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An open letter to the Patriots
By adamg on Wed, 09/12/2007 - 9:41am
Kristen tells the Patriots to knock it off:
... We're very upset. You've put us in the unenviable position of having to defend the team's indefensible actions to freakin' Steelers and Colts fans (I've still never met an actual Colts fan), and Chargers players since The Danian obviously has something to say about this. WE WERE PERFECTLY HAPPY KNOWING THAT WE WERE WINNING BECAUSE WE WERE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. And I'm not saying that we're not. I still think we are, BUT I DON'T APPRECIATE THE ABUSE I'M GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE HERE. Do you understand? ...
Angela: For the first time since 1991, it really sucks to be a Patriots fan:
This whole spying thing has effectively ruined my week. I'm pissed. ...
Lance: In some ways, it smacks of Nixonian paranoia:
... In the context of one specific game, the stealing of signals via videotape is not that big a deal. The way the NFL works, the offense sends in it's personnel package, the the defense sees who has come onto the field and makes there calls based on down, distance, and offensive personnel. There is almost no way that a team could have someone videotape a signal, call it in to an offensive coach, and have it relayed to Tom Brady in time for him to make an adjustment to the play.
On the other hand, it is a very big deal because the practice is explicitly prohibited by the league. In fact, not only have the Patriots been accused of doing this a number of times, but the entire league was strongly warned before the start of the season that these sort of practices would not be tolerated.
Yet, the Patriots did it anyway. ...
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Comments
These Patriots fans do know
These Patriots fans do know that our coach is Bill Belichick, right? Mr. "All I'm trying to do is put the team in the best position to win." Mr. "I'm just trying to win a football game, OK?" Mr. "I'm just trying to make the best decision for team." He's coached in the league for a long time. He did it when the roida-aholic Steelers won four Super Bowls and he did when the 49'ers cheated on the cap. There is barely a stone in the League he hasn't turned and no stone he hasn't seen turned. He didn't put microphones in the helmets of QBs and he didn't invent sideline camera crews. He's merely using those League inventions to his advantage.
This isn't MLB where $200 million buys a you play off spot. This is the NFL where every victory is earned.
From watching the game, it
From watching the game, it seems to me that the Pats must have been stealing the Jet's signs for, "get pushed around by the Pat's O-line," and, "let the Pat's return a kick-off from 8 yards inside their own end zone."
Guys, don't buy into the
Guys, don't buy into the media (and troll opposing team fan) hooplah. It's something we have to live with in these days, but this tabloid media is really getting to me.
Just take a look at the front page of ESPN, devoted to a minor/medium infraction fro the pats, meanwhile a heartbreaking and now miracle story of Bills TE Kevin Everett recovering from a catastrophic spinal cord injury, makes nothing but a top sliver. On story is juicer, because you can spew and rant about it to no end.
The fact is, the patriots are NOT BEING INVESTIGATED FOR CHEATING. The NFL has already said so. The rule that was broken is ban on videotaping on the sideline. And while they do look guilty of this, many teams have ignored this rule for decades. Hell, all a team has to do is plant someone in the stands with a HD HandCam to do the same thing unnoticed. Trying to decipher team signals is nothing new, and is done in many sports from HS through the pro-arena. I don't think I've heard the argument that there's a rule against that.
They need to enforce the taping rule fairly across the entire league, or they need to change them. I'd also love to see new rules about using other teams playbooks, audio tapes, .ect, but so far there's nothing.
The media also needs to chill the frak out. The only thing worse then political pundits are sports pundits!