Kraft Pleased: Paper Says He Only Cheated A Little

I am glad that Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, feels "vindicated" after the Boston Herald published an apology for reporting that the team had taped the Rams' 2002 Super Bowl walk-through as a part of the worst-named controversy in history - Spygate.

Apparently the paper printed that among the eight tapes that a Pats former employee was turning over to the league was of the practice, which would have amounted to cheating in the Super Bowl. The NFL would not have taken the Super Bowl title away. They didn't force forfeits in of any of the games they have proof that the Pats were cheating in, and they wouldn't have started with the Super Bowl!

The report wound up being false, the tapes showed they cheated in eight other games, including the 2002 AFC Championship game, but not the Super Bowl. So I can see why Kraft feels vindicated. I mean, anybody would be ok with cheating and then being called a cheater, but how dare they call him a huge cheater!

After reviewing this new set of tapes, the NFL has ruled that the Pats cheated a number of times between 2000-2002 and then again in the first game of 2007 (when they got caught), but no other times. Never mind that between 2002 and 2007, a number of teams said they suspected the Pats and the Packers even said they caught the Pats cheating but didn't report it. Never mind that it was essentially the same staff during all of this time. Never mind that it was apparently working very well when they used this strategy, and they didn't get caught until a former Pats assistant didn't like them doing it to his team.

It makes complete sense that despite all that, the Patriots just stopped cheating for five years and then resumed at the Meadowlands last Fall. It makes sense that Belichick would wait all that time and then break out the old illegal video-taping technique again against a very bad team that was coached by his former protege, who now hated him, and who would have known the Pats would likely cheat. It also makes complete sense that Belichick stopped the apparently effective taping for five years despite that he insists he was not aware that it was illegal.

I am sure that the Patriots did not cheat in every single one of those games between 2002 and 2007. I am sure that the fact that Walsh did not have tapes, and the Pats did not turn in tapes from those years means that there are none and it never happened. That makes complete sense. Even though they cheated and got caught, then lied and said those were the only times they'd done it...and then it was discovered that tapes from at least eight more games existed, why can't we all trust them on their word that now they really mean that there were no other instances?

How dare the newspapers accuse the Patriots of being huge cheaters and liars when it is clear that they are only big fat cheaters and liars. Good for Kraft to come out of his castle to show his disdain for the press at having the audacity to call it like they saw it.