WTF is This shit? From NY TIMES:

Patriots Suspected of Spying on Jets’ Signals

Remember the border war between the Jets and the New England Patriots? A new chapter may be added with suspicions that the Patriots spied on the Jets during the teams’ season opener.

The National Football League took a tape and video camera from a Patriots employee on the sideline during Sunday’s game at the Meadowlands, and it is investigating whether the Patriots broke league rules prohibiting taping an opponent’s signals on the sideline.

The New England employee, who was not in the pool of designated camera operators permitted on the sideline to shoot footage of the game for use by local stations and Web sites, is suspected of shooting video of Jets coaches’ signals to players.

The camera and tape were sent to the N.F.L.’s office in New York for investigation. Neither team would comment yesterday.

No video recording devices of any kind are permitted in the coaches’ booth during the game, on the field or in the locker room. If the N.F.L. determines that the Patriots broke the rule, they could be fined or lose draft picks.

The video that photographers shoot on the sidelines for use on Web sites and scoreboards is not the same as the game film that is used by coaches to prepare for opponents.

A similar incident happened when the Patriots played in Green Bay last year, according to the Packers’ director of public relations, Jeff Blumb. A member of the Packers’ security team spotted a person on the field carrying a video camera who was wearing an official Patriots credential — those are usually given to members of a team’s staff — but not wearing the colored vests given to photographers.

The Packers asked the Patriots employee to put away his camera. After some initial resistance, he complied, Blumb said. The employee stayed on the field, taking still pictures, Blumb said.

“As to what he was doing, I couldn’t say,” Blumb said.
Blumb said the Packers did not seize his videotape, and nothing came of the incident. The Packers and the Patriots rarely play each other and there would be little competitive advantage to be gained if the Patriots stole the Packers’ signals.

The Jets are not likely to let a similar matter go as quickly, though, because the teams are fierce division rivals, and the relationship between Jets Coach Eric Mangini and Patriots Coach Bill Belichick has grown frostier since Mangini became the Jets’ coach last year.

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[Connery]Belichick. Bill Belichick.[/Connery]

Doesn't surprise me at all, I hate those wankers. Fuck the Patriots!!!

Shows you the level of confidence they've got in their game.

Or they could break a convict out of jail for a day just to have him snowplow a clear path for their field goal attempts

Heh Cleetus..
I still cant believe they got away with that.

Looks like LT is either still butthurt over last years playoff loss or really gettin ready to bring it.

LT- "I think that the Patriots actually live by the saying 'If you're not cheating, you're not trying.'"
SOURCE

Vizz.. Squeelers looked good last weekend. Dec 9 should be fun.

It was over 25 years ago, but they did the same thing when Grogan was QB. They beat the Jets like 44-3 in the game or something [first meeting in 1979].

The verdict is in From NY TIMES:

Sideline Spying: N.F.L. Punishes Patriots’ Taping



The National Football League fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 yesterday, and the team will forfeit its first-round draft pick in 2008 if it makes the playoffs, for violating league rules Sunday when a Patriots staff member was discovered videotaping signals by Jets coaches during the season opener at the Meadowlands.

The Patriots will be fined $250,000. If they fail to make the playoffs, they will forfeit their second- and third-round picks in 2008.

“This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field,” Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to the Patriots.

N.F.L. policy prohibits the videotaping of an opposing coach’s signals, and no team has ever been caught spying before. Last year, the N.F.L.’s executive vice president of football operations, Ray Anderson, sent a memo to all teams reminding them of the rule. The memo is believed to have been generated in part by suspicions that the Patriots had videotaped coaches at several games last season.

The harsh personal punishment for Belichick, the largest ever for a coach and the league maximum, is a clear rebuke to a coach who, after winning three Super Bowls in the last six years, is considered among the best ever, but whose aloof style has earned him plenty of detractors.

The day before the punishment was handed down, Belichick seemed to acknowledge wrongdoing without admitting it. He said in a statement, “Although it remains a league matter, I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected, most of all ownership, staff and players.”

Goodell said yesterday that he did not believe that the Patriots’ owner, Robert K. Kraft, was aware of Belichick’s actions. But Goodell penalized the franchise anyway, because, he said, Belichick has “substantial control over all aspects of New England’s football operations.”

No team has ever had to forfeit a first-round draft pick.

The impact of losing high draft picks could damage the franchise for years and could outlast Belichick’s tenure as head coach. His contract status is a tightly held secret. Nobody is even sure if he is signed past this season, and Kraft and Belichick have both danced around the question of how long Belichick would stay on.

During his investigation, Goodell determined that because the tape was seized before the end of the first quarter Sunday, it did not have an impact on the Patriots’ victory over the Jets. But Goodell said that the N.F.L. would now closely monitor the Patriots’ coaching video program.

“I specifically considered whether to impose a suspension on Coach Belichick,” Goodell wrote. “I have determined not to do so, largely because I believe that the discipline I am imposing of a maximum fine and forfeiture of a first-round draft choice, or multiple draft choices, is in fact more significant and long-lasting, and therefore more effective, than a suspension.”

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"The only real crime is getting caught"

I read that earlier. That's a lot of money. What does he earn per year/season, anyone know?

No idea. His contract is guarded like some nuclear secret. Whatever it is, I'm sure he can afford it after three Super Bowls. Kraft's got deep pockets.

Yeah, I'm sure he can afford it. Hell, the Pats might even pay for him. The league wouldn't allow that high of a maximum fine for coaches if they weren't making million plus. I'm just curious what percentage of his salary this fine will eat up.

In '06 Forbes had him making 2.8 mil a year.

ESPN said over 4 mil

That makes sense. The '06 salary I read about was the last year in his contract so a considerable raise would be in order.

Bullshit. Its not going to hurt the Pats anyway. The penalty is way too steep.

This is typical of why I gave up pro sports years ago. Bunch of cheaters, dog-killers and gangbangers playing these days.

Team Mascot. He got to run around in one of those big fuzzy costumes.

Damn, ya'll are teh funnay.