Spygate issue wont go away until addressed

by John Stewart, editorial assistant

All the recent government intervention in professional sports has caused uncertainty and confusion but might just be what is needed.

The current "Spygate” scandal involving the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick illegally taping opponents possibly as far back as their Super Bowl birth in 2001, has surfaced again and became a big issue.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell put himself in the position he is in now. After the Patriots and Belichick were caught earlier this season illegally taping the New York Jets, the Patriots were slapped with a fine of $250,000 and the loss of their first-round draft pick. Belichick received a hefty $500,000 fine.

Afterward, the team had to send all evidence, including the prohibited videotapes, to the commissioner to be reviewed and checked. Goodell received the tapes but quickly destroyed them after learning of a leak of one of the tapes that had evidence of the Jets' signals being taped.

Reacting so hastily without proper explanations raised questions about the extent of the cheating and whether the NFL was just trying to brush a huge incident under the carpet. Questions occurred all season and gradually fell out of headline.

Now it's back again, but it’s not just an internal investigation from the league. Now the government is investigating. United States Senator Arlen Specter announced that he will be examining the issue.

Specter has claimed that the Patriots haven't just violated this rule once, but countless times, in the past years. If this is proven, what should happen to the Patriots and Belichick? How is Goodell going to explain his "investigation" of the incident? Bigger matters can rise here.

Illegal taping compromises the principle of the game. It's supposed to be 11 on 11 out on the field deciding the fate of the game, with advice and play calling from the coaches, not cheating to gain an unfair advantage.

Former Patriots employee Matt Walsh could bring new evidence to the table, according to him. He has said he possessed items from the Patriots organization that could support what he said. Yet he does not want to speak thoroughly of the incident, saying he wants legal protection so he couldn’t receive criminal charges from the NFL or the Patriots. That could mean trouble for the NFL and is the key factor in determining how ugly this incident really is.

Goodell has mentioned that he produced a thorough investigation of the problem. But if he did, why are all the questions falling down on him now?

Specter said he will get to the bottom of it and find out what is really going on. If that is true, look for the Patriots and Belichick to receive one of the bigger punishments in sports history. 

The players don't make up the NFL, the fans do. Football fans should have a right to know the full story of rule violations. They should not be hidden or destroyed like Goodell did.  I don’t want to see a league whose championship is decided by who can cheat the best.

Specter has been criticized as of late for interfering in this matter, and questions are raised that the government should have something better to do. But I praise Specter for intervening in the issue. Just because he is a senator doesn't mean he has to be a patriot.