Belichick's cheating could lead to dark days....

[Capper]

The situation with the National Football League is a lot worse than people realize, and the only one who seems to grasp this fully is commissioner Roger Goodell. You don't issue emergency orders backed by threats on Sunday morning of a game day, as Goodell just did regarding the New England Patriots' files of cheating information, unless the situation is a lot worse than people realize.


Why is the situation worse than people think? Because the NFL is on the precipice of blowing its status as the country's favorite sport. The whole NFL enterprise is in jeopardy from that single word: cheating. It's the most distasteful word in sports. And now the Patriots have brought the word into the NFL.

Think the NFL can't decline? Fifteen years ago, the National Basketball Association was going up, up, up by every measure and was widely considered the gold-plated can't-miss "sport of the next century." Since then, NBA popularity and ratings have plummeted while NBA-based teams have floundered in international competition. At the moment of its maximum success, the NBA became overconfident and arrogant in ways that need not be recounted here. Key point: There was no law of nature that said the NBA had to stay popular, and it did not.
Today the NFL is king of the hill in sports status, ratings, merchandising and association with the American psyche. There is no law of nature that says the NFL has to stay popular. Overconfidence and arrogance could be the downfall of the NFL, too – and we might be on that precipice. People will always watch and play football, of course. But nothing guarantees that the NFL's version of football must remain the super-successful money machine that it is today. There could be autumn Sunday afternoons in the near future in which the overwhelming majority of Americans couldn't care less what NFL games are being shown. Fifteen years ago, sports-marketing types would have said "impossible!" to the notion that only 11 percent of American households would watch the NBA Finals, which is what happened this June. Plummeting popularity for NFL broadcasts seems "impossible!" right now, but might happen fast enough to make your head swim.


Criminal behavior by NFL players, haughty owners who demand public subsidies, negative press for the union, coaches who snarl at the public instead of acting grateful for their privileged positions, insufferable egotism from multimillionaire athletes: All these things can be overlooked as long as the games themselves are good. If the games themselves are tainted, the NFL could tumble with amazing speed. And now there is a cheating scandal – cheating by the team that presented itself as the epitome of the sport – which calls the games themselves into question.

ESPN Page 2 - TMQ: Dark days in the NFL

[Jokerswild]

It doesn't help that the new commissioner didn't hit the Pats with a heavier penalty. Come on cash and a 1st round draft pick that will probably be towards the end of the first round. Yea that'll teach them a lesson. Doesn't make a lot of sense to let them off easier for something that effects the integrity of the game than players receive for off field crimes. Lets see Vick is probably never going to play again ( which doesn't bother me ) for running a dog fighting racket that has no effect on the game and players get suspensions for substance abuse but the Pats get a slap on the wrist for cheating. Ok that sounds fair.

[Capper]

I actually think they should have shared all the information with all the teams.....level the playing field.

Its a sad testimony to the state of our society, when talent and hard work aren't the traits of a winner, but steriods, HGH, and cheating is.

[Jokerswild]

Well between this and the referee in basketball that was betting on games and lets see Pete Rose and Denny McLain in baseball I'd say there is no integrity in any of the sports and unfortunately it's all just a microcosm of our society as a whole. I won't get into politics because that will just make me want to throw up.

[Capper]

Well, guess that didn't affect their level of play a whole lot, did it?

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by Capper

Its a sad testimony to the state of our society, when talent and hard work aren't the traits of a winner, but steriods, HGH, and cheating is.

This usually isn't associated with college sports, which is why I stick to them. If it ever is, it's dealt with. Last thing a college needs to bad publicity anyways. To hell with the "pros"