Here are some more quick blurbs around the web on CameraGate and the Patriots signal stealing.
- Cold Hard Football Facts has potentially de-bunked the touchdown.org picture. As a note, when I posted the picture, I did ask if anyone could confirm/deny that it was in fact Matt Estrella.
- Here’s some up close information on Matt Estrella from his local newspaper. Yikes, his dad doesn’t even pretend to know him? That gets me thinking, how much must your life suck to get up every day and go to work knowing that your job is to cheat other people? I’d rather be in animal husbandry.
- WSJ’s The Fix reminds us that calling your opponent a cheater is the “last refuge of the beaten.” Well, the Jets were beaten. Stupid cheating New England cheaters.
- Kindred spirits and fellow Pats fans Bill Simmons & Aaron Schaatz are wiping away each other’s tears. It’s cool Schaatzy is hanging with the big boys, but guys .. ugh .. spare me the masturbatory prose, puh-leeze.
Here’s a quick turn in the Patriots blogosphere to see what fans are saying.
PatsPulpit — “So just a friendly reminder for those of you calling for unreasonably severe punishments: Your team may be next. And the second offender usually gets a much stiffer sentence. So be careful what you wish for.”
Our Reaction: My mind was officially been blown, wow that was deep, nice “let he who has not sinned cast the first stone” speech. The scare tactics adds a nice Rumsfeldian touch, but consider that the Patriots are actually the second (Pats vs Packers), third (Pats vs. Bills) AND fourth (Pats vs. Lions) offenders. By your logic Goodell should really beat them down, then.
PatriotsDaily — “We never thought we’d ever be saying this about Belichick, but how stupid can he get? The same assistant videographer got nabbed in Green Bay, they’ve been warned by the league about the practice, and oh yeah, his old assistant coach – a guy who knows how the operation runs – is on the other sideline. Ya think they might be looking for it?”
Our Reaction: This is why we like this site so much, clear thinking (since we aren’t very good at it).
BostonBrat — “I’m pissed because something that gives such a minor advantage is going to taint everything I have cheered and celebrated for the last 13 years.”
Our Reaction: I didn’t realize Devilspawn had been coach of the Pats for 13 years already. Also are you naive enough to think that Belichick would go to the lengths to do this if it wasn’t effective? He’s the smartest coach the world has ever seen, right?
PatsFanBlog — “One positive can be taken from this incident, however. Now, the Patriots don’t need motivation to play this year. Now, they won’t have to find opportunities to dig deep. They’ve been labeled cheaters, and the rest of the league thinks very little of them. If the point of this exercise was to give an already dangerous team motivation to win, then consider it done. I feel bad for San Diego, because it won’t be pretty next week.”
Our Reaction: Right, Belichick did it to motivate his team. If so, he’s now surpassed Herm as a master motivator. As far as poor ol’ San Diego? Right the Patriots could destroy them on adrenaline … OR they will fizzle because their master strategist won’t be able to make “magical” second half adjustments …
The Patriot Act — The biggest thing I’m still struggling with personally is exactly what type of advantage the theft of signals via videotape in-game really conferred on the Patriots.
Our Reaction: Allow me to paraphrase … “It makes me sick that they are dirty cheaters … it’s just that I can rationalize it more if I help myself believe it was less effective.”
you have quoted me completely out of context. if you read the rest of the post, you will see that rationalization is the furthest thing from what i’m doing. at no point in that post did i come to the conclusion that what the patriots did was “less effective” and i still haven’t. what i wrote there was that it was one of the aspects of this situation i was still trying to puzzle out.
the rest of that post said quite clearly that i do not make excuses for the patriots and i am not going to defend them. i don’t blame you for gloating right now–i’d be doing the same if the roles were reversed, i’ll cop to that too. and there are plenty of patriots fans out there willing to completely rationalize the whole thing. but singling me and my post out as one of them is totally inaccurate.
can we ask Lee McPhail if the rule is in “the spirit of the game?” Goodell faces his toughest decision to date. And if JETS benefit from any part of ruling lets get ready to hear how Commish was an Intern with JETS 20+ years ago. Maybe we finally get our payback from the Chad Morton arbitration ruling in Redskins favor by A REDSKINS SEASON TICKET HOLDER 4 years ago.
love the spin “noe there is motivation….” spare me the Ahmad Rashad/Jordan garbage about “motivation.” Oh, karl Malone won MVP, so now Jordan is motivated more than he would be had he won MVP? These guys are Pros, anyone who needs extra motivation should not be in the NFL.
