AREN'T YOU MISSING SOMETHING?

by Sean
(Boston, MA, USA)

I'm a Pats fan AND I'm against cheating (simply don't understand how anyone can enjoy a victory while cheating). But every time this subject of taping is brought up I am amazed by a simple fact: the signals are there for everybody to see so anyone can steal signals without taping!

I mean, seriously, all I have to do is have a few people watching the signals and taking notes. They can write down exactly what signals correspond to each play. It's like leaving your Mercedes unlocked in Queens. What do you expect?
And is anyone so naive to think that this wasn't being done?

The only other comparison I can make is a poker player who lays his cards upright on the table and asks everyone else at the table to constantly look away.

So the system itself was seriously flawed, and that is why any team would have to change their signals on a weekly basis.

Now, filming during practice is an exception because that's spying. But, unless a team changed it's signals every week you really only need to write down their signals on game day.

For example, if the Jets were to be playing us in week 5, I could have my "note takers" attend all of the Jet games from week 1 through 4 and take notes on signals and plays. By the time our game comes we would have a pretty good idea of what every signal means.

And since taking notes is not breaking the rules (and is in my mind the same as looking at the poker player's cards laid out before me, because to my way of thinking the poker play should hide his cards, as should the Jets hide their signals or change them every week), I am simply taking advantage of a seriously flawed security system.

Which is why the system has now gone digital, which it obviously could not have been earlier.
But in the end, you really have to wonder how anyone can seriously expect someone not to take advantage of such a flawed system, which leads me to believe that everybody did. And this would explain why the NFL burned the evidence, because let's face it, it was their system.

As for Bill B., he could simply justify his actions with a feeling that it's every team's responsibility to either hide or change their signals. Although he has no valid excuse for either using tapes or doing so during practice.