The Sportsguy on CameraGate

[NEPat]

I know not everyone likes Simmons, and yes he's a Pats homer, but I think this is a pretty fair take. The Mangini stuff made me laugh.

Q: What were your thoughts on the penalty Roger Goodell handed to the Patriots?
-- Justin K., Indiana

SG: Just so you know, that's a condensed version of the e-mail; in the unabridged version, there were multiple swear words and Justin compared me to one of three major orifices. Anyway, I thought the penalty was slightly excessive but fair. I was hoping they'd lose a second-rounder, but whatever. They cheated, they were warned, they kept cheating, they got caught, they paid the price. (And a steep price at that.)

I did think The Turncoat (aka Eric Mangini) should have been fined for blowing the whistle on Belichick and then inexplicably shaking his hand afterward. Stick to your guns, Mr. Mangineous. If you're going to sell out your old boss during the game, what better way to show your disgust than eschewing the postgame handshake and just walking off the field? What's the point of shaking hands? Hey, great game, congrats on the win. ... By the way, I ratted you out in the first quarter, sorry about that. My dad was more outraged about that two-faced move than anything since the Doc Rivers extension.

That reminds me, everyone's talking about the other teams and implying they were the victims. What about Pats fans? How did we deserve this? Our favorite team cheated, we lost a No. 1 pick, our coach pulled the football version of the Watergate break-in, our entire mini-dynasty has been tainted according to the outside world. ... Seriously, what did we ever do other than support a perpetually crappy franchise with a bad stadium for years and years and years? Do you think we wanted any of this to happen? All week, I almost felt like I did something wrong just because I rooted for these guys. Well, no more. Call them cheaters, call them villains, call them the evil empire, but it's still my team. You can't disown your team just because it does something sleazy, just like you can't disown a close family member for doing something sleazy. Your team is your team. I hate what happened, I think it has been terribly overblown, we paid the price, and we're moving on. At least until Belichick's version of the 17-minute missing Nixon tape is released.

Also this, in response to a question about Brady being happy that Moss is a Patriot:

Brady was the happiest man alive for about 24 hours, until it was revealed that **** Nixon had come back from the grave as his head coach.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070914&sportCat=nfl

 

[nowayback]

this one is great!

Q: I bet Belichick is the type of guy who peeks at your controller as you're selecting a play in Madden.
-- Mike T., Fairport N.Y.

SG: How dare you! Now that's just uncalled for! By the way, Belichick doesn't play video games -- it's too difficult to hold the controller while he's wearing his five Super Bowl rings.

 

[Bill's Girl]

Gotta admit Sportsguy is right. None of us fans asked for this. We sure as hell didn't ask for or deserve the bevy of trolls who have come into our house and slammed us this week. We didn't deserve to have our coach and his legacy questioned and thrown in our face. I'm glad Bill Simmons wrote this column he expresses a lot of what I have been feeling and his lines about Benedict Mangini were hilarious.

 

[Lansdowne]

I love Bill Simmons in a strictly hetero way.

Good news for Patriots fans: According to Dan Marino on "Inside the NFL" this week, the Pats shouldn't worry about losing their 2008 first-round pick because "it's gonna be in the late 30s." Hey, it's not like he's paid to be an NFL expert or anything. By the way, that line of 16.5 is the line for the Bills game, not the Vegas over/under for Patriot victories this season (including playoffs). Just wanted to clarify that.

(That reminds me, after CameraGate was played up for more than a week on every major network and Web site, this story was practically buried on Thursday night. That's right, it's the "we have no further evidence that the Patriots cheated and this investigation is closed" story. Sorry to disappoint everyone, although it was worth it to see Gregg Easterbrook's impression of Joe McCarthy this week. Can we all move on now?)

LMAO late 30's

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070921&sportCat=nfl

 

[363839]

He's not good enough for the CHFF and he isn't good enough for me.
This guy did not stand up at all. He insists on towing the ESPN line by using the word "Cheat" and he has turned his back on a great Coach.
Screw him and his amateur humor.

 

[psychoPat]

Thanks, BG !

Hope i remember to recycle
Benedict mangini.

 

[RayClay]

Gotta admit Sportsguy is right. None of us fans asked for this. We sure as hell didn't ask for or deserve the bevy of trolls who have come into our house and slammed us this week. We didn't deserve to have our coach and his legacy questioned and thrown in our face. I'm glad Bill Simmons wrote this column he expresses a lot of what I have been feeling and his lines about Benedict Mangini were hilarious.

It comes with the territory. I'll gladly take on the jealous losers, the political schemers trying to win football games by a technicality when they can't on the field.

