In 2007, Patriots and coach were fined $750,000 for cheating.

[grasswire]

Belichek fined $500,000 and loss of first pick in draft. Team fined $250,000.

They had a camera filming the Jets' sideline communications.

It was a really big deal.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3018338

[mythology]

1. And Seattle leads the league in players suspended for performance enhancing drugs

under their current coach.

Both teams are utterly reprehensible and demonstrate what's wrong with sports to me. There's no desire for honest competition and being willing to cheat to "win" rather than play with honor and respect.

[Initech]

2. Pete Carroll was also nearly suspended by the NCAA for that Reggie Bush kickback incident.

And subsequently threw his players under the bus to take the coaching job in Seattle in the first place. While I loathe the Patriots, both sides are guilty of shady after hours activities. The point?

[rufus dog]

23. The worst part about Carroll

Was his public reaction when Mark Sanchez declared a year early. He publicly berated him only to bolt himself a year later.

[Initech]

36. Yup. This Super Bowl will be defined as Ass vs. Ass.

[kairos12]

38. That is true and hilarious. Call it the Superass Bowl.

[LordGlenconner]

3. Are you just now learning about Spygate?

[grasswire]

4. yes

I don't really follow pro football. My area of interest is Pac 12.

[LordGlenconner]

7. Wow

That's pretty impressive you were able to avoid the topic for 8 years.

I envy your ability there. Wish I could apply it to aspects of my life.

[grasswire]

11. well I must confess to watching....

....a couple of Eagles games since Chip Kelly became coach. And if Marcus Mariota goes to the Eagles, I'll become a fan of that team.

[Initech]

37. Oregon Ducks or Anaheim Ducks?

The Ducks are my team since this Super Bowl is DOA to me.

[grasswire]

46. Oregon nt

[kydo]

5. Rodgers told CBS he tries to overinflate footballs

http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/rodgers-told-cbs-he-tries-overinflate-footballs?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo

Rodgers told CBS he tries to overinflate footballs

Looks like we suddenly have a rash of ball issues.

You already know the league is looking into whether or not the footballs used by the Patriots offense against the Colts on Sunday were underinflated.

But on Tuesday, a clip from the CBS broadcast of the Patriots’ November 30 game against the Packers was dredged up.

snip

“(Rodgers) said something [that] was unique,” Simms revealed. "[Rodgers said] 'I like to push the limit to how much air we can put in the football, even go over what they allow you to do and see if the officials take air out of it.' Because he thinks it’s easier for him to grip. He likes them tight.”

snip
http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/rodgers-told-cbs-he-tries-overinflate-footballs?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo

[Capt. Obvious]

6. This should be posted in LBN forum

[Go Vols]

8. lol

[Capt. Obvious]

9. WOOO

[tammywammy]

10. I love that commercial. n/t

[neverforget]

25. Gonna get me some cold cuts!

[tammywammy]

41. Oh, and the Salt N Pepa one.

Push it!

[madokie]

29. same here

I have no idea as to why but I do like that commercial

[Initech]

42. Holy crap I love that meme!

[Narraback]

12. Fines & Suspensions since 2002 - Pat's not near top

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/fines-suspensions/all-years/

Denver most penalized - $6,720,939
Washington - $6,316,545
New Orleans - $5,196,643
Baltimore - $4,869,891
Indianapolis - $4,683,978

MORE TEAMS

New England - $2,117,290


Buffalo least penalized- $496,527

Now I wonder why people only call the Patriots Cheaters.....

[WilliamPitt]

13. OMG YOU GUYS THE DEFLATED FOOTBALL

WAS TOTALLY THE REASON BLOUNT RAN FOR 148 YARDS AND THREE TOUCHDOWNS YOU GUYS.

Fucking hell.

Let's accept this dipshit premise and imagine the balls *weren't* deflated. The Colts would have lost 21-7 on Blount's performance alone.

The balls weren't deflated. The referees handle the football AFTER EVERY FUCKING PLAY. They would have noticed.

And again, psssssst, Blount ran for 148 yards and three touchdowns. They could have been playing with a cinderblock and the Patriots still would have won.

MEMO TO THE FOOTBALL WORLD: The New England Patriots are better than your team. Bone up on your coping skills. Jealousy does not become you.

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. well we all know...

GO PATS!

[liberalhistorian]

28. Well, you know what they say, once

a cheater always a cheater. And I have no doubt that Belicheat did pull some funny stuff here. It probably didn't make much difference, obviously, but that doesn't make it right at all. The hell of it is that he probably didn't even need to do that to win the game. It's kinda like Nixon in that regard. Watergate was not at all necessary, as Jesus Christ himself could have run against Nixon in 1972 and Nixon still would have won. But greed, arrogance and paranoia will do that to people, just like it apparently has infected Belicheat and his stupid team. May Seattle KICK. THEIR. ASS.

[kairos12]

39. Agree. Bellecheat--no cameras no rings. I hope it stays that way.

[NRaleighLiberal]

40. I don't believe in guilty charges until proven - sorry.

[PCIntern]

18. Chronic Cheats...

so much for morality when it's your team...

