NFL fines New England Patriots for cheating against Jets
September 14, 2007 
The NFL has fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick a record high $500,000 and the team $250,000 for cheating against the Jets in Sunday’s game. They also will lose a draft pick in the NFL commissioner’s ruling.
So should the Patriots change their name to the New England Cheaters, as a sort of modern day scarlet letter?
While the fines are unprecedented, some people, like Mercury News sports columnist Tim Kawakami, are saying that only a suspension of Bill Belichick would make the point… and stop the cheating.
And, as if this whole mishap isn’t bad enough for the NFL’s image, members of the Eagles say they suspect the Patriots of cheating in the Super Bowl and Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward suspected the Patriots of having some inside information in an AFC Championship game.
Cheating in professional sports? *GASP* Cheating by one of the best teams in the NFL? Now that’s a story.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:20 PM
First, both the commissioner and Belicheck said the incident had no impact on the play that day Second, it is perfectly legal to steal signals. The Denver Bronco’s had an assistant coach with binoculars assigned to watch the opponents Def. Coordinator during the 1997 / 98 seasons. Miami bought a video tape of the Patriots to prepare for a game. The infraction was the use of a camera during the game, not stealing signals. Third, does anyone not know what Payton Manning is going to do on 3rd and 7? When Shaq gets the ball, does anyone think he going to spot up for a three pointer? It’s one thing to know a teams tendencies, it doesn’t mean you can do anything to stop it. The Pats spanked the Jets (and a lot of other teams the last 5 years) all by themselves, and their going to spank em again. No surprise everybody who got beat up by the Pats is coming out now, and saying, “yeah, they beat us because they CHEATED”. What did they say before this episode? The SAME THING! Bill Polian had to change the rules, because he couldn’t get past the Pats. The Steelers all said they were “mugged” in AFC championships, all complained about pass interference, all had some other reason for their failure. Chuck Noll ( 4 superbowls, coach for Pittsburgh) said it all. “A bunch of nothing”.