A Sorry Scandal If You Ask Me
» BoGlobe: Dungy: Belichick spy scandal creates "really, sad day for NFL" (Cliff Brunt/AP)
Tony Dungy said only time will tell whether accusations of cheating will tarnish the public's opinion of fellow head coach Bill Belichick.Belichick and his New England Patriots were fined Thursday for using a videocamera to spy on opposing coaches. Now, Belichick's coaching success, which includes three Super Bowl championships in six years, could be questioned by fans, Dungy said.
"We seem to have tarnished Barry Bonds," the Colts coach said after practice Friday. "We've pointed out that, even though he's a great player and he's hit a lot of home runs, because of what some people that work around him have done, it seems to have tarnished him in the court of public opinion.
Whether Belichick's legacy would suffer similar damage, Dungy said, "We'll see."
On Thursday, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000, and the Patriots were docked $250,000 and a first-day draft pick next year. It was the biggest fine ever for a coach and the first time in NFL history a first-round pick has been confiscated as a penalty.
Dungy said the league doesn't need scandals like this one.
I'm sorry ... this is a scandal???
In an age when teams are doled out radio frequencies to enhance communication, coaches are whiffed upstairs to see things from an eagle's eye vantage-point, printouts are used on the sidelines from camera shots of the play that just transpired, and there are coaches to spare on the sideline for any bit of whatnot you can imagine (say, like stealing signs by binocular or video camera) ... this just doesn't strike me as a scandal of any kind.
Would it have made a difference if John Madden were noticing a coaching hand signal in the booth and one of the coaches in the skyboxes picked up that little tidbit? Either let technology by a full factor in the game or ban it outright. Yank out the phone lines, dispose of the radio headsets, allow no printers on the premise. Let's see how that flies.
Bang on! It is not even against the rules to video tape. It's only a matter of location.
NFL rules state "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." They also say all video for coaching purposes must be shot from locations "enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead."
Straight out of the NFL handbook. What does it mean? Video taping IS ALLOWED, but only in designated areas: Belichik's man was in a nondesignated area. Every other team tapes for signals and formations from the booth. You get no presumption of or right to privacy in the NFL. That's Bill's only crime: camera location.
Cheating is cheating no matter where it takes place. The youth of today look up to these professionals as examples. How do you explain to little leaguers that cheating is ok for sometimes.
I certainly think money is good punishment in this case but feel it is not enough to curtail it for the future especially after he signs another contact for more years with the Patriots. What kind of message does this send.
The Patriots should have been forces to take a loss for the game that they were caught cheating.
Just look at all the information this man has collected in the past and was not caught - Surely this will affect all the games of this season and next. Suspension would have been a more appropriate punishment.
Is it cheating when All-Pro's get away with holding while scrub rookies get a flag for the same move? Is it cheating when one pitcher gets a bigger strike zone and another doesn't?
I'm pretty sure that a win like the one the Patriots are coming off of proves just how insignificant the videotaping incident was. If there's anyone who believes that the taping makes the Patriots the team they are, they're daydreaming.
It's not an action worth any kind of penalty ... unless you happen to be a jealous fan of a team that can't get past them in the playoffs. And I offer that as a Texans fan.
If you believe that other teams aren't doing the same thing then somone should wake you up now!
They steal signals in baseball, try to make their cars faster in Nascar, track & field, bicycling...where does it end?
What's the difference whether they zoom in on defensive coordinators from the stands with high-powered lenses or do it from the sidelines? Nothing it is still going to take place no matter what the rules are. But let me look at the rule again.....cannot video during "the game" and if I'm not mistaken the game had not started yet...the national anthem had not begun. So what's the problem??
As far as I'm concerned let them do steriods,cork their bats, make their cars faster, try to steal signs. If the coordinators are stupid enough to go over signs on the sidelines and these multi-millionaire players don't know them yet then who's the idiot?
Just a point of view from a die-hard sports fan.
But boy didn't those Patriots make some nice San Diego stew..without signals..tasted real good too!