Friday, September 21, 2007

Spygate Blowback

From the NYT:
Spygate did more than deepen the fissure between coaches Eric Mangini and Bill Belichick. It set off a debate in the N.F.L. community about whose behavior was more troubling. The Patriots and Belichick for breaking league rules? Or the Jets and Mangini for breaching an unspoken code among coaches by allowing his team to turn in his former mentor?

Unlike the video evidence that the Jets gave the N.F.L., the answer is more nuanced. Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000. The team possibly could lose a first-round draft pick, but Mangini’s reputation might not have escaped the investigation unscathed.
Welcome to the twisted world of the NFL. Now, there is some dispute as to what involvement Mangini had in the Patriots getting caught. Also, former Broncos and Giants coach Dan Reeves contradicts the idea of an unwritten rule for snitching amongst the fraternity of coaches. Former Packer GM, however, has the truffle quote when questioning why the issue wasn't handled privately:
People have always cheated.
Maybe. Judd of hangingontonothing, while recognizing the Patriots' cheating, points out the risks of visual communication and draws a parallel with the age-old baseball tradition of stealing signs. What's different in football, however, is there is no response within the construct of the game to police the sport's culture that is the equivalent of the bean ball.

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Because Life is Life
and not just on election day