The extent of the cheating is unclear. The team apparently used a cameraman to record other teams' signals -- a violation of NFL rules, to be sure, but differing only in degree from what all teams do all the time. Sending scouts to spy on opposing franchises, monitor hand signals, decode audibles -- this is all part of the modern game. The video recordings might have given the Patriots a slight edge, but it's hardly the difference-maker. (It also seems not to have been a factor in last week's game, as the cameraman was apparently busted before he could have ever done anything with the tape.) Still, cheating is cheating, and now all of Patriot Nation is embarrassed and disgusted.

Patriots Coach Bill Belichick -- a disagreeable genius who puts winning above all else -- has always been a master of finding new ways to get an advantage over other teams. In this case, I suspect, he thought some legalistic parsing of the words would make his offense amount to something less than a violation of the rules. But by all indications, that explanation isn't going to fly with NFL brass.

At last, Belichick's arrogance seems to have caught up with him. What he did wasn't just unethical; it was idiotic. The team he got busted for spying on was the New York Jets -- coached by his own former assistant, Eric Mangini, and boasting a video staff that included two former Patriots videographers. They knew what Belichick was up to because they were in on the gig when they worked for him. Trying the ploy against them was a recipe for disaster. But as they say, sin makes you stupid.

Which leaves us Pats fans ... where? Say it ain't so, Bill. How can we keep on rooting for you?

Well, it's not as though I pulled for the Pats because I thought they were the most virtuous team in the world. Heck, it was abundantly clear they weren't when they ruthlessly cut fan favorites to save money, drafted a guy who once stomped on an opponent's head, traded for the NFL's biggest prima donna, and got busted when one of their best defensive players was caught using a banned substance. No, I rooted for the Patriots because they were my hometown team; because I grew up rooting for them; because, despite living 3,000 miles away, cheering for the red, blue, and silver helped me feel connected to a region I'll always love.

This is why, for fans, it's hard to be objective about such matters. Our emotional investment tends to preclude rational thought. I find that I must consciously resist the urge to downplay or water down the charges against the team. Yet if it were, oh, the hated Indianapolis Colts that committed this infraction, I'd probably be calling for heads. Fans are like that. We really do think every referee's call against our team is a miscarriage of justice. And a ball that lands outside the lines really does look like it's in play when your team's victory depends on it.

So I admit my biases here upfront. Still, as damning though the litany of the Patriots' abuses -- dating well before the videotape scandal -- may sound, it's hardly aberrational for today's NFL.

Which points to the bigger problem: Pro football itself. I love the action and the lore, but there's much about the game not to love: Celebrity egos. Crippling injuries that result in decades of arthritis or worse. Severe head traumas and concussions that can lead some players, like ex-Patriot Ted Johnson, to get early Alzheimer's. A win-at-all-costs mentality that turns coaches and players into workaholic, absentee husbands/dads. A billion-dollar industry that's fueled by and fuels the worst kinds of consumerism and greed. Sleazy halftime shows and sleazier commercials on TV between plays. The games are great, but at what cost?

More and more, I feel like the NFL -- and the Patriots -- are a guilty pleasure. I enjoy watching the games, but I increasingly wonder if I should. I delight in sharing the sport with my young children, and yet I find myself wondering if it's really a healthy influence. Sports can teach a lot about some important virtues -- discipline, sacrifice, sportsmanship, teamwork -- but in pro sports today, the NFL in particular, those virtues seem to be increasingly clouded in vice.

Still, though my loyalty is tested, it endures, at least for the time being. I'll watch the Patriots' much-anticipated, Sunday-night match-up against the San Diego Chargers, and I'll root for the red, blue, and silver. Old habits and affections die hard. Besides, misery loves company, and now I can connect with millions of fellow Pats fans back East in our shared sense of shame.

Plus, in the big scheme of life, it's only a game, right? And did you see how good this year's team looks?

PS -- Read the always-enjoyable Bill Simmons' take on this story over at ESPN.