ESPN: "Don't be surprised if Bill Belichick doesn't last the season."

[letekro]

If the article is based on the premise that the videotaping have given the Pats a huge competitive advantage over every team they have ever videotaped, the article holds together rather well.

Unfortunately, Mark Schlereth aside, football people (and not former lawyers like Mr. Easterbrook) don't think that this results in a huge competitive advantage, so the hysterical, doomsday concerns of the article are groundless.

One side note. A tape that shows three signal callers as this one did will take an awfully long time to decipher. Add in to this the fact that teams presumably change their signals game to game. The time spent versus the benefit received here is questionable. At any rate, time spent breaking down signals is time not spent (or at least resources allocated away) from breaking down game film. In sum, the presumption that the Pats received a noticeable competitive advantage from all this is ill-founded.

 

[Fogbuster]

.



I used to really enjoy ESPN, their attitude, their light-hearted yet spirited way of covering the games, but this just stinks to high heaven of "we got to break up the Patriots; they're just too good. With them all 'parity' goes out the window."

What a bunch of wussies.



//

 

[PatriotsReign]

The front page article, by TMQ:

"Will Belichick even be in coaching by season's end? When the Vick dogfighting scandal first broke, most football pundits, and most in the Atlanta and league offices, thought there would be few repercussions. Then they thought Vick would have to make some kind of apology. Then they thought he'd need some leave of absence. Then they thought he'd be suspended for a year. Now they wonder whether he'll ever be allowed to play again. By acting Nixonian, Belichick is accelerating his fall from grace. Today, Belichick and New England are trying to pretend the scandal is over. It would not surprise me in the slightest if, before the season ends, Belichick resigns, or is suspended, or is fired by Kraft, or even is permanently barred from the league. Belichick's head might be necessary to preserve the integrity of the game. Surprisingly soon, sacrificing Belichick to save professional football might seem an attractive option, even to Kraft. Remember, there is no law of nature that says the NFL must remain popular."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/070918&sportCat=nfl

How can we possibly measure the lack of intellegence it takes to ATTEMPT to compare oR associate in any way the act of making animals...pets, kill one another to filming defensive signals.

Is that author and the person who posted this just that stupid or are they suffering lingering effects of something they ate. Because this doesn't even deserve to be published or quoted. Vick is a criminal who was EXTENSIVELY involved as the organizer of a dog fighting ring and ILLEGAL gambling.

What Belichick admitted to is in no way illegal...period. The NON-story ends right there! Honestly, this is almost as bad as Mortinson's quote that if Belichick and player personnel were so smart, why did they wait until the 5th round to draft Brady?...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!?​

All I can say is anyone who is boiling with hate toward the Patriots and/or Bill Billichick should seriously consider committing themselves.

 

[Iverson]

Why not tell the ESPN ombudsman about this article?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?id=2826900

 

[PatriotsReign]

I actually agree with Easterbrook in that the league is being damaged by this, but where I disagree is that I hold the massive media overreaction more responsible than whatever it is Belichick supposedly did.

As soon as he put Belichick & Vick in the same sentence, I realized I was reading a parody from Mad magazine...let's see killing dogs illegally, organizing an illegal gambling organization and illegally holding dog fights as a spectator sport and filming some defensive signs...yup, he's right, Belichick is gone!

 

[letekro]

.



I used to really enjoy ESPN, their attitude, their light-hearted yet spirited way of covering the games, but this just stinks to high heaven of "we got to break up the Patriots; they're just too good. With them all 'parity' goes out the window."

What a bunch of wussies.



//

No it doesn't. It stinks of what the media has always coveted - as big a readership as possible. Pro-Patriots pieces will be enjoyed by 1/32 of the league's fans, anti-Patriots pieces will be enjoyed by 31/32 of the league's fans.

 

[aluminum seats]

The real travesty of this piling on is what these media types presumably WANT.......the best coach in the game to go away, so we have a big pile of medicracy to watch. I mean, what's the end game here? A bunch of lame sanctimonious blowhards coaching poorly? Arrgh.

 

[Wotan_the_Wanderer]

They want him in their booth.

