Most ridiculous penalty ever handed out in major sports league

[marcus]

Infracation- use of a videocamera during a sports event???

Penalty 750,000 in fines, removal of a first round draft pick and serioulsy harming the reputation of one of the sports greatest all time coaches.


This town should start to see how crazy Goodall and this punishment really are.
This was entirely orchestrated by the frenzied NY media and bought into by the 31 other NFL teams and their fan base who have an ax to grind against BB and the pATRIOTS.

BB and the Patriots organization have suffered irreperable harm from this Witch hunt!!!


Goodell is a tool

 

[sanvara]

A lot of people are saying it wasn't enough of a penalty, so it's hard to reasonably argue it was too much.

Chicago Sun Times - "Belicheat got off too easy"

 

[Gwedd]

Infracation- use of a videocamera during a sports event???

Penalty 750,000 in fines, removal of a first round draft pick and serioulsy harming the reputation of one of the sports greatest all time coaches.


This town should start to see how crazy Goodall and this punishment really are.
This was entirely orchestrated by the frenzied NY media and bought into by the 31 other NFL teams and their fan base who have an ax to grind against BB and the pATRIOTS.

BB and the Patriots organization have suffered irreperable harm from this Witch hunt!!!


Goodell is a tool

Agreed. This punishment is entirely unacceptable, and I would hope that the Patriots management would appeal it.

Goodell is a 1st class martinet and needs ro be reined in before he further damages the league. I can only hope that someday some incriminating photos of Goodell will surface. Then we'll see who has the last laugh.

Respects,

 

[emoney_33]

A lot of people are saying it wasn't enough of a penalty, so it's hard to reasonably argue it was too much.

Chicago Sun Times - "Belicheat got off too easy"

Everybody used to say the earth was flat. Who cares

 

[Gwedd]

A lot of people are saying it wasn't enough of a penalty, so it's hard to reasonably argue it was too much.

Chicago Sun Times - "Belicheat got off too easy"

Excuse me, but a lot of people are talking out their @ss....

There is no excuse for this sort of a penalty. None at all. Anyone claiming to be a Patriots fan who accepts this penalty as reasonable needs to take a long cold shower and sober up.

This is only the start of a league-wide witch hunt against New England. It will keep going until Goodell and his puppet masters can be brought down or New England is torn apart.

It might be Goodell who is talking, but it is Bill Polian's hand up his @ss that's making his lips move.

 

[ljuneau]

A lot of people are saying it wasn't enough of a penalty, so it's hard to reasonably argue it was too much.

Well a lot of people believe in global warming.

Why have so many people fallen for the "they cheated" fallacy? Media ratings, pure and simple. Never mind if the story is true or total garbage. Of course, many people don't have the sense not to believe everything they hear.

 

[JR4]

Infracation- use of a videocamera during a sports event???

Penalty 750,000 in fines, removal of a first round draft pick and serioulsy harming the reputation of one of the sports greatest all time coaches.


This town should start to see how crazy Goodall and this punishment really are.
This was entirely orchestrated by the frenzied NY media and bought into by the 31 other NFL teams and their fan base who have an ax to grind against BB and the pATRIOTS.

BB and the Patriots organization have suffered irreperable harm from this Witch hunt!!!


Goodell is a tool

BB was the victim of a modern day lynch mob.

Their pent up jealousy exploded in tirades of vicious accusations and
demands unequaled since people use to hunt and unjustly condemn people as witches and burn them alive.

 

[mgteich]

This is the most severe penalty in the history of the NFL. A coach is NOT all owed to be fined more. A 3rd round penalty was the penalty for repeated cheating in contracting for players.

I know this doesn't compare to the $100M racing fine.

 

[WhiZa]

The people who think it's not enough consider it a direct instant impact to the game and is a major advantage to those who use cameras against those whose don't. I'm not going to even mention that these same people are fans of teams that are rivals of the Patriots.

Every team tries to steal signals, but they are not penalized. Add a camera to the mix which may or may not give the Pats an advantage (depending on if the other team changes their signals the next game) and it's the reason why the Pats win every game.

I agree with being penalized because it is the rules, but do we really think any other team will be looked into stealing signals? Goodell never said it was an issue in the NFL, but supposedly every team does it.

 

[jct]

For years we were held up as the model franchise.
It is no wonder the rest of the NFL is Jealous and sick of us.
The 1st round pick was EXCESSIVE.
I can't wait for GOODELL to fall someday.
He is the kind of IDIOT who deserves to have thousands of Patriot fans PISS ON HIS GRAVE!!!

