Spy Gating Scandal

After the 2007 regular season, the New England Patriots were the first and only team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to finish the season without a blemish on their record.  They were absolutely demolishing their opponents and seemed unbeatable.  Two teams came close to beating the Patriots toward the end of the season.  These two teams were the New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Eagles were not in playoff contention however the Giants locked up a playoff birth.  After the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Giants eventually met the Patriots in the greatest stage of them all. 

Between 2002-2005, the New England Patriots had won three out of four super bowls and were a dynasty in the NFL.  After two years of coming up short in getting to the big dance, the infamous perfect season took place.  After a dominant season, the New England Patriots suffered a loss to the New York Giants on the biggest stage of them all finishing the season with an 18-1 record.  No team in the era of 16 game regular seasons has ever gone undefeated.  Of course upsets have occurred in the history of sports, however how could a team that is so dominant lose to a team less superior that they had beaten earlier in the season?  Prior to this game a scandal had also been unveiled within the New England organization.  They had been fined by the NFL for spy gating.  Spy gating is the illegal act of video taping opposing teams signals from their coaches to their players.  In turn, Patriots representatives would watch the coaches signals during the game, and then tell head coach Bill Bellicheck what the team was going to run as a result to studying the tapes.  The NFL fined the head coach their maximum fine of 500,000 dollar for his role in spy gating, the organization and owner 250,000 dollars, and rescinded the Patriots first round draft selection in the 2008 draft.  

Teams in the NFL video tape their opponents every week.  However, this is not illegal.  The video taping of the teams are not of the coaches but the players.  This is done to find out the tendencies of each player individually, and also the team as a whole.  Teams study this film in order to determine what they have to do in order to exploit their opponents weaknesses.  This is encouraged.  It prepares a team and gives them the best chance of winning.  Spy gating is an injustice to football players everywhere.  Players devote their entire lives preparing their bodies and minds in order to get the chance to play for a Superbowl championship.  The New England Patriots robbed the dreams of three teams they beat in the Superbowl due to their spy gating scandal.  Marshall Faulk, an NFL legend, was on the St. Louis Rams when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl in their dominant reign and "dynasty."  In leading up to this year's Super Bowl, he was asked about the Superbowl game that his team lost against the Patriots in 2002.  Faulk stated "Am I over the loss? Yeah, I'm over the loss. But I'll never be over being cheated out of the Super Bowl" (Faulk). 

Since being caught and reprimanded in 2007, the patriots have appeared in three super bowls and have lost all of them.  While the Patriots are one of the leagues best dynasties, their reputation is tarnished.  As a result, the NFL will be burning the tapes and will be putting all efforts in to masking up the spy gating scandal for their own sake and reputation while three teams were robbed of the most sought after prize in the NFL.