Come on Casserly, Millen (that's the competition committee, just say those names again and the word competition LOL!!).

Mangini, the office rat, trying to weasel everything from his mentor to take a short cut to the big time in the rotten apple!!

Polian's team finally found a way to win (sincere congrats), but I'd rather some aggressive espionage, than a weasely Harper Valley PTA trying to change the emphasis yearly so defenses can't hit, tackle or play real defense.

Screw 'em all!!!

I was fortunate enough to appreciate 14-15 of the Celtics Championships.

Mr. Auerbach was not the most well liked Coach and was rumored to use any tactic to get an edge that he could get away with.

In conclusion:

Screw 'em all!!!

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I know not everyone likes Simmons, and yes he's a Pats homer, but I think this is a pretty fair take. The Mangini stuff made me laugh.



Also this, in response to a question about Brady being happy that Moss is a Patriot:



http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070914&sportCat=nfl

Don't count me in this 'BooHoo', BS, why me, we fans didn't ask for this crap. As far as I'm concerned the SportsGuy can reasearch when he lost his pair. Cheating, lol, puhlease. Any Patriot fan perpetuating this 'Patriots are cheaters' lie is gutless unless they wan't to say the inclusive line 'The Patriots are best among a group of league wide cheaters'.
"I was more upset that they were doing it better than we were. We all do it.". Read that line from Billick. It's applicable here too. What the Patriots were doing was nothing but "cheating" better, but it wasn't even cheating. They broke a rule in the pursuit of what almost every other teams does legally, try and steal defensive signals. And if my team was not doing everything possible to try and gain an edge by figuring out what the defensive signals were? I'd be seriously disappointed. Exactly who is naive enough to think the following: hand gestures being done in plain sight will tell you what your opponent's defense will do, but we as a team aren't interested in figuring out those signals.
Taken from some post a while ago, 'this is like saying you cheated cause you took a pciture of a test versus just copying it down'. Hey, the NFL draws the line at pictures in signal stealing, the Patriots went there, they got smacked down, we won't do it that way again. How that makes us what the media has potrayed us as is laughable. As I understand it, we can have a guy with binoculars and a sketch pad and it is perfectly legal. If BB isn't doing it that way now or some other more rule permitting way, I am disappointed. If Kraft is meddling and keeping our intel gathering mechanism from happening, he needs to step back and I mean way f'n back. And the SportsGuy can keep researching when he lost his spine.

 

[Patjew]

Don't count me in this 'BooHoo', BS, why me, we fans didn't ask for this crap. As far as I'm concerned the SportsGuy can reasearch when he lost his pair. Cheating, lol, puhlease. Any Patriot fan perpetuating this 'Patriots are cheaters' lie is gutless unless they wan't to say the inclusive line 'The Patriots are best among a group of league wide cheaters'.
"I was more upset that they were doing it better than we were. We all do it.". Read that line from Billick. It's applicable here too. What the Patriots were doing was nothing but "cheating" better, but it wasn't even cheating. They broke a rule in the pursuit of what almost every other teams does legally, try and steal defensive signals. And if my team was not doing everything possible to try and gain an edge by figuring out what the defensive signals were? I'd be seriously disappointed. Exactly who is naive enough to think the following: hand gestures being done in plain sight will tell you what your opponent's defense will do, but we as a team aren't interested in figuring out those signals.
Taken from some post a while ago, 'this is like saying you cheated cause you took a pciture of a test versus just copying it down'. Hey, the NFL draws the line at pictures in signal stealing, the Patriots went there, they got smacked down, we won't do it that way again. How that makes us what the media has potrayed us as is laughable. As I understand it, we can have a guy with binoculars and a sketch pad and it is perfectly legal. If BB isn't doing it that way now or some other more rule permitting way, I am disappointed. If Kraft is meddling and keeping our intel gathering mechanism from happening, he needs to step back and I mean way f'n back. And the SportsGuy can keep researching when he lost his spine.

It pains me to agree with the sentiment of this post, but I do. SG is not the same writer he was before he split from Boston. Maybe his writing skills are better now, but he's lost the "normal guy" thing he had going on, never mind the uniquesness and brilliance he displayed by intertwining pop culture, classic movies and ACCCURATE sports deatails into his columns; all of that is gone. I still read everything he writes, but I don't enjoy it nearly as much. "Sell out" is such a cliche, but I don't know how else to describe it. Or maybe he's just stale.

 

[shmessy]

"I was more upset that they were doing it better than we were. We all do it.". Read that line from Billick. It's applicable here too. What the Patriots were doing was nothing but "cheating" better.......

WRONG. Your (and many others') contention that they were "cheating" (I agree, not the word I would use) BETTER than the others is 100% wrong. In fact, they were breaking the rule in a more STUPID and OVERT fashion than the others.

