Patriots, *Bill Belichick...Cheaters!

As a new member on the Patriots bandwagon, after hearing this story, I jumped off as fast as I could!

Cheating seems to be the way of the times. To quote *Bill "If you're not cheating, you're not winning"! I think some people take that a little too far! In the case of the patriots, it reflects so bad on the team, the coaches and the owners.

Most importantly, the factor that is not mentioned, is what does it say about the great coaches(*Belichick) view of his team? On paper the athletes are in place on both offense and defense. If asked be anyone if coach thought his team were Superbowl caliber, the answer would definitely be "Absolutely!". But, I for one, am lead to believe the great coach would say something quite different behind closed doors. It would be something more along the lines of this:

We have a mediocre team in place, we are solid at some positions, but need help in others. We are good enough to win some games, but with this team in place, will not make the playoffs. We will try and trade, or buy some better athletes, but it does not look promising to acquire the level of athlete we need. In the interest of achieving a playoff and Superbowl appearance (and coaches bonus) we need to explore other options to gain an advantage on the opponent. If we have a heads up on which plays being run, then our average athletes will have a jump on the opponent and have the extra moment to react.

The team will still be good with out the tapes ( I think), and time will forgive *Bill Belichick and his cheating ways, but there will always be an asterisks by his name.

*Bill Belichick was convicted of taping opponents play signals, which is deemed cheating by the National Football League.

The Bad News in Sports Wins!

In a Summer crowded with controversy in sports, one story finally came out as a positive, a comeback kid, and something enlightening to read about in sports news. Rick Ankiel, the comeback kid. Fought back from inury, and not quite making it as a major league calibur pitcher, and trained to become a decent outfileder, good enough to be noticed and get start time.

Wow, I think to myself, finally something else to read other than Mike Vick's dogfighting, Barry Bonds steroid use, Pac-man Jones, or any of the other misfit superstars. Rick Ankiel, a real athlete, loved the game, and showed that he was still good enough to play. Battled through injury, and criticism, and finally made it! He was hitting the long ball, had a decent average, and could manage his position in outfield. For just returning to baseball, there was real promise in becoming a star again in the next year or two.

Just as the happy feelings were starting to fade, and get too boring for sports writers to write about, one of the super star investigators found of some alleged illegal doings in the comeback kid, the one positive story. HGH! So easy to find, so easy to jump to conclusions. HGH and steroid use are such an easy target in MLB, that just to mention the letters HGH, next to any players name automatically makes them a cheat and implies that they should be hung.

Everyone got what they wanted! A good negative story, the comeback kid was a steroid, HGH user, and that's how he made it back! Get rid of him, fine him, get him out of baseball for good! That is the story that was now being written.

The fact is, he was prescribed HGH, for his injury, while not playing, and before they were banned by MLB! The guy was doing what doctors told him, so he could use his arm again, nothing illegal, or malicious about it!

In the end, the negative story that people feast on was written, and ended on that note. Good luck to Rick Ankiel, and his career. Maybe one day, a good comeback story, or story on how much work it takes to become a professional athlete will be on the cover. But for now, dogfighting and jail time seem to be dominate, so enjoy!