Less than surpisingly, in the last two days leading up to the Super Bowl tomorrow the "Spygate" affair involving the New England Patriots has new allegations, new personalities, and new seriousness. This issue began early in the season when the Patriots were caught violating the rules against video-taping an opposing teams sidelines and coaches (which generally would be an effort to obtain a full enough set of teams signals so as to be able to determine in advance what plays were being called).
The result of the investigation at the beginning of the season was fairly severe (by NFL standards). The Patriots forfeited a first round draft choice, the team was fined $250k and Coach Bill Belichek was personally fined the maximum $500k. The league then ordered the Patriots to turn over all of the tapes, files, and other materials to the league.
Here is where it gets a little murky and those who love conspiracies have fun:
On the first point, the league appears to be naive at best and extremely negligent at worse. On the second point, the league simply acted with exceptional stupidly; and, honestly, contrary to convention in previous public scandals in professional sports. For example all of the evidence and materials in the famous "Black Sox Scandal" in major league baseball is retained. All of the files and information about the Pete Rose betting investigation is retained. On the last two points the league has given the strongest impression to those people inclined to conspiracy theories, that they have "covered up" a matter which would be highly embarrassing to one of the premier franchises in the league and the league itself.
One of the new allegations are that a former scout and video official with the Patriots, Matt Walsh (now a golf pro in Hawaii), has information that would be "highly damaging to both the league and the Patriots" and that he would be willing to talk to the league about what he knows.
The other allegation, reported in the Patriots "home town" newspaper, The Boston Herald, is that the Patriots secretly video taped the Rams final "walk through" practice before Super Bowl XXXIV. This is the Super Bowl where the highly favored Rams, who had one of the highest scoring offenses in NFL history, were able to score only 17 points and lost 20-17 (the beginning of the remarkable run that the Patriots are still riding).
Since we have no information on what Matt Walsh may or may not know (or how he would be able to prove any allegation), currently it is the second issue that is the more serious. If some advantage was gained by a method clearly against the rules and the results of a Super Bowl were tainted, the ramifications are enormous for the team, it's owner and personnel, and the league as well.
Now, Senator Arlin Spector, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is making noise that he will call for an investigation and Senate hearings. While this may sound like just another bit of political grandstanding, this could rapidly become a significant problem for the league. The NFL only exists in its current form and level because of a special "approved monopoly" status (something like the anti-trust exemption that Major League Baseball enjoys but much more important to the NFL). This status, in short, allows the league and its teams to market their product collectively, make television deals "as a league" and not each team on its own. The funds are then distributed among the leagues teams (several of which simply could not survive without this revenue). In short, anything that might change or eliminate that legal status (which, although unlikely, Congress could do) is a matter of significant concern for the league.
One question is why do people generally not like the Patriots? Well, no one likes perfection, it makes them (and their favorite team) look bad by comparison. But at a deeper level the Patriots bring this upon themselves. This is by any standard an amazingly talented team; but it's almost cult-like in its persona, it's eerily unreal. Everyone on the team looks the same, they say the same thing, no one deviates from the company line. There are seemingly no individual "characters" on the team (look at what Randy Moss has become in one year). Their coach is an enigmatic and powerful leader who generally does not present a friendly or welcoming demeanor. He clearly does interviews only beause he has to and rarely says anything of interest. At press conferences he seems to have a goal of simply boring everyone until they fall asleep or simply go away.
Things that would be major events and big news for players on other teams, is simply swept under the carpet with the Patriots. I mean, remember all the commotion about Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo spending a couple of days vacation (approved by his coach and team owner) in Mexico with his girl firend Jessica Simpson? Well, compare that to the Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. He dates one famous super model, breaks up with her (only to then discover she's pregnant); and now his dating another famous super model. The amount of coverage and verbage given to Brady's affairs is miniscule compared to Romo.
But beyond that this team doesn't seem to display any real joy in what they are doing. Sports is supposed to be about fun, grown men playing a boys game. It's sort of why everyone likes Green Bay Packer's quarterback Bret Farve, he clearly enjoys the game and has fun. For Tom Brady it looks like just another day at the office (can you imagine Brady laughing and throwing a snowball at a team mate after scoring a touchdown?).
This is a team that is already generally unlikeable; it's too professional, too robotic. And, if any of these new allegations are true and can be proven. The public reaction, I think, will be exceptionally severe against the team in total and against the league hierarchy.
As it pertains to the game tomorrow, I hope that Eli Manning and the Giants win.