ESPN Released A Report About The Patriots Cheating And All We Learned Is That They Are Super Butthurt

ESPN- Interviews by ESPN The Magazine and Outside the Lines with more than 90 league officials, owners, team executives and coaches, current and former Patriots coaches, staffers and players, and reviews of previously undisclosed private notes from key meetings, show that Spygate is the centerpiece of a long, secret history between Goodell's NFL, which declined comment for this story, and Kraft's Patriots. The diametrically opposed way the inquiries were managed by Goodell -- and, more importantly, perceived by his bosses -- reveals much about how and why NFL punishment is often dispensed. The widespread perception that Goodell gave the Patriots a break on Spygate, followed by the NFL's stonewalling of a potential congressional investigation into the matter, shaped owners' expectations of what needed to be done by 345 Park Ave. on Deflategate.

It was, one owner says, time for "a makeup call."

AS THE PATRIOTS became a dynasty and Belichick became the first coach to win three Super Bowls in four years, an entire system of covert videotaping was developed and a secret library created. "It got out of control," a former Patriots assistant coach says. Sources with knowledge of the system say an advance scout would attend the games of upcoming Patriots opponents and assemble a spreadsheet of all the signals and corresponding plays. The scout would give it to Adams, who would spend most of the week in his office with the door closed, matching the notes to the tapes filmed from the sideline. Files were created, organized by opponent and by coach. During games, Walsh later told investigators, the Patriots' videographers were told to look like media members, to tape over their team logos or turn their sweatshirt inside out, to wear credentials that said Patriots TV or Kraft Productions. The videographers also were provided with excuses for what to tell NFL security if asked what they were doing: Tell them you're filming the quarterbacks. Or the kickers. Or footage for a team show.



I'm done. I'm out guys. Listen, I never thought DeflateGate was a big deal. I still jumped on the bandwagon and prayed for the demise of the Patriots, solely because I dislike the Patriots. I am man enough to admit that. However, I refuse to delve into revisionist history in hopes of trying to soil the name of a winner. There is such thing as losing with dignity, and ESPN, as well as the NFL, are doing the exact opposite of that. Tom Brady won guys. He made you all look like idiots after your 8 month long attack on his integrity. Bringing up something that happened a goddamn decade ago may add to your argument, but it's not going to enhance the legitimacy of it. ESPN is basically playing the role of the irrational girlfriend that gets proven wrong so she starts bitching about the time you left the seat up 6 months prior. Even if it's something that did indeed happen, the statue of limitations has passed on getting upset about it. 

We are talking about cheating allegations from 2000-2007. I am not saying that the Patriots weren't guilty, but you know what I call it when someone cheats 40+ times and there is no definitive evidence of said cheating, despite it occurring on such a grand stage? I call it being fucking awesome at cheating. If you ain't cheating then you ain't trying, so if you can avoid getting caught while people know you are cheating then I tip my cap to you. I don't even care if the NFL and ESPN did give the Patriots a free pass 8 years ago. That's on them, not on the franchise that took advantage of it. If a bartender gives me a drink on the house he can't go back and accuse me of stealing once the bar falls on hard times. 

Why even release this report? All it does is make the NFL look bad for covering it up for all these years, and ESPN look butthurt for waiting until after they perpetuated a bunch of false narratives on DeflateGate to release it. The main takeaway here is that NFL, an organization that has STRONG financial ties to ESPN, is a corrupt organization, not that the Patriots are morally ambiguous. It's actually impressive that two companies, that probably spend millions of dollars on public relations, managed to make a far less powerful entity that cheated for 7 fucking years look like the sympathetic party. Let it go guys. You had a decent hand, but you played it wrong. Now the whole world knows your bluffing. Just fold now before you go all in and lose whatever shred of dignity that you had left.