The Wall Street Journal- A Family Quarrel re Spygate

[Kentucky Jet]

THE DAILY FIX

By CARL BIALIK AND JASON FRY

'Spygate' Between Pats, Jets

Is Really a Family Quarrel

September 12, 2007 12:01 p.m.

What did the New England Patriots know and when did they know it?

The NFL has reportedly determined the Pats cheated by videotaping the New York Jets' coaches sending signals during Sunday's 38-14 Pats win -- New England video assistant Matt Estrella was approached by league security officials during the game's first quarter and had his camera and videotape seized. Sanctions could include suspensions, fines, and lost draft picks -- the last an old standby for football misdeeds.

What's the advantage of videotaping signals, anyway? In the Boston Globe, Mike Reiss offers a primer in paranoia -- and a road map of the borderline-incestuous Pats-Jets family tree.

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Found a good column or feature from the world of sports? Got something to say? Don't keep it to yourself -- write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we'll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can also click here to subscribe to the Fix via email.That tangled family tree isn't a sideshow -- in the New York Daily News, Rich Cimini writes that Jets coach Eric Mangini, formerly one of Pats coach Bill Belichick's assistants, arrived last year with inside knowledge of the Pats' sign sleuthing, and it was the Jets who tipped off NFL security. Mr. Cimini supplies lots of dirt, including juicy details about an under-the-grandstand dispute that eventually came to involve Mr. Estrella, league security, Jets security, Pats security and New Jersey state troopers. (Yes really.)

The Pats have long been suspected of skullduggery (though the Fix should note that calling your opponent a cheater is often the last refuge of the beaten), and the incident has brought out the long knives of Belichick detractors. Sticking with the Daily News, Gary Myers says the coach, if guilty, should be suspended for the Pats-Jets rematch in December.

"He should not only be suspended for a game, but just as important, be banned from the Patriots facility for the entire week leading up to the game," Mr. Myers writes. "No meetings. No practice. How could the NFL keep Belichick away from his team? Since the league is always thinking of new marketing tools, one club official suggested, 'An NFL-sanctioned ankle bracelet.' It would have to be color-coordinated, of course, to match his hoodie with the sleeves cut off."

That's mild compared to MSNBC's Bob Cook, who also wants Mr. Belichick suspended, but for "a bad attitude that has played out in ways that makes Terrell Owens queasy.