joseephuss;1643645 said:
It lacked any suspension of Belichek. Even 1 or 2 games would have made the punishment spot on in my opinion. The fines were perfect as were the loss of draft picks. I never imagined they would possibly lose a 1st rounder. That part impressed me, but still a suspension was deserving. I would not say bogus, but a little lacking.
Suspending Belichek from a game would be a joke, imo, like kicking a baseball manager out of the game...everyone still knows who calls the shots. Do you really think Bellichek not being on the sideline of a game would make any difference? I seriously doubt it...for one thing, all the work for the game would already be done and the plan in place; for another thing, I'm sure he'd have some sort of communication going on.
I love the fact that he just lost 1/2 million dollars out of his own pocket. We all know the Pats are going to the playoffs, so no first round draft pick this year...that's really really huge. No one really expected it to be a #1.
I'm thrilled with the penalty, and I'm actually happy that he doesn't get to hide away from the camera this weekend...he's going to be there on the sideline, having his mug shown to viewers all over the world while the announcers talk about his cheating...he's going to have to address the questions before the game and after the game in the locker room.
For a guy like him (did you see him trying to refuse to discuss it on tv this week), this is going to be much harder on him than being suspended and being able to hide out of sight till it blows over a little. I think Goddell was either brilliant to avoid the suspension or just lucked into a more appropriate punishment. Hoodie can't hide from it....he's going to be out there in the middle of it all week long.
Very appropriate, imo.