 

[sanvara]

For years we were held up as the model franchise.
It is no wonder the rest of the NFL is Jealous and sick of us.
The 1st round pick was EXCESSIVE.
I can't wait for GOODELL to fall someday.
He is the kind of IDIOT who deserves to have thousands of Patriot fans PISS ON HIS GRAVE!!!

He may have actually done the Pats and Kraft a favor keeping it at a fine and a 1st. Many people were calling for a suspension too. It would have affected the Pats ability to win games a lot more if BB had a 4 game suspension to deal with.

 

[khayos]

He may have actually done the Pats and Kraft a favor keeping it at a fine and a 1st. Many people were calling for a suspension too. It would have affected the Pats ability to win games a lot more if BB had a 4 game suspension to deal with.

I doubt it. But Goodell set a floor and now he's completely f-ed up the next group to get caught.

 

[pheenix11]

You want to know who to thank for this? Don't blame Goodell, he was painted into a corner by the real culprit in this story; the MEDIA.

Those morons on ESPN and talk radio and the newspapers beat this to death and then beat it some more. They don't like Belichick because he doesn't kiss their arses and they don't like the Patriots because they aren't flashy like the Colts. They have been looking for something for years and they finally got this stupid story and rammed it down everyone's throats.

Half the sports fans in America think the Patriots are cheaters now and they don't even understand the rule that was broken. It has nothing to do with cheating, it has to do with a camera in the wrong place. But ESPN told them it was cheating because it made it a more interesting story so these lemmings bought it hook, line and sinker.

The lesson to be learned here is the laziness and recklessness of the media that we watch every day. The days of journalists being vanguards for the truth are long gone. So the next time you read a story, before you swallow it whole, ask a few questions, do some research and make up your own mind before you allow some irresponsible idiot to spoon feed you the "truth".

 

[old 55]

IMO

Goodell was wrong in his memo to try to expand the scope of the actual rule. I question if he can actually expand a rule without the vote of the ownership. Don't rules changes require a vote?

The actual rule (as posted by others on this site) does allow for use of polaroids. If this is the case, the rule is saying "you can steal signs, but you can't be efficient in doing it.." Goodell is effectively saying "I've decided to change that, you can't do that anymore." That's a rule change IMO. Goodell's penalty isn't enforcing the NFL rule as much as it is enforcing his expansion of the rule. The original rule allows sign stealing. His memo says you can't do it. So is this really the appropriate penalty for use of a video camera over a polaroid or is this hysteria fed by the media and commissioner because he's pissed that his memo wasn't followed?

Goodell and Mangini will get whats coming to them. Mangini screwed the guy who made him the coach he is today. Goodell screwed over Kraft, the guy who supported him as commissioner. Burning bridges ALWAYS catches up with you in the long run. One day, Goodell will need Kraft's influence and Kraft will respectfully decline in the interests of fair competition etc.

I agree with another poster who said the NFLPA should fight the loss of the 1st rounder since it will mean one of their future members will lose salary by becoming a 2nd rounder instead of a 1st rounder. We all know that the difference in salary is pretty substantial. It would serve Goodell right for opening this can of worms.

 

[pheenix11]

IMO

Goodell was wrong in his memo to try to expand the scope of the actual rule. I question if he can actually expand a rule without the vote of the ownership. Don't rules changes require a vote?

The actual rule (as posted by others on this site) does allow for use of polaroids. If this is the case, the rule is saying "you can steal signs, but you can't be efficient in doing it.." Goodell is effectively saying "I've decided to change that, you can't do that anymore." That's a rule change IMO. Goodell's penalty isn't enforcing the NFL rule as much as it is enforcing his expansion of the rule. The original rule allows sign stealing. His memo says you can't do it. So is this really the appropriate penalty for use of a video camera over a polaroid or is this hysteria fed by the media and commissioner because he's pissed that his memo wasn't followed?

Goodell and Mangini will get whats coming to them. Mangini screwed the guy who made him the coach he is today. Goodell screwed over Kraft, the guy who supported him as commissioner. Burning bridges ALWAYS catches up with you in the long run. One day, Goodell will need Kraft's influence and Kraft will respectfully decline in the interests of fair competition etc.

I agree with another poster who said the NFLPA should fight the loss of the 1st rounder since it will mean one of their future members will lose salary by becoming a 2nd rounder instead of a 1st rounder. We all know that the difference in salary is pretty substantial. It would serve Goodell right for opening this can of worms.

