Sound Familiar?

Bill Belechick

You've got to be kidding.   That was my first reaction as a Patriots fan to the allegations that footballs used by the Patriots in Sunday's AFC playoff game had been inflated below the minimum allowed pressure.   I stopped laughing at the situation when I learned that eleven footballs were involved and it must have happened after the footballs were inspected for that game against the Colts.   Given the humiliating sanctions and fine imposed after the Patriots' 2007 so-called "Spygate" scandal, head coach Bill Belichick can no longer afford to be so characteristically tight-lipped when answering questions.   NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is also under pressure to investigate and proceed with any punishments.   This is not the first time Belichick and the Patriots could be in violation of league rules.   Given this history, credibility is very much at stake.   I know there are football fans that are sick of hearing about nothing but the Patriots and Tom Brady, but it is hard to see how this possibly deliberate infraction won't hang over this year's Super Bowl like the Goodyear blimp.    If true, the question remains: Why would a team that won so decisively in the last game feel the need to engage in dirty tricks?

Then my second reaction kicked in.   Do Belichick or perhaps the Patriots culture remind you of the Nixon administration?   In 1972, the outcome of the Presidential election was never in doubt, yet GOP operatives conspired in the Watergate break-in and the resulting cover-up led all the way up to Nixon himself.   It didn't have to be that way.   Is it arrogance, paranoia or a drive to win that supersedes everything else?