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If Belichick is guilty of stealing signs, he pumped up his athletic arsenal just as surely -- and just as illegally -- as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro allegedly pumped up theirs. If you want to be extremely cynical, consider this: Belichick went from a 36-44 coach who was fired by Cleveland in 1995 to the most successful four-year run in NFL history with the Patriots.
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How'd he do that?
That's why the potential penalties being bandied about -- the Patriots losing a draft pick, getting fined, or both -- are way too weak. When an NFL player is caught using a performance enhancing substance, like Shawne Merriman a year ago, the penalty is a four-game suspension. Then eight games. Then a year.
It should be the same for a coach. If Belichick is guilty, he must miss four games -- at least. And for every game he misses, he must miss practices as well. Merriman couldn't practice with the Chargers during his four-game NFL suspension, so why should a coach be able to attend practice during his? Don't allow Belichick into the Patriots' football complex. Don't allow him to have any contact with New England players, coaches or front-office personnel -- or any intermediaries, either.
Knowledge is a coach's weapon, and if he's suspended, he must keep that weapon to himself.
That would be a severe punishment, but if the reports are true, Belichick and the Patriots have a lot more to worry about than four games, eight games or even a season. They have to worry about the taint of scandal, about how long this trickery has gone on, and about how they will be judged not only by the NFL, but by history.
In this area, the steroid analogy no longer works. Major League Baseball isn't about to vacate any of Rafael Palmeiro's accomplishments, for example.
Despite his positive test for steroids, Palmeiro gets to keep his 569 career home runs. He might not get into the Hall of Fame, but that's going forward. Going backward? There is no going backward for Palmeiro. What's done is done, but everything he accomplished is his forever.
That's why an NCAA parallel is more applicable here. Belichick and the Patriots are being investigated for outright cheating, and when a cheater gets caught in college, titles are often vacated.
Look at the Official 2007 NCAA Men's Final Four Records Book. Go to page 8, where Final Four participants are listed. There are asterisks next to runners-up Villanova in 1971 and UCLA in '80, and next to third-place teams Massachusetts in '96 and Minnesota in '97. At the bottom of the page, it notes that an asterisk means "later vacated."
Those teams cheated. History is harsh
Should that happen to the Patriots' Super Bowl titles of 2001, '03 and '04? Absolutely -- if the NFL proves they were stealing signs in those games.
Given the nationwide popularity of the NFL and the worldwide importance of the Super Bowl, have we just encountered the biggest if in sports history?