The two articles featured on cbs.sportsline.com right now? "Run it up, Bill ... and run that weasel Mangini right outta town" "Jets-Pats isn't a game, it's spygate payback" " It's that they're hosting the Jets, those dreaded snitches who earlier this season turned the Pats in for spying" This stuff isn't even true, yet the media continues to write articles bashing the Jets. The Jets. Not the Patriots. No, the fact that they cheated was perfectly ok. Instead of blaming the Patriots for cheating, we should blame the Jets, who didn't even turn them in.
It's really tiring. The Pats are free of blame, even after cheating, getting caught, being investigated, and being found guilty by the league. But it's the Jets who are to blame. Look, even if we did snitch, and even if supposedly "everyone did it", it doesn't change the fact that they did it after being specifically warned not to. But why continue to let the facts creep their way into the arguement?
The writing about this whole saga has been pretty bad, from the start. A few months ago when it broke it was made to sound like Bill Belichick is just as tainted in his accomplishments as Barry Bonds (some people still say that- there was a plane flying around Gillette Sunday that said "Bonds 756* Bill Belichick 3 Super Bowls * on a banner attached, but anyways) and that the Patriots were truly the most evil team in the NFL. What the Patriots are most pissed about (in my opinion) isn't that the Jets turned them in (though that undoubtedly did, especially if what they did really wasn't used in-game and was actually just a scouting tactic for years down the road) but all the stuff that was said and written about them afterwards. And Sunday, their anger caused by the media will be directed towards the Jets. With the way the Patriots have played this year almost everyone's forgot about spygate, except for Jets fans and Pats fans. The national media is just doing its typical flip-flop routine.
How can you say that the Jets undoubtedly did? Because of what the media told you? The same media that you are criticizing? How hypocritical.
It is pretty hilarious how the media can make Bill Bellichick into some crazy demonized cheater after it comes out that some camera man got thrown off the Jets sideline, and then they can make the Jets and Eric Mangini some NFL-disrespecting snitch when the Patriots suddenly have a shot at making history. The really sad thing in this entire argument is the way Patriots fans have handled it. I went to a gathering with my kids and all my buddies kids. This was right after the whole Spygate thing came out, and I was talking to my buddy who of course is a Pats fan, and all his kids are Pats fans. Needless to say my boys are Jets fans. So my son actually initiated the conversation with my buddies son about the whole Spygate thing, and in front of our kids, we started arguing. Basically I said, so what do you think about the whole cheating thing? He says, "Well everyone was doing it." The question is...what kind of message does that send to your kids? If everyone's smoking pot in your school and you do it too does that make it right? Better yet, if you're the only one caught is that a valid excuse?
I said that the Jets turning the Patriots undoubtedly pissed the Patriots off, but the stuff that the media has said about them (i.e they're tainted) pissed them off more. I'm not saying that the Patriots weren't possibly using the tapes in the way everyone thinks they were, but IF they weren't and it had no effect on the games, the Pats will know it and being really really pissed. Because of reports that have come out. You are right, a person who criticizes the media for some of the opinion based writing it generates is a hypocrite if they try to read information and fact based reporting and form their own opinion from it.
Where did he say he needs the NFL to raise his kids? The NFL like all sports and athletes influence kids and how they view things. He brings up a valid point.
Here's the only problem with your arguement. Maybe the Pats players feel they legitimately have every right to be angry. Maybe, in their own hearts and minds, they've never been party to cheating. That doesn't mean they weren't. The thing is, Belichick and one or two of his coaches could have been the only ones "in on it". If so, they were calling plays based on the opposing signal calls, yet none of the players were any the wiser. As you pointed out in the other thread though, it's all a matter of speculation at this point. They did whatever they did, got busted, and paid the price. Honestly, except for the fact that I'm tired of hearing the fans spout off incessantly, I want the Pats to go undefeated (unless by some miracle the Jets are the ones to beat them). That would erase those clowns from Miami forever, and that's a very good thing.
Seriously, you aren't at all funny. You're even a poor troll. Basically, you're the kid on the bus that no one will sit next to because you're always picking your nose and ears, inspecting them, then consuming your "buried treasure".
This is easy to understand.... 1. The Pats broke a rule, but it had no effect on the game in question...call it cheating all you want, if it makes you feel better, but it was just a rules violation 2. The Pats are far from being the only team that practices their own filming, or even filming coordinators. Parcells did it, Jimmy Johnson did it...so on and so on...It was just always handled as a matter between teams, not reporting it to the league. 3. Yes, the Jets DID turn them in. I am not going to go through the whole story, but the NFL officials were called in to settle the dispute between Jets security and the Patriots personnel. That's a fact. In September, you were proud of it, what happened? 4. You all laughed when Pats fans posted that Mangini would be viewed this way. You refused to accept the notion that Mangini might not be viewed as anything but a saint in the matter. Turns out that's not the case. 5. Belichick broke a rule and was punished severely for it. Mangini broke a code and his image is now as a narc. Accept it. Why is it so important what others think of your coach? If you like him, support him and don't worry what others think.
1. It was the Pats' sideline, not the Jets. 2. Everyone does do it, but that doesn't make it right. That's an excellent lesson. What's wrong with that? Compounded by the fact that you can teach him "Everyone does it, but YOU were caught, and you will be punished"...a great lesson for responsibility.
Two problems with this theory.... The defense signals the play after the offense is lined up, and the mikes are shut off. The signals are clearly visible to anyone on the opposing sideline...after all, you are signalling the defense to the players on the field, yes? If you saw the video, you would see that the guys flashing the signs are in full view of everyone in the stadium, except the people sitting behind them.
How about former NFl players saying things like "the Patriots could beat the Jets and Dolphins on the same day." - Deion Sanders Or that "the Patriot cheerleaders are going to play the Jets."- don't remember who said this may not have been a player Or "factor in the weather, the Mangenious, and Kellen Clemens may be used to cold weather, and the Jets still lose by 30." - Marshall Faulk I have never seen a two teams so disrespected before in all my years of watching the NFL and I have never wanted a game more. I wasn't around for Super Bowl 3 but I can imagine similar things were being said. I am sure the Jets if they have any pride will have to be fired up for this Sunday and you know what this Patriot team isn't as good as everyone says. You play a physical game with their widereceivers and they fold. They almost lost to the Ravens and the Eagles two bad teams. And yes the Jets are a bad team but these are all NFL calibur players and the difference between the best and the rest is so small that playing with a chip on your shoulder can often even things out. And the fact that anyone is blaming Mangini for calling the patriots out on their spying is insane. Any coach including Belichick would have done the exact same thing. You leave a team fine you don't say anything but if you are going to try and pull the same tricks on me when I'm on the other sideline then you know what you deserve to get called out.