They DID NOT do it better than the others. This is the reason I am so PO'd at Belichick. He screwed up and it cost the organization greatly.

BB did a FAR WORSE job at stealing signals than the other teams. They put their staffers up in the stands with small cellphones or minicams, dressed as regular fans. BB put Estrella on the sidelines in front of 78,000 NY fans, dressed in Patriot staffer clothing during a game taking place 6 miles to the East of the NFL Headquarters against his former protege who knows all his tricks. Previously, the Pats had their cameraman removed from the sidelines (or spotted on the sidelines) by the Lions and Packers.

So your contention that they were doing this BETTER than the others is 100% wrong. They actually were more incompetent in their actions here than everyone else.

Whether or not this was on purpose by BB to prove a point to the NFL is anyone's guess. I would imagine, though, that he DID miscalculate on the consequences of this purposely overt action - - on a much less serious level, but analogous to that idiot MIT student at Logan Airport yesterday.

 

[Pats Fanatic]

This is what he is writing now, well it's rather pathetic. He has changed, I use to enjoy much of his writings (except his views on movies are kind of laughable), even that little carton he had on espn.com was funny. Now he sounds like all the rest of the espn morons, don't make waves and above all else call Belichick a cheater. I rarely ever watch ESPN or visit their website anymore, their references to history and facts are missing and replaced by their opinions and rumours, very sad actually.

 

[Bella*chick]

I will give him credit for noticing, as I did, how the story of the whole thing ending was kind of buried. No screaming headlines or cute plays on words. Just a big pile of crickets chirping. So pathetic.

 

[Lansdowne]

I will give him credit for noticing, as I did, how the story of the whole thing ending was kind of buried. No screaming headlines or cute plays on words. Just a big pile of crickets chirping. So pathetic.

The same media that was piling on for the past 2 weeks swept this one under the rug. Go figure, right?

 

[signbabybrady]

I did think The Turncoat (aka Eric Mangini) should have been fined for blowing the whistle on Belichick and then inexplicably shaking his hand afterward. Stick to your guns, Mr. Mangineous. If you're going to sell out your old boss during the game, what better way to show your disgust than eschewing the postgame handshake and just walking off the field? What's the point of shaking hands? Hey, great game, congrats on the win. ... By the way, I ratted you out in the first quarter, sorry about that.

very good point

bad enough to be a rat but two faced.....mangini, two faced rat...

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

WRONG. Your (and many others') contention that they were "cheating" (I agree, not the word I would use) BETTER than the others is 100% wrong. In fact, they were breaking the rule in a more STUPID and OVERT fashion than the others.

They DID NOT do it better than the others. This is the reason I am so PO'd at Belichick. He screwed up and it cost the organization greatly.

BB did a FAR WORSE job at stealing signals than the other teams. They put their staffers up in the stands with small cellphones or minicams, dressed as regular fans. BB put Estrella on the sidelines in front of 78,000 NY fans, dressed in Patriot staffer clothing during a game taking place 6 miles to the East of the NFL Headquarters against his former protege who knows all his tricks. Previously, the Pats had their cameraman removed from the sidelines (or spotted on the sidelines) by the Lions and Packers.

So your contention that they were doing this BETTER than the others is 100% wrong. They actually were more incompetent in their actions here than everyone else.

Whether or not this was on purpose by BB to prove a point to the NFL is anyone's guess. I would imagine, though, that he DID miscalculate on the consequences of this purposely overt action - - on a much less serious level, but analogous to that idiot MIT student at Logan Airport yesterday.

On further consideration, my choice of words were incorrect. You are correct. I agree that the level of secrecy BB was using does make the "cheating better" argument lose some veracity (though not to the 100% argument you put forth IMHO). One other argument I would put forth on this matter; BB is not a stupid or incompetent guy. If this was being done semi overtly, I have my doubts it was due to incompetency. To me there can only be 2 reasons. A) BB really thought his interpretation of the rule was correct and intense secrecy was not warranted, or B) the acceptance that others were doing it, in some form and fashion, as a practice and secrecy was unnecessary (meaning the worst that would happen is the camera man would just get booted from the sideline). Other explanations could be underlings were not putting enough attention to this operation and they became lazy at it, or BB's ego didn't allow him to see possible consequences of these actions. But given the Patriots preparation seem high in all areas and BB's belief that every battle is won or lost before it is fought, I just don't believe he was just incompetent about it, or he would let his ego get in the way of the properly functioning mechanisms of preparation. It seems likely that A or B is the explanation (obviously I am seeing this through Patriot colored glasses however).