Columns

Belichick wriggles free from harsh sanctions

By GARY SHELTON, Times Columnist
Published September 14, 2007

Bill Belichick escapes suspension, though it was considered.
	[AP photo]

Time was, America enjoyed a good spy story.

Spies were cool. Spies were slick and smart and suave. They had the coolest gadgets and the prettiest girls and the nicest cars. There was James Bond and Derek Flint, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, George Smiley and Harry Palmer. There was, sigh, Emma Peel.

Now, there is Bill Belichick, old Double-Oh Film-at-11.

Evidently, Belichick believes he has a license to cheat.

What a shame it was that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who had Belichick strapped to the table with the laser burning, let him off the hook.

Belichick got off easy Thursday. His fine, a half-million dollars, was steep, and his punishment, perhaps the loss of aNo. 1 draft choice, was stiff. If you go to the videotape, however, you will see it should have been worse.

At least everyone now knows who Belichick is. When the NFL busted the Patriots for breaking the rules over the weekend, it was not a small embarrassment to be dismissed as mere gamesmanship. No matter what you might hear, this was not boys being boys, wink, wink. This was not a misdirection play.

This was cheating.

This was dirty.

Worst of all, this was a cause to question every good thought you have had about Belichick and his team over the past few years.

Is he the NFL's best coach, or does he just know the best shortcuts? Is he to be respected, or suspected? Is he the next coming of Vince Lombardi, or just Jackie Sherrill in a hoodie?

Cheating calls everything into question, every triumph, every touchdown and every trophy. It tarnishes reputations and it taints legacies, and it causes quiz shows to be canceled and presidents to resign. It makes you wonder how far a man will go to win, and how far he has gone.

- For instance, if the Patriots were dishonest Sunday, how many Sundays had they been that way without being caught? A Boston Herald report says the Patriots have been accused of this four times in the past year. It makes you wonder how many times they got away with it.

- If Belichick will cheat in a season opener, why should we believe he would not cheat in a Super Bowl? Looking back, did Belichick get help when his team beat the Rams? The Panthers? The Eagles?

- If Belichick will cheat against his old assistant Eric Mangini, who evidently knows that he does this, then what makes you think he would not cheat against Tony Dungy or Mike Shanahan? Or anyone else?

Nothing, that's what.

And that's why Goodell should have suspended Belichick.

Again, I don't want to hear the "everyone does it" alibi. They don't. Besides, that's always the last retreat of the cheater. It's like being stopped for speeding and telling the policemen that other cars were going even faster. It isn't the point.

This should be enough: Goodell expressly told teams not to do this. And in their first game out, the Patriots did.

When a coach is caught on the wrong side of honor, it is easy to wonder what else he might do. Would he try to intercept signals on their way to the opposition's quarterbacks? That rumor already has been floated. What is next? Allegations of purchasing black market playbooks? Suspicion of bending the salary cap? That's the cost of cheating. It calls everything into question.

Of course, dedicated spy that he is, you won't get any information out of Belichick. In a news conference this week, Belichick issued one of those I'm-sort-of-sorry statements that never quite mentioned what he was apologizing for, but he wouldn't answer any questions.

It's a shame because there are so many. I would imagine every player he has beaten and every coach he has gotten fired have a few they would like to ask.

Tell me this: How is this different than a player taking steroids? As outraged as we have become about steroids, the guilty seem to believe that a lot of other people do it, too. They, too, think they are only trying to get a competitive edge.

Tell me this: How is this different than Wade Wilson, the Cowboys assistant who took a banned drug in the offseason? As it turns out, he has diabetes, and from all indications, the drug was intended to treat it. Yet even though he gained no competitive edge, he was suspended for five games. Supposedly, coaches represent a higher standard.

In the NFL, who has represented a higher standard more than Belichick? There has been much to admire about the Patriots. It is rare that ego does not fracture a championship team, but New England has been smart enough, unselfish enough to manage it. The real crime here is the damage done to that legacy.

Considering how zealous Goodell has been about cleaning up the NFL's image, Belichick's punishment should have mirrored that of his safety, Rodney Harrison, banned four games for HGH. A fine may sting, and the loss of a draft choice or two (depending on where the Patriots finish) may burn, but a suspension would have made a stronger statement.

Maybe it would have done Belichick some good to have a month off to think about things. Who knows? Maybe he could have taken a temporary job at NFL Films.

That's the thing about spies, however.

The really good ones were always good at getting away.

Gary Shelton can be reached at (727) 893-8805.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 23:18:14]