Belicheck fined $500,000

Forums: Sports, Football, Nfl, New England Patriots, Bill Belichick
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Belichick should be able to read this signal clearly:

Spy on your opponents, and it will cost you.

The New England coach was fined the NFL maximum of $500,000 Thursday and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000 for stealing an opponent's defensive signals.

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.
More - SI

Half a million dollars! Plus the draft picks for next year and a team fine. I guess Goodell is trying to make a statement.

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So f'n overblown. Every team tries to steal the other's signs.

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http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/588/neplogomv1.jpg

The New Logo

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One of the commentators last night said 'If you get caught cheating on your taxes, it probably isn't the first time you've done it.'

Easy to get a rep as a great coach when you cheat. But, they handled SD pretty well last night...

The fine should have been tougher - should have been his job.

Cycloptichorn

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

One of the commentators last night said 'If you get caught cheating on your taxes, it probably isn't the first time you've done it.'

Easy to get a rep as a great coach when you cheat. But, they handled SD pretty well last night...

The fine should have been tougher - should have been his job.

Cycloptichorn

Opinions like that are easy to form when all you listen to is the overblown image the media has put out on this.

However if you heard other coaches talk about it, their method of cheating wasn't exactly uncommon, and there wasn't a hell of a lot they could have done with it during the game. I thought it was obvious this wasn't the first time they did it.

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goodell is power-hungry and out of control.
no way the punishment fits the crime...

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Region Philbis wrote:

goodell is power-hungry and out of control.
no way the punishment fits the crime...

Spoken like a truly objective observer with no dog in the hunt, for sure.

Cycloptichorn

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$750,000 and a 1st round pick is way too steep... period.

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Region Philbis wrote:

$750,000 and a 1st round pick is way too steep... period.

Why? They were cheating. I don't care how 'technical' the violation was. Cheating is a terribly dangerous thing for the league as a whole. It robs credibility from the results of games and costs the entire league money and viewers in the long run. There is a vested interest in tamping down on this behavior, on the part of the league; the fine is meaningless, the draft picks less meaningless, but not much of a punishment overall.

You really should understand that New England, who was caught cheating, got off with a slap on the wrist, and count yourself lucky... things could have gone much, much worse for them and still been in the realm of fairness.

Cycloptichorn

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I don't necessarily think it was too steep, except maybe the 1st round pick. It was illegal, they got caught, they have to pay for it.

However the media has definitely overblown it, leading to stupid people thinking they have won games because of it, or that Bill should lose his job, ect.

Bill Parcells shrugged it off. Basically said he knows teams tape them, try to steal signs, ect., you just have to do other things so they can't steal signs, like the players wearing wristbands with the plays.

Francona, the Red Sox manager, said if you're not trying to get an edge and steal your opponent's signs, or not working to protect your signs, you deserve getting them stolen.

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mangini blew the whistle because he has a vendetta against belichick, pure and simple...

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It's a stupid rule because it is basically unenforceable. Any team that wishes for their signals to be private should be smart enough to keep them private.

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

Region Philbis wrote:
$750,000 and a 1st round pick is way too steep... period.

Why? They were cheating. I don't care how 'technical' the violation was. Cheating is a terribly dangerous thing for the league as a whole. It robs credibility from the results of games and costs the entire league money and viewers in the long run. There is a vested interest in tamping down on this behavior, on the part of the league; the fine is meaningless, the draft picks less meaningless, but not much of a punishment overall.

You really should understand that New England, who was caught cheating, got off with a slap on the wrist, and count yourself lucky... things could have gone much, much worse for them and still been in the realm of fairness.

Cycloptichorn

Do you consider the attempt to learn the opponents' signals -- in itself --
cheating?

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George wrote:

Cycloptichorn wrote:
Region Philbis wrote:
$750,000 and a 1st round pick is way too steep... period.

Why? They were cheating. I don't care how 'technical' the violation was. Cheating is a terribly dangerous thing for the league as a whole. It robs credibility from the results of games and costs the entire league money and viewers in the long run. There is a vested interest in tamping down on this behavior, on the part of the league; the fine is meaningless, the draft picks less meaningless, but not much of a punishment overall.

You really should understand that New England, who was caught cheating, got off with a slap on the wrist, and count yourself lucky... things could have gone much, much worse for them and still been in the realm of fairness.

Cycloptichorn

Do you consider the attempt to learn the opponents' signals -- in itself --
cheating?

To a certain degree. It is definitely not sporting and ungentlemanly to attempt to spy on your opponents for advantages, instead of using your tactical, strategic and physical strength to overcome his plans.

Sure, it can and will be done - but, then again, I'm not looking to tamp out every case of cheating out there. When you are caught, however, you should pay the fine. It's like getting a ticket for speeding; it's wrong to speed, but we all do some of it from time to time. I'm not looking to get rid of speeding completely, it isn't an achievable goal.

Bellicheck knew that if they got caught, they would get in trouble; they got caught; they got in trouble. There's nothing else to this except for fans who are misplacing their anger - they should be angry at Bellicheck, either for cheating in the first place or for getting caught doing it.

Cycloptichorn

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http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/8163/nightvisionrx5.jpg

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Cyclo, you say that you think that watching another coach to try to figure
out his signals is cheating "to a certain degree".

I don't believe it is, any more than it is cheating for a coach to secretly
communicate with players on the field by means of signals.I don't think it
is cheating if a coach does this by observing his opponent on the field, or
from legitimately produced tapes. Nor do I believe that the first coach to
use videotaping was cheating.

But now that there is a rule in place, yes, I believe it is cheating to use
sideline videotaping to get signals. Nothing wrong with trying to get the
signals, but no longer by that method. I do not disagree that he broke the rules to gain an advantage, but I think we should be clear that the
point is not that he was steal signals -- or at least trying to -- but that he
was using a video camera on the sideline.

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http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/953/cheatiesrq4.jpg

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Belicheck fined $500,000

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