Goodell validates Pats stole time from my lifespan.

Then come to the realization that life is not fair, and crying about it will only result in a mild case of dehydration. If you still want to watch football because you enjoy it, I guarantee it will still be there even if the Bills are not in Buffalo!!!

I think that if the league opened that can of worms it would be a huge mess. Lets say that he takes away their first win. well then who gets the title? the Rams? I think the Raiders would have a pretty good gripe there also. And at this point who cares if the league says “hey St. Louis we are going to award you the win in that super bowl because the Pats cheated.” would the Rams have a parade to celebrate?

I think you should figure out a dollar amount that you estimate you’ve spent following the Bills and send a Bill to Goodell. If he pays let me know.

Seriously, in the games the Bills have played against the Patriots over the past 7 seasons how many of them would have turned out differently if the Patriots hadn’t been stealing Buffalo’s defensive signals? The team, as a whole, hasn’t done enough to beat the Patriots through most of those losses. I can only think of 2 or 3 games where the outcome was even in doubt heading into the 4th quarter.

Now, I’m not saying that their cheating didn’t help the Patriots at all. When you consider that the Patriots have beaten Buffalo in the early games and beaten the Bills by wider margins (sometimes subtantially wider) in the rematches later in the season, yes, the stealing of defensive signals may have contributed. It would flow given that the defensive signals (likely modified from one season to the next) used in the first game of the year would likely be used again in the rematch.

Part of the blame, however, falls on the defensive coaching staff. Stealing signals is part of the game so the coaches should work around that reality.

Here are just a few of the punishments other leagues have handed out that need to be applied to the Patriots simultaneously in an attempt to recover the integrity of the league and right the fans who wasted billions of dollars and the last 7 years worth of Sundays watching this crooked league:

1.) The NBA took away 1st round picks from the Minnesota Timeberwolves for 5 straight years for circumventing the salary cap in signing Joe Smith: This portion of the punishment should be non-negotiable. I don’t think Goodell can justify letting New England get off with losing just one pick for this.

2.) Major League Baseball banned Pete Rose for life for betting on baseball games: People have argued this decision for years, but frankly, it was the right move. Rose was banned because his betting placed the integrity of the outcome of games in doubt. Baseball reasoned that if fans didn’t trust that the games were on the level, the league would lose its credibility and could ultimately lose its standing with the public. The NFL spindoctors have been hard at work putting out small fires in this regard, but banning Belichick for life would be a start to bringing back some validity to the league.

3.) The NCAA has had teams vacate entire seasons due to playing with ineligible players. Some examples of Final Four schools who have had this dishonor bestowed upon them include ‘71 Villanova, ‘80 UCLA, ‘92 Michigan, ‘93 Michigan. These schools had to vactate their place in the tournament, and remove all banners in their arenas celebrating their accomplishments because they cheated. In this scenario, the NFL record books would simply state that no NFL championships were awarded in 2001, 2003, and 2004. That sucks for the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles, but 30 other teams were cheated as well so they don’t get awarded titles after the fact.

4.) The “Death Penalty”: In 1987, SMU football received the death penalty as the team was removed from the field for two seasons. I would propose that the NFL assumes ownership of the Pats for two seasons with all profits being split amongst the 31 other teams they cheated. I propose they be forced to play their home games in Toronto during these two seasons before ownership is restored to Kraft (or whatever scumbag from Boston wants to run them then)

Only after all four of these conditions are met will Goodell have finally made an attempt to hand out a just restitution. Until then, he’s a bigger villain than Belichick, himself.

to the NFL network the league was aware of all these taping issues when it imposed the fines loss of draft pick, so don’t expect anyting new to happen. This nothing new!

get real upset about this. I am not saying the Pats didn’t break the rules and should not have been punished. But, let us not confuse this issue with the fact we hate the Pats because they have been kicking our butts on a regular basis for the past 10 years. We know the Pats tried to steal signals. We don’t know if they actually succeeded, or if they did, were able to gain an advantage from it. But, the cloud that surrounds that fact will taint their accomplishments forever, or at least until they are able to win another SB. Ever watch a baseball game? Those uniforms must really itch! But seriously, the stealing of signals is a part of every game in almost every team sport. It is up to each team to change their signals enough to make sure that can’t happen.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about this and I think Poz and SF82 are right. The Pats need to be held accountable for their violations against mankind and need to be punished accordingly.

