Patriots: Champs or cheaters?
The New England Patriots head into the homestretch of their pursuit of perfection every bit as reviled as they are respected, and every bit as suspect as they are superior.
They are models of excellence, as their 12-0 record unarguably affirms. Yet they are also another symbol of what's wrong with sports these days: convicted cheaters in an era in which some of the most impressive accomplishments in sports come with a potential asterisk.
With the remnants of "Spygate" following them wherever they go, the Patriots are a hot topic in sports bars across America, where football fans wonder if they're seeing a legitimate pursuit of perfection, or just another illicitly enhanced effort to slither into the record books.
"It's just another one of those things that makes you leery," said Tom Garcia, while watching last week's Packers-Cowboys game at a bar outside of Denver. "You want to believe that what you see up front is what you get. It just makes you realize that you really don't know what goes on behind the scenes."
In September, the NFL took away the Patriots' first-round draft pick, fined the team $250,000 and fined coach Bill Belichick another $500,000 after catching a Patriots video assistant taping from the sidelines during a game against the Jets in Week 1. A league rule prohibits clubs from using a video camera on the sidelines for any purpose -- including recording signals relayed to opposing players on the field.
Since then, New England's perfect record has been followed by an asterisk in the minds of many -- and more concretely in the New York Post, where the daily standings include a note reminding readers that the Patriots were nailed for cheating.
"It turned me off a little bit," said Kevin Turner, a Patriots fan from California. "Recording hand signals, it's just not right. If they did it again next year, I'd be a little less of a fan. But hopefully they've learned their lesson with the fine."
Some may ask, what's the big deal?
"If you're not cheating, you're not trying."
"It's only cheating if you get caught."
These homespun phrases, along with the unspoken wink-wink, nod-nod meanings underlying them, are as much a part of sports as referees, field goals and home runs.
"But if the NFL condones cheating and baseball doesn't do anything about steroids, you wonder if eventually those sports will go the way of boxing," said Turner's friend, Carlos Garcia, commenting on a sport that has lost much of its credibility. "I won't pay to watch a boxing match anymore."
Other than issuing a statement acknowledging he was at fault when the penalties were levied, Belichick has stayed mum on the topic.
In his defense, there are many who think the Patriots were simply using an enhanced version of what every NFL team does: looking for an easier way to glean information they eventually would have received by some other manner.
NFL coaches are famous for their 80-hour work weeks, much of which is spent in a projection room breaking down every play run by upcoming opponents in their previous games.
They're also notorious for signing backup players who have recently been cut from teams that they just happen to be facing that week. These signings happen not because Team A absolutely had to have another third-string safety, but because that safety knows Team B's playbook and, just as likely, its hand signals.
"I think it's just an extended version of scouting," said Andrew Weissman, a junior at University of Miami, said of the Patriots' taping scheme. "You still have to win football games. As much as you watch tape or record what the other team is doing, you still have to go out there and win football games. And they're winning. If they go undefeated, they'll deserve it."