I have to admit that when I first heard what had transpired over the taping of a Jets walk through practice back in week one of the 2007 season I (like many others) thought nothing of it. Belichick was probably just looking for a “little edge” in competition and didn’t realize he was breaking any rules more than he was just “bending” them a bit. After commissioner Roger Goodell confiscated the tapes and met with Belichick about the issue, it seemed that taking away some draft picks and slapping a $750,000 fine on the Patriots would be the end of it. One mess up on Bill’s part….no biggie. Just punish him with a fine and we can all move on.

However during the NFC championship game, when it was reported that former video man Matt Walsh probably had even more evidence that Belichick and the Patriots coaching staff actually taped a walk through of the Rams before Superbowl XXXVI, now things started to get really interesting. The first thought that ran through my mind was I remembered the Rams being heavy favorites to win that Superbowl and having one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history at that time, only to have the Patriots shut them down in the red zone. The second thought that run through my head was this sounds a lot like Kirk Radomski, BALCO and Brian McNamee all over again. “Wow” I said to myself, “this could be big.”

“But where was the proof?” I asked myself. “If this Walsh guy doesn’t have any concrete evidence on videotape of the Patriots’ taping the Rams or any other teams walkthroughs way back in 2001, this case will not have any legs.”

And as the weeks went on and Superbowl XXXXII was on the horizon, talks of Spygate began to die down and I thought to myself, “Okay this thing wasn’t that BIG of a deal and we can move on to watching a great contest.” Until the week of the Pro Bowl arrived and semi-professional golfer and former video tape “extrodainaire” Matt Walsh was asked by commissioner Roger Goodell to meet with him and come forward with his side of the story. Then…and this is what really got to me….out of nowhere Belichick and Patriots’ vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli broke their silence about these “illegal videotapes”, with Belichick saying he “ never even heard of such a thing as videotaping an opponent’s walk through ever being done before” and that he “couldn’t pick Matt Walsh out of a lineup”. Scott Pioli also stated that part of the reason for Walsh’s firing was because of Walsh secretly tape-recording conversations. Tape recording voice converations?!? Of what?!? Dinner plans and a list of nice restaurants to get some good clam chowder and baked potatoes in downtown Boston?? The whole timing of Belichick’s and Pioli’s statements and the fact that some sort of “secrecy” in voice conversations even HAD to be take place and BE recorded had me thinking that “this is just too fishy. It smells like something is trying to get covered up on the part of New England.”

And now, all of a sudden, this controversy and potential scandal has new legs to stand on. If Walsh meets with Roger Goodell and produces evidence (which looks more and more everyday like he will) that shows Belichick didn’t tell the commissioner the whole truth and nothing but, Belichick could be suspended anywhere from eight games to a full season…..possibly even more. Perfect…..just perfect.

Truly I have now come to realize that two of America’s greatest sports in history have been given a huge “black eye” over the past several years because of these alleged cheating scandals and drug using. And I am not sure how either can or will fully recover. With the hearts and minds of the American public now fully “betrayed” and “disheartened”, potentially knowing some of the greatest moments in baseball and football history over the past decade were most likely “tainted” because of either illegal steroids use, videotape or God knows what else…..what else is there to turn to for pure, wholesome sports gratifiacation? History as we know it, as well as legacies, look to now be “tarnished” at the blink of an eye as a result. And with the economy and the war on Terrorism going fully into the crapper in their own right…..just what has become of our once Great Nation?

Whatever the answers may be, I sincerely hope the Patriots and Belichick can clear their names and be proven innocent so we can just all move forward from this “circus” in professional sports and concenrate on what really matters….the passion, rivalry and intensity with which American professional sports bring us to the edge of our seats everyday.