I am impressed that many Pats fans are stating they are mortified by this.
I am disappointed in fans of other teams who are NOT mortified. You guys all hate the Yankees because they put together a playoff claiber every year by NOT BREAKING ANY RULES; so any of you NFL/MLB fans who are not on the “NE should be severley penalized bandwagon” are clearly hypocrites. Kraft is regarded as a great Owner, and Steinbrenner is the devil – except George cares more about winning than makiing $ – does Kraft?
NE is just like Barry Bonds – great, but insecure. Does not need illegal help, but did so anyway.
Sorry Beth, you do your best to condemn the organization in your post … that’s clear. But I still read your post as rationalizing it anyway. The extent of the effectiveness. That the whole organization wasn’t involved. That you think 99% of the organization is clean, etc. etc.
I don’t know how you define rationalization, but here’s what Webster’s call it:
to create an excuse or more attractive explanation for.
Remember how the media gushed all over the genius BB when the greatest QB of the era, Payton Manning, looked a lot like Brooks Bollinger whenever he played the vaunted Pat defense in AFC playoff games?
Manning broke that spell last year outplaying Tom Brady and coming from way back in the second half to finally put the myth about Bellichek’s defensive schemes to bed with a remarkable second half performance.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/series?series=nweind
WHat was different about last years AFC Championship game last year compared to all the Manning flameouts in Foxboro in the early part of this decade, all those flameouts attributed to Bellichek’s ‘genious’.
The Colts always suspected the Patriots of cheating and Bill Polian, the CEO of the Colts had the Pats video crew thorwn off the field before the start of last years championship game… Interesting
You know what? This should no longer be any concern of the Jets. Let it be a distraction for the Pats, not us. We lost, and hopefully EM and Co. are sticking to what they preached last year and planning ahead to try and get back to 1-1.
I would have liked our chances in a Pennington v Boller matchup, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, unfortunately.
i guess our difference of opinion lies in the fact that when i was talking about how i think 99% of the organization is clean, they’re still my home team, etc., that was really me figuring out the reasons i can still call myself a fan of this organization. it really did bring me to that level of consideration, which is why i was so surprised to see you characterizing it as rationalizing the cheating. rationalizing continuing to be a fan / support the team overall is a separate issue in my mind from rationalizing what they actually did in this instance.
Beth – agree that most important JETS need is to focus on is beating Balt – and I guarantee you the team is doing that. But I respectfully disagree that this has nothing to with the JETS? Come on Beth, if shoe was on other foot, you guys would be up in arms just like we are – and rightfully so. If you guys cheated against any other team but the JETS, it would STILL be our concern as we play in same division.
A friend posed this question when informed of all the previous charges vs. the Pats;
Was Mangini more concerned with nabbing his mentor than winning the game.
If it was the latter, would he not have been better off simply tossing the film crew prior to the game?
And does it explain the unusually vanilla gameplan in the first half?
It will be real intersting to see what Mangina and the Jets use for excuses when they meet the Pats next.
The only thing the Pats did wrong was get caught.
All the film in the world doesn’t change the fact that no jet defender could lay a finger on Brady. Mangcunky had the worst game plan i’ve seen!!! if this is the only thing you can find for an excuse for the beating your team took then i think jets fans are in for a long long season. also do any real football fans care that a team like Denver use illegal cut blocks which could end a players career. is this also cheating and is it wosre then filming someone on the sidelines. which is legal if you use binoculars instead of a camera.
Kellen Clemens baby!