Cheating Ways

Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots, got caught cheating. His coaches and subordinates were caught recording the defensive signals from the New York Jets. Now, if you have been following the NFL in any fashion, you know that the Patriots are en route to at least a playoff berth, if not a bye in the playoffs, if not the first 16-0 regular season. They didn't even need the edge, and there are hints that many in the NFL engage in the same types of behavior.

So, why do we even have rules, if people don't follow them? In the NFL, there are series of rules that are routinely contravened, covertly or overtly. There are rules not always enforced on the field. Watch for holding, offensive and defensive. It occurs on every single play at the line. The issue is that these players are incredible at hiding what they do from the referees, or the referees cannot call every single instance, for fear of slogging down the game and making it unwatchable.

What is the point of these rules? We have to try to impose some order on the game, else it would devolve into a fist fight. Hell, we even have rules for fist fights. No "cheap shots" like kidney punches, crotch punches, neck punches. But really, who made up that rule, that if you fight with those, you fight without honor? When your life is at stake, the rules sort of go out the window. You can always get more honor, but how can you get a life back?

At least in the context of a sporting match, we need an equal playing ground. Think about how easy soccer would be if you could pick up the ball and run with it. Baseball, if you replace the ball on random pitches with a lead shotput. NASCAR with rockets. I could be the greatest quarterback in the NFL with an assault rifle in my back pocket. Without these rules, the game becomes meaningless. These rules, more than just order, they offer a chance at substance.

Then why break them? Why make irrelevant our attempt to make it fair? If you want to win a game, you do it within the context of the game, or you do it outside that context. Going back to my earlier example, I could be the greatest quarterback, but only if I shot everyone. As it stands, I am not even the greatest quarterback in this seat right now. Even if I practiced as a child, I do not possess the physical attributes inherent within the new quarterback prototype. Right there, at those upper echelons, the game is limited to those blessed with that little extra, and we reward them with our money and our love.

If you add new ways to succeed, ways that fall outside of the rules, it definitely opens it up to more people. That sense of privilege dissipates. Let's take steroids. They definitely enable more people to play sports at a professional level. In a way, they also expand the group of elites. They remove it from the realm of fantasy, and shove professional sports a little closer to the realm of possibility.

The NFL institutes a salary cap. No team is allowed to spend more than the salary cap on their entire roster (and, of course, there are ways around that also). The theory behind that is that no team will be able to become that much better than all the rest, because they can all only spend so much. That the Patriots this year are excelling is a testament to Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli's personnel decisions. But, still, imagine a scenario wherein there is an utterly average offense given the defense's signals. That offense would perform at a much higher level. When Belichick won his first Super Bowl, he screamed something to the effect of "Can you believe we won with this bunch of guys?" At the time, the Patriots offense was being run by a 6th round draft pick, taken over for an injured and aging Drew Bledsoe. Not the most imposing of situations.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I know that, in my life, no matter how confident I am about something, anything, there will always be at least a seed of doubt. Granted, I don't have the greatest self-esteem, but even if I did, that kernel would still be there. Couldn't you imagine a scenario where Bill Belichick, working with lesser-skilled players, learning at the foot of others, started capturing defensive signals, and just got used to it? A safety blanket, too hard to shed, even at this point with an offense potentially for the ages. Who would notice? Just keep your eyes open, take some quick picks, and we'll decipher them during halftime.

Do I defend him? I'm not sure. I just offer one possible interpretation. After all, in addition to having rules, we have penalties, and the Patriots were penalized. However, did they really learn anything? The ultimate penalty, $750,000 and a first-round pick, are like a slap on the wrist. Consider that the salary cap is in the multi-million range, and that the Patriots have so much skill/luck in picking later round draft picks, that this penalty is only punitive/retributive to the average person, removed from the realities of the NFL. Hell, I'm not even sure if the penalty is more oppressive than I thought, because I have no experience in the NFL.

That is how far removed I am from the realities of the NFL. The rules serve to create a situation I cannot understand, the playing field is such I cannot compete, and the attempt to break those rules was an attempt for people still much better than me but much worse than the top tier to compete. In a way, it was all just another attempt to level the playing field, but if you level too much, you dilute, you remove what was special. Why was the cheating wrong? In the end, because if left unchecked, it would allow every last one of us to do what these people do. It would rob their actions of any semblance of uniqueness, of specialty. And that is why we must try and prevent these rules from being broken, so that we cannot participate, so we are forced to watch and appreciate the NFL.

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May or may not extend these ideas to the law at large, but I would need a bit of time to think about it. It definitely ties into my theory that people see laws as a limbo bar to walk under, and not a hurdle to leap over.