May 9, 2008 3:02 pm US/Eastern
Columnist Says Suspend Belichick For A Year
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Bill Belichick (File photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
Getty Images
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Roger Goodell
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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Matt Walsh
Kaanapali Golf Resort/WBZ
A New York Times columnist thinks the NFL should suspend New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick for one year for Spygate.
In a Friday column with the headline,
"A Decade of Sins Deserves a Year Out" Harvey Araton claims that the punishment of a $750,000 fine and loss of a 2008 first round draft pick was clearly not enough.
Now that former Pats video assistant Matt Walsh has turned over his tapes and the details have been public, showing that Belichick has been taping coaches since 2000, Araton says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to do more.
He writes:
"Now that the "totality of conduct" for which Belichick was cited by Goodell has officially expanded to the length of his tenure in New England, shouldn't he be further punished as a serial offender, a con man who not only broke the rules but established secretly taping opponents as standard operating procedure?"
The tapes sent to the NFL show the Patriots recorded signals in regular-season games against Miami, Buffalo, Cleveland and San Diego from 2000-02, and against Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFC championship game.
"This is consistent with what the Patriots had admitted they had been doing, consistent with what we already knew," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said earlier this week.
Goodell reportedly sent out a league memo to teams in 2006 reinforcing the rule against this specific kind of videotaping.
Araton says that should have been enough to stop Belichick. He writes:
"To which Belichick at the very least responded by videotaping the Jets in the 2007 season opener that touched off the so-called Spygate affair, now encapsulated in its own online entry of the same name on
Wikipedia.org."
"In other words: embarrassment to the league in perpetuity, courtesy of its team of the decade and reigning coaching genius."
Belichick has always maintained he misinterpreted that rule.
Walsh will meet with Goodell next week.
The Patriots have had no comment.
WBZ's Jon Keller has something to say about the column. Read his blog
here.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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