all-encompassingly

his cheating is 1000 times worse than barry bonds‘ because, unlike bonds’ teams, belichick’s teams have won championships. an astonishing 3 in the last 5 years or something like that. if the league determines they cheated in any of those seasons, they should be stripped of their titles and those involved should be kicked out of the sport forever.

New England beat the New York Jets in last Sunday’s season opener in which an on-field video camera allegedly focusing on Jets coaches was confiscated from a Patriots employee.

On Thursday, New England coach Bill Belichick was fined the NFL maximum of $500,000 and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also ordered the team to give up next year’s first-round draft choice if it reaches the playoffs and second- and third-round picks if it doesn’t. [source]

here is how knowing what your opponent is going to do on defense can benefit your offense:

[There was] a difference in New England’s playcalling in the second quarter. After the Patriots gained only 45 yards in the first quarter, they had 286 over the next three.

UPDATE: according to some sources, every NFL team uses similar methods to obtain information of the kind the patriots have been stealing. if that really is the case, then obviously any advantage the patriots gained from their cheating would be offset by the other team’s cheating. the behavior is still wrong, but it would be wrong to punish one organization and not any others. if that is the case, i would let the cheating pats stay in the league.

additional note: an avid reader of the blog (whose anonymous troll comments have been moderated for repeated, egregious violations of our comment policy) actually sent some remarks containing a complete thought wherein i am not referred to with the slang name for a female body part, so i’ve been able to publish part of it. it is below, followed by my response:

The Giants won the National League Championship in 2002….Facts just don´t matter to you, do they?

barry bonds and the san francisco giants’ 2nd place finish in 2002 was not a “championship” comparable to a superbowl victory. if i was counting league pennants in baseball as championships, i would have to count conference championships in football. therefore, i would have said that the pats won 6 championships in the last 5 years, not three. a world series championship in baseball would be the analog to a superbowl victory in football.