[liberalhistorian]

30. Yup, that's pretty much it.

And Belicheat is nothing if not a cheater. Pretty disgusting, isn't it? If the Patriots had lost and Seattle was accused of using deflated balls, you'd see all hell breaking loose here among the same people who are blithely dismissing Belicheat's latest trick.

[PCIntern]

17. Spied on the Eagles prior to the Super Bowl...

They are HATED here in Philly. We accept losing but we never forgive cheaters.

[WilliamPitt]

19. Haters in Philly?

Perish the thought.

[LordGlenconner]

21. It was the Rams

And even then it was inconclusive.

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2008/05/14/patriots_never_taped_walkthrough_goodell_finds/?page=full

They were popped for videotaping signals on the sidelines of the Jets. That's where the actual fines and loss of the draft pick came from.

And everybody and everything not related to Philly is hated in Philly, so no big deal there.

[PCIntern]

22. Also the Eagles….

no question.

[eissa]

20. At this point

I don't care if Belichek deflated balls while fondling a goat as he simultaneously watched the Hawks practice via his own personal drone. I just want NE to beat the shit out of Seattle

[liberalhistorian]

31. Yes, so cheating is okay as long

as it's YOUR team, got it. Uh-huh. No doubt if the Pats had lost and Seattle was accused of this, you'd be screaming bloody fucking murder. But if the King of NFL Cheaters does it once again, hey, that's fine, because, after all, it's your team. Bleh.

[eissa]

35. Actually, the 49ers are my team

Which should explain my hatred of the Hawks. No explanation for your lack of humor, though. Lighten up.

[liberalhistorian]

44. I dunno, I guess the image of Belicheat

fondling a goat kind of "deflated" my sense of humor there for awhile. I guess I'll have to replace it with the image of Johnny Depp doing that, I'd watch him do anything.

[hfojvt]

43. much of football is based on cheating

Trap the ball and pretend like you caught it (when you know damned well you didn't).

If a bad call is made and goes your way, hurry up and run another play before the other team can challenge it.

If a player commits a penalty that saves a touchdown (and gets called for it) a typical announcer will say "that was a good penalty to make".

Holding, pass interference (by either side), and illegal blocks probably happen far more than they are called and penalized.

You can see that stuff all the time, as well as players trying to work the refs.

It's the players job, the coaches job to win the game. It's the official's job to enforce the rules. In general though, I like to see my time win clean, win with class and finesse, more than with thuggery, or controversial calls. Still, if the call is made, that's part of the game.

Still, I don't even see why changing the inflation should be illegal. If a deflated ball is easier to handle in cold weather, or wet weather, then why not deflate it? Do we want to see a game with more dropped passes?

[benz380]

24. I'm going to the football forum and talk about the SOTU address. nt

[BklnDem75]

26. Later that year...

Memories...

[liberalhistorian]

27. Well, there's a reason why he's known

as "Belicheat", after all. Frankly, after those events in 2007, he should have been fired and blackballed from ever coaching in the NFL again. The fact that he wasn't shows the NFL's true priorities.

Of course, as someone originally from Cleveland where Belicheat was the last coach of the Browns before Modell spirited them away to Baltimore where Belicheat continued to coach them as the Ravens for a bit, I have even more reason to hate this fucker's guts, as do most Clevelanders. He really fucked up the Browns during his tenure, had no concern for or interest in the town or even the players he was coaching, and was a nasty fucking piece of work personally and professionally. His contempt for Cleveland was obvious. Okay, mofo, if you don't like us then why the fuck are you even here? And he couldn't contain his glee at them leaving Cleveland, either.

The fact that he has taken teams to the Super Bowl several times especially rankles a championship-hungry city. It helps to know that at least some of his wins are not legitimate and I have NO DOUBT AT ALL as to the veracity of this latest accusation. Fuck him and his annoying, arrogant, cheating fucking team. I'm no fan of Seattle, but I hope they kick the Patriots ASS.

[trumad]

32. Yawn

They destroyed the Colts with good old football playing. Prove otherwise.

You can't.

All you can do is whine about something that happened 8 years ago.

Come on over in the sports forum and debate away.

[gopiscrap]

33. You know they deflated the football on Sunday to win.

I think they should be kicked out of the Super bowl. and just because I live in the Seattle metro area doesn't mean I am biased.

[Stephen Retired]

34. Tempest in a teapot

I'm sick and tired of everyone outside Pats Nation whining about this.

[NightWatcher]

45. Breaking: 11 of 12 of the Pat's balls were under inflated 10-15%

Per Mort on ESPN.

[grasswire]

47. Ha!

Just saw that on the nightly news.

Crazy.

[MillennialDem]

48. I have no dog in this fight. I don't watch football at all, though I do remember Spygate

The people saying that it doesn't matter, they would have won anyway, the other team had the same advantage - I'm sorry but those excuses are a total crock.

Cheating is cheating period. We punish K-12 and college students who cheat often quite severely. Depending on school policy, cheating is often an automatic suspension for a few semesters in college or at very least an automatic failure of the course (regardless of current grade), even if the cheating did not result in good information (ie a student smuggles in notes on a test but the notes are wrong would not excuse cheating).

Of course proving that the Patriots intentionally did this (or knew about it beforehand) is another matter - but assuming it's true then it's cheating and in an ideal world would result in an automatic loss in the game. They would have won anyway is not an excuse in my book.