People still get "Spygate" wrong. Here's the Spygate Executive Summary: * The NFL rule said you can't...
People still get "Spygate" wrong. Here's the Spygate Executive Summary:
* The NFL rule said you can't use "information gathering equipment" that "might aid a team during the playing of a game."
* The league sent a memo saying that you could not record from the field, because that might facilitate the use of the material during the game.
* The Patriots disregarded the memo, and followed their interpretation of the written rule: they recorded from whereever they felt like it, and did not use the material during the game.
* The NFL interpreted the rule not in terms of whether the material was actually used during the game, but whether it might be used during the game. And the memo was designed to outline how "might aid a team" would be interpreted: if on the field, it might be used, whereas upstairs, it wouldn't be.
* The NFL affirmed that the Patriots never used the material during the game.
* All teams record the opposing teams, both before this incident, and after. They never stopped doing it. It's perfectly legal. But to stay within the guidelines designed to ensure you don't use the material during the game, you have to do it from a specific location.
That's it. There was no cheating. There was no league allegation of cheating. The NFL even admitted that the Patriots didn't cheat. The Patriots did violate the league's guidelines -- designed to give a bright line for "might aid" -- for how the rule would be interpreted, and got severely punished for it.
But there was no cheating. Period.
* The NFL rule said you can't use "information gathering equipment" that "might aid a team during the playing of a game."
* The league sent a memo saying that you could not record from the field, because that might facilitate the use of the material during the game.
* The Patriots disregarded the memo, and followed their interpretation of the written rule: they recorded from whereever they felt like it, and did not use the material during the game.
* The NFL interpreted the rule not in terms of whether the material was actually used during the game, but whether it might be used during the game. And the memo was designed to outline how "might aid a team" would be interpreted: if on the field, it might be used, whereas upstairs, it wouldn't be.
* The NFL affirmed that the Patriots never used the material during the game.
* All teams record the opposing teams, both before this incident, and after. They never stopped doing it. It's perfectly legal. But to stay within the guidelines designed to ensure you don't use the material during the game, you have to do it from a specific location.
That's it. There was no cheating. There was no league allegation of cheating. The NFL even admitted that the Patriots didn't cheat. The Patriots did violate the league's guidelines -- designed to give a bright line for "might aid" -- for how the rule would be interpreted, and got severely punished for it.
But there was no cheating. Period.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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