Belicheat breaks silence on Spygate.

[Jimx29]

"I take responsibility for it," he continued. "Even though I felt there was a gray area in the rule and I misinterpreted the rule, that was my mistake and we've been penalized for it........."I misinterpreted the rule. The commissioner made his ruling and we've been penalized for it and tried to move on."

That's totally inappropriate. It's lewd, vesivius, salacious, outrageous......

[Tyrone Bigguns]

"Just going back over the whole taping incident, if I contacted the league and asked them about the practice, I'm sure they would have told me - as they have done - that it is not permissible.

In other words, Belichick was saying ---I knew it was wrong, and that I would be told by the league that it was wrong, so I didn't ask. That way, if I got caught doing what I knew was wrong, I could profess ignorance and they would let me off the hook.---

It recalls the old russian maxim: better to ask forgiveness than permission.

That's fine if it is something that has to be done, or something that you will do regardless. He claims to have believed that what they did was in compliance with the rules, while knowing that the league would tell him it was not permitted. He did what he knew the league would not allow.

It seems to me that if you do what you know would not be permitted you are pretty unethical in the conduct of your actions.

We are on the same page. Find it hard to believe the "genius" suddenly was stupid.

[The Leaper]

I agree. I don't believe Belichick, but the wording gives him a way out.

Only if you assume Belichick is retarded, which some might suggest based on his wardrobe selection alone.

[sepporepi]

Article 9 of the NFL Constitution & Bylaws states "any use by any club at any time, from the start to the finish of any game in which such club is a participant, of any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited, including without limitation videotape machines, telephone tapping, or bugging devices, or any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game"
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Where is the gray part?

I think the term use is the problem. Billyceat can define "use" as the watching of the tape, photos etc. Since they did not look at the material before midweek after the game they did not "use" the "information-gathering equipment" from "the start to the finish of any game".

Personally I think this is complete bullshit. For me the taping is also "use". But my guess is that this is the "misinterpretation" he stated.

[MJZiggy]

Well, I suppose if you don't consider a video camera information gathering equipment, but I don't see the wiggle room in the statement. It says no form of electronic devices during a game. Whenever they watched it, they used the video equipment during the game.

The taping is electronic equipment. And Pater's got a good point. He knew what he was doing wasn't allowed; he said as much. He's just trying to slime his way around a rule so it won't stick to him as he goes by it.