Tom Brady – As the poster boy / ringleader of the offense there is no way he was ignorant of what was going on, and since he is the face of the franchise he needs to be publicly punished for the teams transgressions. I say chemical castration. That way he can no longer further pollute the human gene pool with his illegitimate, cheating spawn.

Bill Belichick – As head coach he was obviously involved and was the architect of the cheating, therefor he gets the worst punishment. He needs to be removed from his position as head coach and be forced to join the cast of “The View”. There he will learn humility as he is forced to join in discussions the may end up causing him to have an mental breakdown.

Bob Kraft – As owner of the offending franchise he is to be punished twice. First he has to sell his team to Robert Wang, and be forced to still idly by and watch his team be run with the same ineptitude as the New York Islanders. All proceeds of the sale are to be evenly distributed amongst the other 31 NFL teams. Second he will have to endure a make-over on “The View” where Bill Belichick will pick out his new wardrobe. This means that the Blue shirts with the white collars that Bob loves so much will have to be traded in for gray hoodies.

Rodney Harrison/Teddy Bruschi/Mike Vrabel/Vince Wilfolk – All 4 need to be exiled to the Neverland Ranch. Now that Micheal Jackson is out of money the ranch is vacant. It is the perfect location for those 4 to spend the rest of their natural lives contemplating the error of their ways.

This should make any body else think twice about cheating.

I actually agree with most of what SuperFan is saying here. The NFL is definately growing but he is right that is would be foolish to assume that upward trend to continue. The NFL may not disappear but it can go the way of MLB, which is clearly not as popular or profitable as it once was in relative terms. With the NBA making a comeback and the NHL getting back on its feet there really is no guarantee that the NFL is top dog in 50 years. Remember that the NBA was where the NFL is now in the late 80s, early 90s. The era of Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, etc. had that league flying high atop the list of the most popular league in the country. What brought about its downfall was the influx of thuggish characters into the player pool. In the late 90s and early 2000s the league was flooded by players who became known more for DUIs, gun shots, and me-first attitudes then for mid-range jumpers and assists. Of course, when the league shifted its stance on accepting players who did not attend at least 3-4 years of college, immaturity was bound to follow. Regardless, the team mentality and mature, professional conduct of many in the league was gone. If anything, the NFL is undergoing an eerily similar evolution, why do you think Goodell was brought in and has made it his mission to come down with a hammer on players who exhibit the immaturity and selfishness we saw in the NBA in the 90s. Along the same line, that is why Goodell is dancing around the Spygate issue. The Patriots are THE example in the league of a team first mentality, mature, professional athletes, and they were the CONSTANT CHAMPIONS. In the same manner Goodell feels he must slam players who act like punks (Pacman, etc) he also feels he must equally shield the Patriots. That is what is going on here.

Nevertheless, Joe P. you wrote “As for being a Pats apologist, sireric already set you straight on that. If you can’t understand the simple truth that the world is not a fair place and everyone is not treated equally, then click your heels together three times and say, "There is no place like the Ralf…..There is no place like the Ralf…..There is no place like the Ralf!!!"” What does that mean? Just because the world is not a fair place and everyone is not treated equally doesn’t mean you should just shut up and allow Goodell’s crimes against the leagues integrity to go uncheck and unnoticed and pass as a dead issue. if that was the correct mentality to deal with the inequities of the world we’d all still be flying the British flag instead of America’s stars and stripes. I agree with SuperFan that we, as fans, should demand Goodell be held to his duty, even if it fails. That’s my version of realism.