Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief:
I think they will lose a mid-round draft pick... The other owners should be hot enough to make this the minimum... JMO
Punishment is suppose to elevate for infractions. This is the 3rd one under Bill for sure. He needs a suspension. Anything less is bullshit. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mennonite:
Why is no one calling for a serious investigation into 20 years of systemic cheating? Shouldn't this be one of the biggest scandals in sports history?
If the league was "doing their jobs" (irony), as soon as the Bengals called NFL security and they saw what was going on, they should have sent investigators immediately to the Patriots facility to determine what else they had in the way of illegal footage. The way they actually did handle it provided every opportunity for the Patriots to hide/destroy evidence. [Reply]
That minor “independent contractor” actually being a long term employee is such a whiff.
Obviously what you tell the media vs what you tell investigators is a different standard, but out of the gate you get caught in multiple lies. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
The media knows if this goes all the way it’s going to hurt their cash cow, the NFL.
Gee, I wonder why they are downplaying it.....
exactly.
and the fact that every time one turns on the TV there is some former Pats player on TV on a panel of 'experts' or played out sports pre-grame and debate shows.
other owners should be furious, but they're not / won't. because no matter what, that TV money keeps rolling in. I'd guess a large portion of owners don't give a rip if they're winning or losing - so long as the money is dropped off in dump trucks each year.
It's going to be hilarious to find out what the lame punishment is going to be. The punishment will tell everyone all they need to know as to whether or not the NFL is a legit operation. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BucEyedPea:
It was part of a documentary film called Do Your Job or named something like that, and had the approval of the Browns. The crew were doing it openly while wearing Patriot's gear. So it's not like they were hiding anything while doing it. This crew did not also get permission of the Bengals which is where they failed. So much for doing their own job. It's not like they needed to steal anything to win against the Bengals anyway. LOL! What a silly suspicion. It captures about 8 minutes per what I read. Meanwhile, signals are sent in via headsets and there isn't anything showing players turning to the sidelines to get any signals either. Belichick had no idea it was even being done.
There's so much jealousy and envy by less-successful rival teams, it's usually someone from one of those teams making the initial complaint with the worst always assumed first when its the Patriots.
Originally Posted by Mennonite:
Why is no one calling for a serious investigation into 20 years of systemic cheating? Shouldn't this be one of the biggest scandals in sports history?
If it is the biggest scandal in NFL history, the league will fight to the death to keep it hidden.
That kind of scandal would mean losing money and that’s the only thing they care about. [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
The most detail oriented guy in all of pro sports who got in trouble for videotaping in the past (extra careful, knows the rules) happened to send a videographer out to next week's opponents game and somehow forgot an important DETAIL to notify the Bengals. Then they write an apology letter that stated their independent contractor (whoops... 17 year employee. Clumsy DETAIL) did this entire thing rogue. And that he was filming a documentary which conveniently sounds like the same excuse they were instructing their contractors (? Employees?) to use during Spygate.
But yeah, nothing to see here. That being said, about to take my fat friend (oh wait... I meant to say The Deflator) to lunch.
Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc:
If it is the biggest scandal in NFL history, the league will fight to the death to keep it hidden.
That kind of scandal would mean losing money and that’s the only thing they care about.
Wasn’t Lance Armstrong’s steroid use common knowledge in the cycling world? Yet nothing happened until years later. Can’t derail the money train while it’s still bringing the money in!
Wouldn’t surprise me if the titles get taken from the Patriots in 10-15 years to protect the legitimacy of the league. [Reply]
Goodell knows he can't do much of anything, if he does slam them he'd be all but confirm what everybody knows about the Pats and how they've managed to be successful.
I'm sure, at best, anything really stern said to the Pats will be done in private. And the Pats won't listen, they've got the league by the tail. [Reply]
have them forfeit some picks ,suspend Bill for a year; reduce their cap by $25M for the next 5 years (going up by 1M per year). and add in they must play all their games on the road for the next 2 years.
I'd be happy with that.
it's not too much to ask, really. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
One of the Pats old LB'ers talked about getting sheets in his locker pre game talking about all the offenses audibles and such. Never knew where they came from they just showed up.
Seriously, fuck them all.
I didn’t mean to thumbs down this post. Apologies.
I am not under any ill-conceived notions that any of these NFL guys at any level are “good guys”. There certainly are some. But any given one of these guys could be an asshole and I wouldn’t be surprised.
But this is a different level of fuckery. And maybe you could defend it if they quit or whatever but it would be a hard sell for me to believe that they ever quit and that they’re not actively trying to cheat.
I’m a pretty competitive guy. Probably to an unhealthy extent, but this level of fuckery I can’t even comprehend. [Reply]