When the "Spygate" story first broke in September, I thought it was
one of the stupider, more overblown stories in a long time.
A disgruntled former employee (Jets coach Eric Mangini) accuses his
old boss (Patriots coach Bill Belichick) of cheating after the Pats
beat the Jets 100-0, as if he had actually just noticed some guy
standing on the Patriots' sideline with a camera, recording the Jets'
defensive signals. So it was obvious right from the beginning that not
only had the Pats been doing it for a while, but considering how
little effort they put into hiding it, most likely they weren't the
only guilty team in the league (a notion further supported by the memo
the NFL sent out reminding everyone how illegal it was).
So when the media spent weeks acting like it was this huge story, I
mostly ignored it. But now as it's becoming clear that the NFL's
investigation was at best lazy and at worst a huge cover up, we may be
on the verge of a legitimate story as big in the sports world as
Watergate was in the real world.
If former Pats assistant Matt Walsh, who the NFL didn't even talk to
in September, confirms the report that the Pats taped the Rams walk
through the day before the Super Bowl, it will immediately and
completely discredit one of the greatest (and considering how hard it
is for an NFL team to stay good these days, I would call it the
greatest) dynasty in sports history, even with the Super Bowl loss.
It would mean that every time we thought Belichick had coached circles
around somebody, he actually was just cheating. In a league where
coaches spend all their time thinking up new, surprise game plans,
taping your opponents walk through is about as outrageous as, well,
breaking into your political opponent's office and stealing his
campaign secrets.
one of the stupider, more overblown stories in a long time.
A disgruntled former employee (Jets coach Eric Mangini) accuses his
old boss (Patriots coach Bill Belichick) of cheating after the Pats
beat the Jets 100-0, as if he had actually just noticed some guy
standing on the Patriots' sideline with a camera, recording the Jets'
defensive signals. So it was obvious right from the beginning that not
only had the Pats been doing it for a while, but considering how
little effort they put into hiding it, most likely they weren't the
only guilty team in the league (a notion further supported by the memo
the NFL sent out reminding everyone how illegal it was).
So when the media spent weeks acting like it was this huge story, I
mostly ignored it. But now as it's becoming clear that the NFL's
investigation was at best lazy and at worst a huge cover up, we may be
on the verge of a legitimate story as big in the sports world as
Watergate was in the real world.
If former Pats assistant Matt Walsh, who the NFL didn't even talk to
in September, confirms the report that the Pats taped the Rams walk
through the day before the Super Bowl, it will immediately and
completely discredit one of the greatest (and considering how hard it
is for an NFL team to stay good these days, I would call it the
greatest) dynasty in sports history, even with the Super Bowl loss.
It would mean that every time we thought Belichick had coached circles
around somebody, he actually was just cheating. In a league where
coaches spend all their time thinking up new, surprise game plans,
taping your opponents walk through is about as outrageous as, well,
breaking into your political opponent's office and stealing his
campaign secrets.
