You’re probably right about that, too. I just know, that, as someone pointed out, coaches in all sports try to steal signs. I didn’t know if its all illegal, or kind of like part of the game: just the same way pitchers and catchers are trying to deceive the batter about what the next pitch will be and the quarterback tries to fool the other team about the play, that maybe it was part of the competitive battle of strategy to defeat those signals. If not, then your analogy is very effective. Could it be that there are legal ways of counterspying and the use of film is illegal because it gives too much of a capability?
That's it exactly.
Apparently, there's nothing wrong with trying to overhear the signals, or read lips (which is why coaches cover their mouths), only in using electronic equipment to record the signals.
Something else Belichick's defenders keep forgetting is that leagues were specifically warned about this by the Commissioner and the Pats kept right on doing it.
Does this tarnish his legacy? Certainly. What's bizarre is that he probably didn't need to do it.
I look at it a little bit like Barry Bonds, who was one of the best natural athletes who ever played baseball. He'd have been a first-ballot hall of famer if he didn't ever pick up a needle, but he decided that he needed to cheat to stay in the game a little longer, or to go from "elite" to "once in a generation" or whatever fool reason he had.
As highball notes, that's exactly it. It's a fine line being drawn in an attempt to separate what can be done by the mind and what technology can do for you. The line is drawn different places, and probably isn't very consistant, but that is likely the line the NFL is attempting to draw.