Spygate always was a tempest in a teapot. Even if they win three more SB's it will never satisfy those who want to hold on to it. Its the politics of personal destruction, as they say. Maybe we could ask for congressional investigations just before the game. Nah, thats silly.

Bob since when are dynasties popular nationally?? Other fans don't like the Patriots because they're sick of seeing them EVERY FREAKIN' YEAR in the Super Bowl. The media hates Belichick because he refuses to kiss media bum. (that's why we love Belichick) "Envy" not Spygate is the real culprit here. Oh and Bob still waiting for your media types to adequately explain to the audience how Spygate was a rules infraction, i.e. perfectly legal videographer who broke a rule by being on the sidelines instead of 25 feet away up in the stands. That's ALL Spygate was. It wasn't the action, it was the location. And yet you media types have never clarified that and have spun this story out of control because you don't like Belichick. Goodell slapped down Belichick because of him ignoring a league memo on that very rule, i.e. Belichick was fined for his arrogance not for his minor rule infraction. Why won't you in the media ever tell the truth about this?? This is why we don't like you any more than you don't like Belichick. You're dishonest!!!

Bob, Low Blow!!!

The Patriots were penalized because they videotaped, from the sideline, the opposing team. If they did the same act from the stands it would have been legal. In other words, they could have obtained then same information legally. The real reason they were penalized was Belichick wouldn't listen to Goodell and Goodell felt compelled to establish his power. The only crime Belichick is guilty of is arrogance. In addition, I wonder how the real football fan views Belichick. My guess is they admire and respect him. The superficial fan and the media jump on the "cheater" bandwagon.

You would have to believe that someone just below the level of typist in the estimation of the eminent and sorely missed George Frazier would write such tripe. And, to think, Ryan had a month to practice, yet surfaced just long enough to bore us with the same old, discredited, hackneyed column he wrote last year and the year before and the year before that, ad nauseum. (In medical circles, it's called Shag's disease) His bizarre obsession with Bellichick coupled with the undeniable fact that Bill exposed Ryan as a fraud and drove him out of the newspaper business without even trying, is bordering on pathological. If you recall, Bob, he of the infamous Al Skinner and Joe Thornton columns, (but nary a one on Jeremy Jacobs/Harry Sinden) attempted, in the penultimate example of journalistic hubris, to run Bill out of town in a spring 2008 column. Later that spring, with Bob in attendance at a Celtics playoff game, Bill's picture was shown on the big screen and his ovation surpassed that of any Celtic player. A real man would have left the Garden showered in embarrassment, but Bonsai Bob stayed till the end, as usual, terribly wrong, delusional and agenda driven, but never in doubt. Poor Bob, now, I suppose whiling away his dotage waxing up baseball cards in the cellar, and, utilizing David Halberstam’s superbly written book on the undeniable greatness of Bill Bellichick as a fire starter. He would be better served writing a column about Larry Bird and his being included as a deadbeat dad in SI or a warm and fuzzy remembrance of his idol, Roger Clemons. Fat Chance. In the end, it comes down to this: Take spygate out of Ryan's vocabulary and he is, in my view, practically illiterate.

I imagine Belichick's interest in the court of public opinion is roughly as great as his interest in providing sportswriters good quotes:  his interest seems to be winning for the sake of winning.

I further suspect he would say, what happens in Ryan's realm happens, he has no control over it, and it doesn't change the way he prepares every week.  Or, most likely, the way he lives out the rest of his life.   

Spygate clearly had nothing to do with the ability of the Pats to win game after game - including their Superbowls.  What it does do is give people who hate the Pats for other reasons (Pats winning too much, Belichick being a jerk to people in too many ways to list here, Brady being too good to be true, etc) an easy way to 'rag' on the Patriots.  It's like a 'talking point' in politics.  No facts needed to back up the charge and no way you're going to change the person's opinion.

Bob, enough about how spygate and Belichick ruined the Patriots in the court of national public opinion! Who cares! We got it! The nation will hate the Patriots as long as they continue to win, and you the media will continue to hate Belichick because he doesn't kiss your behind. Looking forward to this same article next year!

By the way, you may have noticed no one reads or comments on Bob's columns anymore, unless he mails in a "quoye, unquote" column on fanatasy football. To clarify the Bonsai appelation, Bob, in insisting for the past several years that baseball was still #1 in this town, when even he knew better, reminded me of the World War 2 enemy soldiers sequestered in caves on remote Pacific islands, still firing at American troops months after the war was officially over.

Envy is the driver and Spygate the vehicle.

Jimmy Johnson said every team in the league did the same thing. Get over it Bob. You Are the best but this Spygate thing is silly.