Belichick For Pro Football HOF?

I totally agree.

I feel Belichick deserves a "Pete Rose" here as regards the HOF.

Even the most cynical Bonds haters won't argue that Bonds did PED's his whole career. Conversely, one of Belichick's former Browns assistants has said this type of (videotaped?) against-the-rules sign-stealing was going on back in Belichick's forgettable tenure as Cleveland's head coach. In other words, we now have apparently credible cheating 'bookends' to Quasimodo's head coaching legacy. That's not a slippery slope -- it's a sheer, vertical free-fall.

If Goodell really wants to kick tail and take names (a point which seems in doubt given his inability to suspend Belichick), instituting -- or leaning on those in a position to institute -- a kind of "Pro Bowl 'Merriman Rule'" for the Hall of Fame would be an excellent step. The rule would only punish those who were determined to have cheated, and were subsequently penalized, by the league itself.

Such a rule would almost certainly drastically reduce the cheating which goes on today. Such a rule would also allow the league to prevent such persons as the felonious Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. from ever gracing its most-revered shrine (DeBartolo was the owner of the 'Niners when they were busted for salary cap violations during Paul Tagliabue's watch).

I like the idea -- such a rule would serve as a kind of ultimate deterrent to 'white-collar,' management-level NFL cheating. No doubt many other considerations would need to be taken into account, but any rule which could keep dirtbags like Belichick and DeBartolo out of the HOF certainly seems one worth consideration.

 

BB - Should Mark McGwire be voted into Baseball Hall of Fame?

 

Nobody is questioning his credentials when you go purely on what has happened on the field. It's a matter of how many people consider him a cheat after this. Though I don't think this will keep him out, nor should it.

I do agree that it is naive to think this was a new thing. Given the history and what just happened, I believe every rumor I've ever heard about the Pats breaking and bending rules. If you're willing to cheat after being specifically told not to do that exact thing, you're willing to do anything to win.

 

Gotta agree with this. I can't see the big deal.

 

What did McGwire do that was against MLB rules at the time?

 

How much of the overreaction here is simple schadenfreude? People hate Belichik, ergo this is the worst thing ever to happen in pro football. An NFL coach eliding the rules for a competitive advantage? Shocking!

 

Everything is speculation with McGwire - Everything with Belichick is fact.

I also think you could make a pretty good argument on idea that what Belichick did could have greater outcome on game results than what McGwire allegedly did.

 

Agreed. I think people inside and outside the league want to see Coach Hoodie go down. Obviously, he's not my favorite person out there, or I wouldn't keep calling him Coach Hoodie. I respect him and the Patriots, but I don't like them.

It doesn't change the fact that this is a matter of disrespecting the commissioner's office and the rest of the league. They had to know it was likely that they would get caught. They just assumed they would get away with it again.

As far as the specific act, I have a bigger problem with the part about messing with teams headphones during their home games than the videotaping.