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The fallout continues over NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fining New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 (and the team another $250,000 and at least one draft choice) for using videotaping equipment in a Sept. 9 game against the New York Jets.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]I can't believe Roger Goodell let Bill Belichick off so easy. The Patriots get caught cheating and all they have to do is pay a few bucks and lose a draft pick? Where was the suspension or forfeit?
John Hansen, Burke
Half a million is nothing to sneeze at. Nor is taking a first-round pick -- if they make the playoffs this year. Still, a one- or two-game suspension would have been more appropriate.
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I'm struck by the difference between the coverage given to Belichick and that given to Michael Vick or any of a number of other athletes. Belichick compromised the integrity of America's most popular sport by tilting the playing field of competitiveness. Michael Vick supported dogfighting. It didn't impact football except in the area of image.
Joel Dubow, Arlington
I wouldn't even compare the unsportsmanlike skulduggery of Belichick to the crime committed by Vick.
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Your making light of the charges against Belichick is disappointing. Equating seeking an advantage -- hoping to cause a fumble or other similar one-upmanship -- with deliberate cheating and knowingly breaking the NFL rules are two different things. George Allen might have been paranoid but I do not recall that he was ever accused of being a rule breaker and a cheat. Belichick should have been suspended.
Jim Riddle, Ocean Pines , Md.
In his career as an NFL head coach, Allen was often accused of not playing by the rules. On one occasion, the NFL penalized the Redskins a draft choice because Allen traded the same draft choice twice.
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The Lerner family naming the press box at the new Nationals Stadium to honor Shirley Povich is richly deserved. As a confirmed Povich addict for 60-plus years, I attribute my lifelong love of reading primarily to him. Of one of many woeful Clark Griffith baseball teams, he once wrote: "Although not having a major league pitching staff, they don't hit or field very well either."
Bob Moss, Silver Spring
An honor richly deserved.
