16-0*

04Jan08

As the Wild Card Weekend approaches, I thought that, at the risk of this appearing as a pitiable excuse for a sports blog, I’d reflect a little bit on the NFL’s story of the year, and the controversy surrounding it.

Of course, at this point we all know that the New England Patriots were caught cheating by way of videotaping the defensive signals of the New York Jets in their season opener.  Of course, we also know that the New England Patriots have subsequently gone undefeated to end the regular season at 16-0.  This combination of events begs the question: Are the 2007 New England Patriots 16-0? Or are they 16-0*?

Immediately following the Patriots’ final game of the season against the New York Giants, the question was raised to Peter King as to whether or not the cheating scandal surrounding the Patriots would affect his potential voting for Bill Belichick as Coach of the Year.  While I was disgusted to hear Peter King respond that the scandal was not going to affect his voting, and that Belichick was still a viable option, I was delighted to see that the situation was still a topic of conversation by the NFL analysts, who sometimes have a tendency to shy away from discussing the controversial, and therefore interesting, stories.   At this point, I had lost hope that anyone other than Gregg Easterbrook was willing to press the issue.

Those opposed to the asterisk will argue that the videotaping wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the one game, let alone the season, and, besides, “everybody does it”.  And, come on, is it really fair to tarnish the accomplishments of the entire team?  The majority of the organization didn’t have any direct involvement and, most likely, weren’t even aware that it was occurring.  This isn’t anything like Mark Ecko’s, and the general public’s, decision to brand Barry Bond’s infamous 756^th, as that circumstance only involved one person’s reputation.

The same individuals will argue that the entire situation is being blown out of proportion – a witch hunt fueled by the jealously of fans of lesser teams.  The same jealousy causing the wide-variety of claims against the Patriots including assertions of running-up the score, supposed unsportsmanlike trash-talking courtesy of Rodney Harrison, and the recent alleged eye-poking by Vince Wilfork.  Even Tom Brady’s personal life involving Bridget Moynahan has been unnecessarily brought into the mix.

But is that really what this is all about?  Regardless of the aforementioned opinions of the Patriot faithful, which by the way, are kidding themselves if they think that Wilfork wasn’t gunning for Brandon Jacobs’s eye, the point is that the organization was found guilty of cheating.  There was no denial, no arguing, no plea of ignorance.  Instead , Belichick accepted Roger Goodell’s punishment with barely a comment – an implicit pleading of the fifth.

Plus, it’s important to remember that the asterisk is only used to designate a footnote, and is not an automatic sign of disgrace a la Hester Prynne.  Its purpose is simply to draw the reader’s attention to some additional, pertinent, information.

So, are the Patriots 16-0 or 16-0*?

I say 16-0*… but let’s be fair about it:

2007 Regular Season: New England Patriots 16-0*

*The New England Patriots were caught videotaping the defensive signals of the New York Jets who, it should be noted, ended up going 4-12.  Bill Belichick was punished by the NFL with a $500,000 fine, and the Patriots’ organization was fined an additional $250,000 and loss of their first-round draft pick.  However, while it is important to note such fraudulent activities, in light of the collective talent of, inter alia, Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Laurence Maroney, Donte’ Stallworth, Wes Welker, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Matt Light, and Stephen Gostkowski, the team probably would have ended-up going 16-0 anyway.

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Tags: 16-0, Belichick, Coach of the Year, New England, NFL, Patriots, Peter King