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Belichick: Hit with a heavy fine

Don't get caught, Matt. That could be the fateful phrase with which New England coach Bill Belichick is most associated at the end of his illustrious career.

Never mind the fact the Patriots have won six AFC East titles, four AFC Championships and three Super Bowls under his command.

No, his lasting legacy could well be his comments to video manager Matt Walsh at the beginning of a round of illegal video-taping that has now tainted Belichick's eight-year reign.

It is the story the league is desperately hoping will go away, never to resurface and blight its credentials for fairness ever again.

And it is possible that this dramatic by-play between Walsh and the NFL (which involved a long-drawn-out legal wrangle before the former Patriots employee would actually deliver his 'Spygate' tapes to commissioner Roger Goodell and reveal his own role in this rather sordid business) will finally draw a line under the whole sorry affair.

But not before it has cast a permanent cloud over one of the most brilliant and determined coaches in the history of the game.

Summary

Here's how it is being viewed over here (after ESPN completed a marathon four hour viewing of the Walsh tapes on Tuesday):

The Patriots were caught, fair and square, last September when it was discovered they were illegally taping the New York Jets' bench during the first game of the season. They had already been warned about this practice, twice, by the NFL's head office.

Belichick bore the brunt of the league's wrath with a massive fine, but the club also suffered with a smaller fine and the loss of a first round Draft pick. You got off lightly, roared some of the New England critics in the media.

But, insisted Belichick, I was only wrong on my interpretation of the rules. It was his stated belief that he thought he wasn't infringing any rules with the video practice he gave the green light to. Not so, said the league, and here's a $500,000 fine to prove it.

OK, my bad, said Bill. It won't happen again. And he took his lumps (and whopping financial penalty).

But then it also came to light that a former employee of the club had additional video evidence in his possession that incriminated the Patriots still further. A Boston newspaper even speculated that the tape included the more serious felony of recording a practice session of the St Louis Rams before the 2002 Super Bowl (which they have also had to admit this week was false).

Now we have those additional revelations that this illegal taping practice had happened at least 8 times from 2000-2002, involving six different teams.

But, more damning still, is the alleged verbal instruction to Walsh before he began his video assignment: "Don't get caught, Matt."

Now, if Belichick really believed he wasn't infringing any NFL rules, why did he warn Walsh not to get found out? What was there to "get caught" over? Unless he realised all the time he was more than bending the rules a little.

And that's where Belichick stands today, practically branded a liar by none other than Goodell himself, and a host of media pundits queued up in the commissioner's wake.

Sorry state

It is a sorry state of affairs for the man who almost single-handedly revived a moribund franchise and set them on the road to dynastic glory.

But "Don't get caught, Matt" is a truly and definitively damning remark to get found out over. Whoever said 'cheats don't prosper' was obviously seriously off the mark.

But cheats do usually get their come-uppance - and a very public one in this instance.

Goodell is now fervently hoping this is the last of this sorry saga, that 'Spygate' has run its course and we can focus once more on the big issues of the close season, like will Pacman Jones be able to stay out of trouble now he is a Cowboy instead of a Titan? Who will be the first big contract holdout of the summer? And what was Terrell Owens thinking by appearing in a sitcom with rapper Flavor Flav?

However, before we can turn our attention to any of these more football-related issues (well, TO apart), we may still have to deal with a Specter. Or Republican senator Arlen Specter in this case.

The good representative for Philadelphia (who lost to New England in Super Bowl XXXIX, fans may recall), is pushing for an independent enquiry into 'Spygate', branding Goodell's own assertions as 'ridiculous' and insisting there is a serious question of the league's credibility.

It makes you wonder. At a time when America's economy is in danger of falling through the floor, they are engaged in an increasingly no-win scenario in Iraq, their car industry is falling apart and we are faced with a growing energy crisis, this Senator is more worried about whether a sport is in danger of losing its credibility.

Hopefully, his governmental colleagues will give Sen. Specter the short shrift that only the short-sighted deserve. Otherwise, the reverberations of this dismal episode may rumble on for some time yet.

Quick, hasn't anyone got some real football news?