 

[cubicle_6]

And this guy even doubts sunday night's game.
'it's like they knew what defesne they were running'/
WHAT????
The Patriots dictated to the Chargers what defense they would be running with their groupings.
This guy knows NOTHING about football.
Unbelievable this guy is allowed to do that.
Well, maybe not.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

At this point, I don't believe squat that comes out of NE.

Believe this... 38-14

 

[the Patriot]

And this guy even doubts sunday night's game.
'it's like they knew what defesne they were running'/
WHAT????
The Patriots dictated to the Chargers what defense they would be running with their groupings.
This guy knows NOTHING about football.
Unbelievable this guy is allowed to do that.
Well, maybe not.

In 2003, he actually blamed "the Jews" for violence in movies today and said that they should have learned their lesson about violence after the holocaust.

 

[kolbitr]

At this point, I don't believe squat that comes out of NE.

I don't think we can believe much that comes from anyone. But it's no longer a matter of believing anyone...doubt is all that has been available thus far in this mess...but that is all that's mattered for anyone wishing to judge NE, or pillory BB.

For sports observers, fans, "journalists", etc, doubt is enough. But that's still not truth.

 

[QuiGon]

Can't be too long until someone suggests jail time would be appropriate.

This actually makes me think of an issue from the incident at the Meadowlands... now I know this is just a rumor, but I remember reading an article that said Estrella was caught by Jets security and brought to a back room with NFL security, NJ state police and even the FBI...

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that law enforcement agencies should have any right getting involved in something that is clearly a league issue. Would you have policemen and the FBI involved if some pitcher got caught with sandpaper in his glove...?

 

[kolbitr]

This actual makes me think of an issue from the incident at the Meadowlands... now I know this is just a rumor, but I remember reading an article that said Estrella was caught by Jets security and brought to a back room with NFL security, NJ state police and even the FBI...

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that law enforcement agencies should have any right getting involved in something that is clearly a league issue. Would you have policemen and the FBI involved if some pitcher got caught with sandpaper in his glove...?

State troopers I can see, but the FBI?? That doesn't sound very plausible...is that true?

 

[QuiGon]

State troopers I can see, but the FBI?? That doesn't sound very plausible...is that true?

Well, your guess is as good as mine if it is true or not... but here's the article where I read it:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-thegameface091407&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Suspected of having filmed hand signals from Jets' coaches while standing on that team's sideline, Estrella was interrogated in the bowels of the stadium by Jets and NFL security officials. New Jersey state troopers and FBI agents were also summoned. Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets' general manager, left his seat during the second half and entered the fray, sternly lecturing Estrella about his apparent violation of NFL rules.

At one point, somebody brought Estrella a glass of water. He was shaking so hard that he spilled it all over himself. For all we know, that wasn't the only liquid that ended up on Estrella's person during the hour-long grilling.

 

[Patjew]

TMQ is just not a good sports writer, period. He is ridiculously verbose and will bend facts this way and that way to make his "point". I agree with him about not liking SUVs, other than that he has no place on ESPN. Take your haikus and shove them up your asss, douchebag.

 

[kolbitr]

Well, your guess is as good as mine if it is true or not... but here's the article where I read it:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-thegameface091407&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Suspected of having filmed hand signals from Jets' coaches while standing on that team's sideline, Estrella was interrogated in the bowels of the stadium by Jets and NFL security officials. New Jersey state troopers and FBI agents were also summoned. Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets' general manager, left his seat during the second half and entered the fray, sternly lecturing Estrella about his apparent violation of NFL rules.

At one point, somebody brought Estrella a glass of water. He was shaking so hard that he spilled it all over himself. For all we know, that wasn't the only liquid that ended up on Estrella's person during the hour-long grilling.

I read that article, and somehow must have just blanked it out. I always think of Mulder and Scully.

What on earth would have necessitated Federal agents to a football game to subdue a guy with a video camera??? Is that part of new Homeland Security measures now? And did they show up, or just "summoned"?

This sounds like a set-up...hmmm

 

[RobertWeathers]

I read that article, and somehow must have just blanked it out. I always think of Mulder and Scully.

What on earth would have necessitated Federal agents to a football game to subdue a guy with a video camera??? Is that part of new Homeland Security measures now? And did they show up, or just "summoned"?

