Patriots Videogate: The Arrogance of Bill Belichick

For the past week, I’ve had a grin on my face wider than the gap between Michael Strahan’s two front teeth.

Normally, I’d be pretty morose in the days following a Dolphins loss, but Videogate has warmed me to the core.

There are few things I like more than seeing the high and arrogant knocked down a notch.

On Sunday, the New England Patriots got exactly what they had coming to them.

Yes, I’m talking about the same unassailable Patriots who for years have had their feet and buttocks kissed in supplication by commentators and analysts around the league.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Before I continue, let me get this out of the way: I hate the Patriots.  I loathe and detest them too, for good measure.

This is something of a new development. While I have always viewed the Pats as rivals to my Dolphins, it wasn’t until the start of the new millennium that the rivalry turned into revulsion.

What caused this change of heart?

To put it simply: Tom Brady and Bill Belicheat.

With those two at the reins, the entire Patriots organization has been engulfed in a fog of smug arrogance and assumed genius. Belicheat is viewed as an unquestionable mastermind, correct and indisputable in all decisions.  Brady is looked to as the Boy Wonder...and when he struggles it's inevitably someone else’s fault.

Amidst all the praise, though, I couldn’t help but stare incredulously at the issues being swept under the rug.

For years I've been calling out the Patriots a dirty, dishonest, and deceitful organization. Few have listened to me.

Until now.

Perhaps NFL fans would be less stunned by Videogate if it had happened to a historically nefarious team like the Raiders. If they’d have looked close enough, though, they would have seen that the telltale signs were there in New England.

Here’s a sampling of recent indiscretions committed by Belicheat and Co.:

* Not including Richard Seymour on the team’s injury list despite the fact that he didn’t even travel to a game.

*Attempting to make an “agreement” with Vikings head coach Brad Childress that each team would refrain from signing the other’s released players to their practice squads.  That constitutes tampering, of course.

*Openly mocking and disrespecting the league’s rules concerning attire and appearance by donning a raggedy team sweatshirt at almost every game, practice, and press conference.  Hey, he’s wearing team-issued clothing, right?

*Similarly mocking the idea of media obligations.  If you’ve ever watched a Bill Belicheat press conference, you know it’s about as insightful and genuine as the new Bratz movie.  Look, I’m sure no coach looks forward to answering the media’s questions, but it’s a large part of connecting with a team’s fanbase.  Belicheat conveys the sense that he can’t stand to be bothered by people so inferior to him.  He couldn't care less about the fans.

*Opposing teams’ headsets and radio communications mysteriously malfunctioning in Foxboro.

*Rodney Harrison, one of the dirtiest players in the league (anyone remember him spitting in the face of Randy McMichael?) being suspended for HGH.  Somehow, he justifies it by saying the drugs were used to help him heal faster.  And healing faster isn’t a competitive advantage how?

The issue of illegal videotaping is itself nothing new in New England. In fact, it dates all the way back to 2000, the first year of Belicheat’s reign.

Coincidence?

Hardly.

In the final game of the 2000 preseason against the Buccaneers, the Patriots videotaped all of the Bucs’ defensive signals.  The two teams played each other again the following week to open the regular season.  When Tampa Bay won, Pats offensive coordinator Charlie Weis was overheard telling Tampa defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, “We knew all your calls, and you still stopped us.  I can’t believe it.”

Just last season, New England was suspected of videotaping their opponents on at least two occasions.  When the Lions played in Foxboro,

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