BigBrother Belichick

I must admit, when the "Spygate" (worst name ever) scandal broke, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. To me, it seemed as though it was naturally a good strategy decision to try to decipher the opposing teams signals to gain a competitive advantage.

However, at the time I did not realize that there are rules specifically prohibiting this activity of taping the opposition.

Basically, if Belichick would have hired an idiot savant to watch the signals and decipher them without recording them, it seems to me that he would have been fine.

At the time however, I had no idea of the scope of these violations. Today, someone within the Patriots organization is turning over 8 different tapes dating back to 2000 of the opposing teams' defensive signals, including the Cleveland Browns.

To me, this is a extremely serious violation, because you know 2 things damn well.

1) If they were doing this in 2000 and they were doing this in 2007, it is a safe assumption that this behavior did not cease between those two points.

2) If they were cheating against the 2000 Cleveland Browns, they were cheating against absolutely everybody because no one should have had to cheat against the Browns.

Of course, like everything else, the actions are made real by the consequences and in this case, the consequences were quite beneficial for the New England Patriots. The Patriots went to 4 Super Bowls between the 2000 and 2007 seasons, winning 3 of them. It is also during this time that Tom Brady established himself as "one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time". Well, excuse me for saying this, but if I knew where the defense was going to be running and what the coverage was going to be before I snapped the ball, I could probably do a pretty decent job as well.

Now, I hate the Patriots. I make no bones about it. However, even a team that I don't like (the Pittsburgh Steelers for example), I can appreciate and give respect to for a job well done. In the case of the Patriots and Tom Brady, they will receive no such respect from me. They are cheaters, they knew they were cheating, and absolutely everything that they did between 2000 and 2008 is up for questioning at this point. It's a shame that their legacy is tainted, but much like a criminal that gets caught breaking the law, the taint is justified.