Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
Originally posted by: Phokus
Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
Originally posted by: rpkelly
As far as the "cheating a little bit" goes... As a NFL fan, I see it as a rule violation not cheating. Thats my standpoint because it has been used for such a long time by many if not most teams.
Prove it! What teams were caught doing this??
What coaches from other teams have admitted to doing this??? Let me help you out, the Patriots were caught TWICE, the other NFL teams were caught NONCE (plural of none?). You're casting dispersions on teams for doing things you don't know they actually did and trying to use that unsubstantiated evidence to prove your own view, which is ridiculous. Please get a clue before you give an opinion.
Jimmy Johnson admitted to doing it IN KC/Dallas/Miami on Fox Sunday NFL. Stop posting.
And I suppose that makes it right? Wait a second, you're from Connecticut, I don't need your biased New England opinion. Stop living.
"And besides that, the dolphins were sanctioned a 1st round pick for tampering when hiring Shula, so every Dolphin game that was won with shula has an asterisk. It's hypocritical."
That's such a joke of a comparison you should be ashamed for even suggesting it in a comical fashion. Comparing the Patriots to Bonds is less ludicrous.
No, comparing Bonds to the Patriots is equally as stupid. When Bonds makes contact with a ball and sends it to deep center field, his increased strength makes it more likely that fly balls become homer runs. Stronger muscles means increased bat speed which not only affects the distance he can drive the ball, but the time he has to 'judge' a pitch. Hence, Bonds' admittance of steroid use directly impacts his ability to play the game. Plus, the impact of one player on a baseball game can be far more than the impact of one player on a football game.
The better Bonds' analogy is a guy like Sean Merriman. Merriman was a playmaker last season. Some of his interceptions, sacks, and fumble recoveries directly impacted the outcome of a game. If his admitted steroid use made it possible to complete ANY of those plays, then he's done the exact same thing as Bonds - gained an unfair advantage over the competition and directly affected the outcome of a football game.
The reason we don't hear about steroids is because they are a much harder problem to solve. When a team breaks the rules, you can punish them. You can dance around and 'show' everyone how you're tough on cheaters, but the reality is you aren't tough at all. You let guys who are rampantly abusing steroids awe crowds every single week. You let guys juicing like crazy affect the outcome of games.
Let's a take a better analogy to what the Patriots did. In baseball stealing signs is legal, just like in football. Players frequently try to take big leads off 2nd base in order to read the sign the catcher lays down and then relay it to the batter. Punishment for this 'offense' is usually getting drilled by the pitcher at your next AB.
A few teams have been accused of using video cameras to steal pitching, running, and hitting signs. None of these accusations have panned out, but let's say they did. Now a team can watch the opposition's signs with regularity. The hitting signs are nearly impossible to use because the catcher doesn't lay down the sign until after the batter has received any instructions from the dugout. If he tried to glance and receive a last-minute sign, there's no way he could actually make contact with the ball. The running signs are far too complex to decipher in a meaningful way. They usually change every inning or every other inning. That's why you see them. Nobody cares if the other team watches, because they aren't about to figure out the code. Same for running signs.
How does this relate to football? Well, what the Patriots were punished for amounts to the same thing. They 'stole' signs via videotape rather than via an individual watching the defensive coordinator. Any advantage conferred couldn't have been very great because, let's be honest, teams aren't stupid. Defensive signals change frequently, just like in baseball. No team keeps the same signals and, if they did, video or scouts would report it. Basically, the Patriots were justly punished for breaking the rules. To think those rules violations change anything about 2001, 2003, 2004, or 2007 is really pushing it.