This sounds like a set-up...hmmm

I agree. It's like there was some kind of sting in place!

The poor kid. Good god.

 

[MassPats38]

I read the reference to FBI agents in the Yahoo article as a hyperbole to get the author's point across - that grilling some low-level kid to further a feud is a tad over the top. I would not be surprised if police officers (state or local) were present in a security capacity.

There is no federal crime that would cover that situation (having spent a few years in federal court with federal prosecutors as an attorney), so short of a terrorism claim any FBI agent would be getting ripped by superiors for public involvement for the resulting media interest. The Department of Justice has enough issues so I would seriously doubt it would look to add another to its juggling act.

 

[mykl]

My email to TMQ:

Sir,

I read your column on ESPN every week and greatly appreciate the time and energy that you put into writing it. Your column is a weekly staple of mine because I have come to relish the rare instance that logic and reason are inserted into the national discourse in general and specifically about football. That is why I was so disappointed to read your column this week only to find that you had abandoned both logic and reason in your discussion of the Patriots’ spying scandal in the first half of your column. I was pleased, however, to see that you reverted back to your entertaining and well argued style for the second half of the column (in which you contradicted some of what you had said about the Patriots earlier).

I agree with your premise that there is no guarantee the NFL with retain its supremacy among professional sports leagues in the US. However, much of your argument is based on pure conjecture and speculation. You both misrepresent the advantage that the Patriots may have garnered through their videotaping and use unproven allegations by disgruntled players and others to allow yourself the hyperbole of comparing the Patriots with the Black Sox.

The Patriots have broken an NFL prohibition against videotaping from the sidelines. The appropriate analogy here is breaking the speed limit. Almost everyone speeds to one degree or another. The police catch the most egregious offenders and enforce a penalty against them, but the integrity of our justice system is not called into question because all offenders are not caught. You take for granted that what the Patriots have done brings into serious question the integrity of the game. The Patriots were an egregious offender in this case and have been rightfully been punished for it. However, there was likely little gained by their practice. Just as everyone drives a few miles over the speed limit, every coach in the NFL tries to learn about their opponents’ tendencies and gain an advantage with that knowledge. Jimmy Johnson and others have confirmed that over the past week, as well as sharing stories of rummaging through opposing teams’ trash baskets and other assorted instances of trying to learn about their opponent surreptitiously.

(As an aside, it was very amusing to watch Jimmy Johnson on one channel say that he had video taped opponents’ signals as the coach of the Dolphins and watch Dan Marino on another channel express righteous indignation about the arrogance of Bill Belichick. This is just one of the things that makes me question almost all of the ex-players that have weighed in recently.)

I do not believe that what the Patriots did calls into question the integrity of the game because these video tapes were not the equivalent of a magic ball. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady did not know what defensive alignment their opponent was going to line up in on a play by play basis because they stole signals. Instead they knew what the opposing coach was likely to call in that certain situation based on the tapes that Belichick had collected over the years. (Frankly, a defensive coordinator that would use the same signals game after game, year after year, on three different teams, should not be coaching in the NFL.) This is the obsessive mind of Belichick at work. Accuscore can do the same type of thing to a much less refined degree. Accuscore thought that the Patriots should pass a lot to increase their chances of winning? So did Bill Belicheck because of his meticulous preparation, not because of stolen signs as you alluded to in the beginning of your column and then recanted later. What the Patriots did was wrong, but it is on the low end of the spectrum when it comes to cheating.

What does threaten the league is a rabid media reporting rumor and innuendo to prolong the scandal in an attempt to increase ratings or copy. Controversy is needed to fuel ESPN and FOX Sports, et al. This incident will not lead most fans to question the results of the games unless the media continues to replay the tired words of players that have been searching for an excuse for their past losses and the endless speculation of those that are paid to conjure up controversy.

I believe that Bill Belichick will turn over the remaining tapes as asked and additional penalties will not be levied if he fully complies. You may think that “Belichick’s Nixonian statement shows the New England coach full of contempt for the NFL fans,” but the reality is that he has acknowledged the support of the New England fans and is under no obligation to humor hack writers who are intent on bringing down one of the greatest minds every to turn his attention to the game of football.

Again, thank you for your hard work.