I think you probably just explained how BB felt. The rule is stupid.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I think you probably just explained how BB felt. The rule is stupid.

Horrible lynch mob mentality, extremely excessive punishment. Should have been a fine and nothing more. And it doesn't get much comment, but his statement was really over the top, essentially calling BB dishonest. He should have just fined him and not made any statement so dafamatory.

 

[pheenix11]

Horrible lynch mob mentality, extremely excessive punishment. Should have been a fine and nothing more. And it doesn't get much comment, but his statement was really over the top, essentially calling BB dishonest. He should have just fined him and not made any statement so dafamatory.

Yup lynch mob witch hunt at its finest. Typical of our blood in water media these days. Ask the guys from Duke about the quality of modern "journalism".

 

[Peytonsbetter]

Excuse me, but a lot of people are talking out their @ss....

There is no excuse for this sort of a penalty. None at all. Anyone claiming to be a Patriots fan who accepts this penalty as reasonable needs to take a long cold shower and sober up.

This is only the start of a league-wide witch hunt against New England. It will keep going until Goodell and his puppet masters can be brought down or New England is torn apart.

It might be Goodell who is talking, but it is Bill Polian's hand up his @ss that's making his lips move.

Beautiful.

 

[DarrylS]

Could not agree more, this whole thing is media driven by the ill informed talking heads on ESPN, national press and the local press as well. Instead of the local folks trying to take an intelligent approach to this, they jumped in hook line and sinker. I do not blame BB at all for his NFL mandated news conference approach, he said what he said and stands behind it. Not to understand this man and how he approaches the press, becomes fodder for the press and their feeding frenzy. The bottom line is Tomase and the rest of the folks all know better and know this man.. instead they turned on him which is inexcusable.

The excessiveness of this will haunt the NFL, as all in all it was not that serious of an infraction.. The NFL has looked the other way for many years, and the pettiness of Mangini fueled this.

The question that Goodell should be asking that how will he handle a really big problem in the NFL? Tampering happens all the time, will he look the other way or deal with it? If he does deal with it, what can he do as he has already set the bar for something as ridiculous as this. A lot of stuff is covered up in the NFL, so now everything becomes fair game.. this looks more and more like the No Fun League.. I hope he does not ruin a good thing.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Infracation- use of a videocamera during a sports event???

Penalty 750,000 in fines, removal of a first round draft pick and serioulsy harming the reputation of one of the sports greatest all time coaches.


This town should start to see how crazy Goodall and this punishment really are.
This was entirely orchestrated by the frenzied NY media and bought into by the 31 other NFL teams and their fan base who have an ax to grind against BB and the pATRIOTS.

BB and the Patriots organization have suffered irreperable harm from this Witch hunt!!!


Goodell is a tool

irreparable harm? In the NFL winning is everything. As long as the Patriots win, things will be just fine in the long term. If this was the 1 and 15 patriots, you think this would get as much play? Personally, I am unmoved by any of this save one. We got caught pushing the envelope and we got smacked down for it. Too harshly in my opinion but my opinion carries no water. My biggest fear, and should be for all Patriot fans, from this episode of yellow journalism is not cheating. Cheating, lol, puhlease! It is this year's Super Bowl. The Patriot's "cheating" reputation this year makes them being in the SB a headline the NFL will deem less than savory. Questionable pass interference or holding calls in a big game for instance coming to a flying elvis stadium near you? Hey, having the NFL 'powers that be' rooting against you to make it to the top of the mountain? Yikes. It makes me think we better be clearly better than our opponents and be at the top of our game. I don't like the prospect of playing a big game that could be decided by one play/one bad call.
As far as Goodell? He is incredibly short sighted. He would have served the NFL so much better by still handing out a stiff fine but making it clear that A)no evidence existed whatsoever that any game's outcome was changed and B) the Patriots cooperated fully in this matter in the best interests of the game. By doing this he would have been letting every other team off the hook for the common practice of information deciphering. Instead what he did was fuel the "cheating" nonsense and basically put a lot of teams under the gun. Likely those under the gun will never be exposed, however, if it ever comes to light that information deciphering in fact is common practice (via an NFL insider snitch perhaps)?? He has just did his part in setting the league up as Headline: NFL full of cheaters. Goodell, I suspect, is like the guy who can't seem to multitask. Punishment is his programming and the rest appears to be just dinner table conversation.