ESPN may be biased toward Boston, but I've seen several segments today that leaned heavily toward talking about the Patriots being way in the wrong here. I've heard the word "forfeit" and there has been plenty of talk about draft picks being taken away in the future. The only person who downplayed the incident was Sean Salisbury, who claimed that the Patriots would have gotten very little benefit from the videotaping.

Skip Bayless, in fact, is debating Salisbury right now on Sportscenter. He wants Belichick suspended two games. Salisbury disagrees, not surprisingly. He thinks a $50,000 fine will be sufficient, and he thinks the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. What an idiot.

For the record, I hate the Patriots. A lot.

The Jets are better than some folks give them credit for, and obviously they have New England worried.

Last year there was an incident as well between New England and the Jets... the Pats signed a guy from the Jets' practice squad, got his playbook, picked his brain and released him a few days later. Dishonest? Yep.
Unethical? Yep. But against the rules?
Not sure of that one, but it does cross the boundary of fair sportsmanship.

This isn't the only team the Pats were caught spying on either. The Pats also were accused of having a a guy over on the Buffalo or Miami line during the game listening to the coaches send in calls last year. (Both teams suck, which amazes me that the Pats would think they'd need to cheat against them). Again, bad sportsmanship.

But what can be done at this point? Is Goodell going to take away the Win, as that is about the only thing that would stop cheating, or as the NCAA does with recruiting violations, disqualify the abuser from post season play?

It's not going to happen. Goodell will never take either step, which certainly would scare shady guys honest. TV rights and licensing fees and big money is behind the Pats.

What if Goodell resorts to a fine for cheating? No fine is going to stop a cheater from trying to cheat... the benefits of cheating (a win) outweigh the financial fines. The fines are merely a price of doing business and winning.

Has there been any talk of suspending Bellichik?

The idea of taking away draft picks was discussed... Hmmm... do you take Draft Pick #1 and award it to the injured party, that being the team you cheated against? That would be interesting, but do you settle for one draft pick, or award all of their draft picks and slots to the Jets? How do you determine the level of compensation?

What would you think would be an appropriate punishment if the Pats are guilty?
A. Disqualification from the playoffs
B. Taking away the W and getting a L
C. Award all '08 draft picks to the Jets
D. Award the top 3 draft picks to Jets
E. Fine
F. Suspend Bill for a few games

?????

Oh, just remembered this part: ESPN.com's poll last night (as advertised on Sportscenter) was about what the Pats' punishment should be.

I think the choices were loss of one or more draft picks, Bellichick (no idea how to spell his name) suspension, forfeit of the win, and something else.

So, it is being debated.

Erin, what do you vote for?

I imagine a fine comes with a suspension, but that's really nothing.

What about a fine, suspension AND draft picks taken away and awarded to the Jets? Would that be enough to make a team think twice about cheating?

thanks for posting the Belinelli video !

I think that dunk is great also for the moment it came: it was with Italy down two and 1.14 to go... shows how great is his self confidence

(the announcers speak spanish, not italian :-)

quick Euro 2007 update: Italy lost to Germany and goes home...

The Patriots have been accused of this in the past, so I think it would be a little strange to take the draft picks and give them to the Jets. Taking one or more draft picks away seems like a decent idea, but giving them to the Jets is a little much. Other teams against whom the Patriots have practiced this shady technique would have legitimate complaints at that point.

I'm torn about this issue. I don't believe for a second that Bellichick thought this was a legal practice (as he said in his statement). But, I'm not sure why this is any different than the photographs that are taken of each play on the field, which are then studied at halftime. Photographs are okay, but video is not? And, if someone is writing down defensive signals and comparing them to the photographs, isn't that the same thing?

I don't know, though. If it is against the rules, which it appears to be, then the Patriots absolutely cheated and deserve whatever punishment Goodell sees fit to give them. And he's been hard on players with regard to their legal infractions, so you have to believe that a team and its coach should suffer comparable penalties, whatever those may be.

Good point.... there's more than one victim with the Pats so I guess you can't award the draft picks out to one team.

But fines are just a cost of doing business and won't act as a deterrent. A one game suspension isn't much either.

But will Goodell be as hard on a very successful coach who built a dynasty as he is on a player? Somehow I don't think so.

I think it's important to note that Goodell just became commissioner, and he has obviously decided that he's not going to take any shit from anyone. He might not care about the dynasty, since it didn't happen under his reign.

And yeah, fines won't do anything. If the team is fined, the team can raise ticket prices to offset the penalty. If the coach is fined, it better be an extreme amount because Belichick isn't making pocket change out there.

Interesting comments. JJ: With regards to the Pats signing a player from the Jets practice squad last year - the Jets repaid the favor this season. They brought in a cut Patriot the week before the opener for an "interview", but it was clearly to pick his brain. So the bottom line is that when a team sees the Pats get away with something shady like that (but not quite illegal), they say "F*ck it" and do the same.

I don't think it's that big a deal. The videotaping on the sideline is most offensive because it was so damn blatant. I don't know if it gave the Pats a huge advantage or not - it's quite possible it did, and quite possible it didn't. Bottom line, though - the rule is there for a reason, right? And if it is, then the league has to come down hard, or other coaches will do it, too. In other words, a fine isn't enough. Even the loss of a marginal draft pick or two isn't enough. I would suggest that forfeiting the #1 pick (or at least the #2) is a good punishment. It's probably overkill, but the NFL has to decide if it wants to really enforce this rule or not.

A suspension is kinda steep, but equally good. If you want to benefit the Jets, suspend him for the next Jets-Pats meeting.

A forfeit is over the top and completely, 100% not going to happen.

To me, a forfeit of a #1 pick, suspension and fine all together would send a good message.

I say this while I actually admire Bellichik and the Pats, although not for what they did against the Jets but for their consistency in fielding a good product.

I tend to think that the incident itself wouldn't be that big of a deal if it occurred in a vacuum. But, in a sports culture that seems to be getting increasingly shady, this is just one more thing to add to the list. And for that reason, I feel like incidents like this need to be punished more and more harshly until they stop (if that is ever possible).

We have to get away from the "if you're not cheating, you're not trying" mentality, and we're never going to be able to do that if we keep claiming that these things aren't big deals because everyone else is also doing them.