Cheaters Never Prosper

Belichick’s Troubles

It could not have happened to a nicer guy.

That was my first reaction when “football genius” Bill Belichick was caught cheating – taping the New York Jets’ coaches on the sidelines last Sunday in an attempt to steal signs.

First, let’s have a little background check for those of you below the legal drinking age.

Belichick was not considered a “football coaching genius” when he ran the Cleveland Browns. In fact, in five years’ time in the early to mid-90s, he posted a very mediocre sub-.500 record, managed to alienate a good bit of the fan base in NE Ohio and treated much of the media with absolute distain.

Basically, he was a very arrogant head coach with a losing record.

What changed?

He got a second chance in New England and made the most of it.

Mind you, most will tell you he is still very arrogant, but the difference now is his arrogance has been given a pass by many because he is winning big-time.

That’s the nature of this business unfortunately. If you win, you get a pass for most of your foibles. It’s not right, it’s just so.

I hate that about sports. I believe you should treat everyone with some semblance of respect unless they make clear they deserve otherwise.

Belichick’s rise as a “football coaching guru” can be directly charted to when Drew Bledsoe went down and Tom Brady took over at quarterback. We’ll give credit to Belichick for drafting Brady – although he must not have seen that much in him since he waited until round six to pull the trigger on Brady back when.

Regardless, MR. Bill gets kudos for finding a future Hall of Fame signal-caller and riding him to three Super Bowls.

No, I don’t like Mr. Bill – never did, never will.

I must not be the only one. Belichick has been on the outs for a while with both his mentor, Bill Parcells, and his former pupil, Eric Mangini, current head coach of the Jets.

Having said all that, I may be the only individual to have stated that Belichick’s three Super Bowl wins in four years during football’s free agency era is professional team sports' greatest accomplishment in the past 40 years.

I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

But now we find out Bill cheats. He even cheats after he’s been told by the league office not to cheat.

Arrogance is a wicked vice, isn’t it?

Well, count me in the group that won’t shed any tears for Mr. Bill. He walked out of his press conference on Wednesday, again showing his arrogance and unwillingness to face the music.

Memo to Bill – this isn’t going away. More questions need to be answered – like how long has this been going on?

Those who spent time under Belichick as his “film guys” should be nervous right now. The NFL will be calling soon to see who was spying for Bill and who wasn’t.

The league should not punish Belichick and the Pats until ALL the facts are in.

But let’s assume he’s been doing this for a while. If that’s found to be the case, two #1 draft picks, a four-game suspension of the head coach without pay and a seven-figure fine on the Pats sounds about right.

This guy has made a lot of enemies around the league. I doubt very much this discovery happened by accident. Somebody probably turned him in or at least gave the league a head’s up that something was very fishy in New England.

Now his reputation has a coaching wiz takes a hit. That’s too bad.

Everyone has always applauded Belichick for being “ahead of the curve.”

In recent years, we often heard from announcers and so-called experts that “the Pats are such a smart team, they always seem to be in the right position to make plays.”

Well, maybe that’s because Bill and his boys knew what was coming.