Patriot Penalties
As the Daily News resident Patriot fan, I've been asked what I think would be an appropriate penalty for the team's videotape scandal. The league, of course, will likely offer its own sanction tomorrow, but here's what I'd do if I were the commissioner.
1. $1 million fine on the team.2. $50,000 fine on Coach Bill Belichick.
And, here's the biggie:
3. Forced, retroactive forfeit of last week's game against the Jets, the game in which the Patriots were actually caught cheating.
Thus, even though the scoreboard after the game read Pats: 38, Jets: 14, the record books would record the Jets as the winners, and the Patriots as the losers.
This penalty seems fair, kind of like how, in school, if you were caught cheating on a test or an assignment, you would be given an F for it. Unlike taking away future draft picks -- which penalizes future squads and/or coaches for their predecessors' actions -- this would place the punishment squarely on the shoulders of those responsible. And the thought of an automatic defeat would certainly be enough to deter the Patriots or other teams from trying this kind of thing again. (So would the financial sanctions.)
The forfeit would also impose a genuine hardship on the team, but not an impossible one. In football's 16-game schedule, every game counts. Getting an L instead of a W would definitely complicate the team's chances of a playoff berth or home-field advantage, but it wouldn't doom them. The Patriots would still have something to play for, and fans would still have reason to watch, which a more draconian penalty could take away.
So there you have it. From a totally objective, unbiased source. (Go Pats!)