Who's More Stupider? The Pats For Cheating Or The Jets For Knowing About It And Not Changing Their Signals

You probably won't hear much bitching about Belichick's spying from tubby here.
After a 1700 word tome on the subject, you may be thinking to yourself "Gee Smittblog, doth protest too much?" And I have the answer: Yes. I'm am overdoing the defense of the Pats on this one. It sucks. I hate putting myself in this position but when assholes in the NY print and radio media just tee off on the Pats (and I'm not saying they are not well within their rights to do so), I feel compelled to respond with whatever scintilla of retort I can muster. So here goes...

It is reported in the New York Daily News today that the Jets knew about the Pats videotaping of opponents' sidelines because they used to do the same thing (link from the Hartford Courant as the NY Daily News site is tweaked) when Mangini was an assistant under Belichick, so Mangini knew how to find the video guy:

Jets coach Eric Mangini knew what to look for. He and several members on his staff previously worked under Belichick.

"[The Jets] knew they did it," an unidentified source with knowledge of the situation said in an e-mail to the New York Daily News. "They caught the guy a year ago, but couldn't do anything about it. When Eric came, he said that's what they used to do. Bill is going to be [ticked] at Eric. He kissed and told."

Couple things that strike me about this and then I'll try and never speak of it again. First, Mangini was on a staff that did this while he was on the Pats. So he is not above reproach. Second, given that Mangini was aware of the practice and on a team that utilized it, it is not implausible to believe that he employed his own shady spying measures. And third, and most damning, if the Jets knew about the Pats ploys and somehow it affected the outcome of the game, the Jets are stupid. Spying isn't exactly "spying" if the person you're trying to deceive knows you're doing it. If you know someone's spying on you, then YOU now have the advantage. You can use dummy signs, use a decoy sign guy or a couple of them. You have the advantage and now control the information that the other team thinks it is receiving. USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE, MORON. Or you could get the videotape guy removed from the game, have the tape sent to the league office and publicly humiliate your former mentor. That's another option, and a pretty effective one at that....