the problem is that this stopped being about "logic" sometime in October,
Exactly. People reached conclusions following a flawed stream of logic:
Filming signals prohibited on sidelines = Rule
Pats filmed signal from sidelines = Broken rule
Broken rule = Cheating
Cheating = Illegitimate victories
Illegitimate victories = Illegitimate championships
Without the "championships" part, this isn't a big deal. The problem is that nobody stops at each point in the chain of logic to ask the most basic of questions:
Why is filming signals prohibited? Just from the sidelines?
Why would the Pats do this? Did they hide the fact they were doing it?
What advantage did the Pats get? Why didn't NFL security try to stop them?
Is there any anecdotal evidence that the taped signals altered game results?
When you dig just a little bit, the situation becomes fairly clear. Boring, but clear. That digging takes effort. Why spend that effort when the result is an inferior "product" to sell to the public? Better to polish up the raw "product" and offer it up with lots of emotion and little depth.
The Pats deserved a punishment for conducting their business in a way (after being warned) that allowed the integrity of the league to be brought into question. That taping act itself is a non-issue.
when the Patriots should have put up a website like this themselves, as some of us suggested back then.
The first rule of holes...if you are in one, stop digging. Any effort to be aggressive in defending themselves against unfair
opinion would have an adverse effect. You make a clear statement, say you are sorry, move on and shut up. Emotions will run their course unless you keep them alive by trying to invalidate them.
When faced with false accusations, you issue a clear denial, move on and shut up. Accusations need facts to stay alive. When the facts fail to appear (or appear counter to the accusation), you stay clean firmly entrenched on the high road.
Belichick should have avoided the situation by following a rule, the intent of which he is sure to have understood. Goodell should have avoided the situation by having NFL security not allow any unauthorized camera gear on the field. Mangini should have avoided the situation by having the camera guy ejected before he shot a second of film. They all failed...and their failure resulted in the unavoidable events that followed.
The legacy will remain intact because people in the future will score on this story by going in depth with it. Logic, facts, motivations, intent, money, etc. All will be fleshed out when there is money to be made through the effort. That can't happen until there is no more money to be made from the emotion of the current situation. Until then, just keep pumping out the lemonade from all the lemons being dumped on the Pats.
