislike for the New England Patriots. After all, they're divisional rivals of Buffalo, and definitely the rival to beat by the rest of the division during the last few years. Another divisional rival of the Pats are the New York Jets, team which apparently was able to discover part of the suspicious and dark power that has been used lately by the Patriots to achieve success. They discovered that the Patriots had a cameraman who aimed his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches that were sending signals to their players in the field. This kind of practices, of course, are against the NFL's rules.
The camera was confiscated to the cameraman and it was send along with its recordings for investigation to the NFL. After investigating the incident and the evidence, the league determined that New England indeed violated the rules (or, said in different terms, they did cheat!). Now the team will face a punishment that is still to be determined by the NFL, but potential measures are ranging from suspensions to fines. Surprisingly, a member of the lea
gue's competition committee who asked not to be identified confirmed that prior similar incidents were recorded for the Patriots, which means that the Patriots could have been cheating for some time now.A very shameful situation for the coach Bill Bellichick (picture on the right) and his staff. The NFL is looking forward to talk face to face with Bellichick before deciding for a penalty, but if the Patriots have cheated, it'll be well deserved for them to be punished. After all, the game is also about ethics and fair-play, and every player should demonstrate their best on the field under the same rules and conditions.
More information about the Pats' case here.
posted by Eddie @ 9:52 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Shame on you. As a football fan, you have to be honest with yourself: Video taping, per se, is perfectly legal and EVERY team does it. The rules say where you can't record from: the field and the coaches areas-and where you can-anyplace with a roof and walls. The truth is you can video tape in the NFL-just not anywhere you like. This is not cheating, which is the shorthand dump partisans promulgate. Bill was pushing the limits, he knew it, and he should be fined. Not villified. If you don't think video taping the games for signals, formations and anything else-which goes on every game everywhere-then ban videotaping altogether. Don't make Belichick out to be a cheater; what's the cheat? His man was in a nondesignated area? That's all you got? The truth is, Belichick was ratted out by a former employee looking for HIS own advantage and the NFL monkey-pile continues because the Patriots are so damn good and others are so damn envious. Nobody gets this animated over mediocre teams, only great ones. Sorry.
Sorry dude... violating the rules is cheating, in football and in whatever sport you want to think. It's as simple as that.
Belichick used to be a coach that had all my respect (regardless of what team I support), but I'm having second thoughts about this. And so are many other football fans around the world. I don't think it's a matter of jealousy -- after all, football is only a game. I can live very peacefully whether the Patriots win or lose (even if the Bills win or lose, although I like them. Life is much more than that!). However, I like football, and as as a supporter of that sport, I expect to see a real competition on the field. And the Pats' recording practices gave them advantage on the field, thus not having a fair competition.
So again, the shame is not on me. The shame is on the Pats, on the guy who was filming, and on Belichick who took advantage of those records. I feel sorry for most of the players there, who are indeed not to be blamed for the problem.
However, I'm not the only one who is angry about the Pats cheating. Here is a video that you'll find interesting, where some personalities around the NFL, representing different teams, give their opinion about the issue.
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d8024b648
Cheers.
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