Quote Originally Posted by Swish
Please Troy. McGwire was using, we all know it, but steroids weren't illegal in baseball before 2002, so it doesn't matter. What Bond's did was use and lie about it to a grand jury. That's called perjury, and he could be going to the big house because of it. The FBI conviction rate is something like 90%, so I think he's going to pay the piper finally.

Belacheat used cameras to spy on teams and steal their signals. Reading lips isn't cheating, just like stealing signals in baseball. Rules aren't meant to be broken, especially not at this level. Yeah, I think a lot of your post was sarcasm, but I don't have my detector on, so let me know if I went over-the-top.

Swish
I was playing devils advocate there a little, but only a little.

I agree with your baseball comments. Bonds will go down. But there were a lot of other players, much lower profile, that could also be guilty if pressed the same way too. Perjury, yes, but what was he lying about? It's ultimately about the 'roids, and that's what people are gonna remember.

You're being Polly Anna-ish if you think that the Patriots were the only team trying to snatch other team's signals. Intercepting plays called to the QB by radio is probably illegal too. You don't think that's ever been done already? How do you enforce that? If a rule can't be policed or enforced, get rid of it.

It's not cheating if they change the rules. Changing the rules to accommodate evolving technology is usually brought about by people pushing the rulebook envelope- see motorsports. Why is lip reading legal and filming not? How arcane! These sports need to move into the 21st century.

Yes, in this context steroids and HGH etc. are part of evolving technology too. They can be masked by other drugs and I don't doubt that there are other drugs being consumed today that aren't illegal yet too. You can't stay ahead of it and you look at the alternative: scapegoats like Bonds going down in flames or even entire sports like cycling or Olympic track and field torn apart as we find out after events that every player was juiced in one way or another. SO that means that every sport is about which player can have the best concoction of drugs? If that's the case (and I think we all know it is), then let them do whatever they want and disclose it all. Legalize it.

(aside- another idea perfect for that mess they called a football game monday night: The rain washed off the lines and numbers on the field and spotting the ball was a real problem. Why doesn't the ball have a GPS sensor in it so that it can be spotted in exactly the right place, every play. There's never any question as to where it goes out of bounds or where it is at any time during the game. Every movement could be tracked in real time. Seems like a no brainer to me)

In a nutshell: yes using cameras to record signals is cheating, but it shouldn't be.

I'd like to see the Packers stomp the Cowgirls, even though I have Owens in my fantasy league. There's a term that needs to change too: Fantasy League. Sounds like I should be wearing a tutu when I draft my players.

This season has been filled with extremes. Monday night was the longest 0-0 tie in forever. It went without a score until the last 17 seconds. Miami, is looking to go winless. Then you have the Pats and their streak. Meanwhile here's 3 teams with only one loss this late in the season, which would be big news most years. Brady and Moss are on track to shatter what many have considered unbreakable single season records. You have the most rushing yards in a game ever (Peterson) and in the SAME GAME you have the longest touchdown return ever. The whole spygate thing has opened up a pandoras box of accusation and potential for the idea of other high tech espionage. It's been a very weird season.