Belichick has been taping since 2000, Goodell tell

[Swimmy]

Belichick has been taping since 2000, Goodell tells Specter

It's great that Congress is threatening to keep football honest and all. But really will happen if this allegation is true? They can't go back and undo their seasons. Too many other factors are at play that would effect the outcome of the entire season if they took away their wins. I'll wait for Jduges to give his analysis. Jduges is to sports as I am to legal issues (only he's better at his end than I am at mine).

[jduges]

True they can't undo what's been done and to be fair, Belicheck has stated and been consistent in saying that he did not know that it was illegal until this year when Goodell made it a point of contention with all teams before this season started. Keep in mind that Goodell was not the commish until this year. So it would have been Paul Tagliabu's charge to have laid that out clearly to teams and nothing has suggested that he did so.

Also keep in mind that this is much like the steroid issue in baseball. For the longest time we had Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and Palmeiro but we knew their were others and the problem was much larger. New England isn't/wasn't the only team doing this. They just happened to be the one who got caught and punished very severely.

In my view, Congress has more cause to get involved with this issue than they do the Baseball issue because the NFL has the luxury of an antitrust exemption and losing that could prove quite damaging to the NFL.

Also no matter what the players on the field still must execute in order for the team to win. If you've ever played organized football you'll know that preparation is only part of the battle. Talent and ability superceeds preparation. In short all the wins were still earned. And I am in no way a Patriots fan. Far from it in fact.

I'm am a little confused as to why Goodell would destroy the tapes and notes so quickly. His rationale was that he didn't want any other team to get a hold of them. The tapes were destroyed within 2 weeks of Goodell obtaining them. Kinda odd.

There is much more left to be learned about this issue and after Goodell and Specter talk with Matt Walsh (the man who supposedly did most of the taping) we will see how much more significant this issue really is. Keep in mind that Goodell has already threatened additional sanctions if more is learned. He has offered Walsh indemnity and specteris presumed to be prepared to offer a similar deal to walsh.

So yes, you can't rewrite history, take away wins or championships but goodell can take money, draft picks, enforce suspensions of coaches, etc. which could cripple the Patriots for years to come. He has ruled thus far with a fair, but oft heavy hand so I would expect no different.

Stay tuned there's much more to come......