Goodell: I am the law

Another smackdown has been given by Roger Goodell. Bill Belicheck was fined $500,000 for videogate or spygate or spy game or whatever it's being called now. Interestingly, the Patriots themselves were fined "only" half that amount. Also, the Pats will lose either their 1st round pick if they make the playoffs or their 2nd and 3rd round picks if they miss the playoffs.

My take on this: Good call, and message sent. Say what you will about his vigilante style, but Roger Goodell means business. He's doing his best to take the riff raff and cheating out of the NFL, and he is showing no favoritism whatsoever, as evidenced by this punishment to arguably America's favorite NFL team.

There are those that may say the videotaping had no effect on whether or not the Patriots won games, or that they're "just trying to get a competitive edge," or "if you're not cheating you're not trying." All of those statements may very well be true. The fact remains that the Patriots cheated and attempted to gain an illegal advantage. The NFL's stance has to be either that this is ok or that this is not ok. If it's the latter, then they have to be penalized. Goodell is also within his rights to make sure the other teams understand this, i.e. make an example of them via stiff penalty. If the Patriots had not already been warned about this last year in Green Bay, I would agree with those that say the penalty is too severe. But as it is, they can't claim ignorance, as Belicheck attempted to do in his statement today, and I believe their punishment is fair.