What other pro sports team do we hear about this with, though? The Heat, Lakers, Yankees, Seahawks, Cowboys of the '90s? Sure, many were hated as much as the Patriots, but we only hear about things like this, at least with this regularity, with the Patriots.

This isn't sour grapes coming from me. The Pats have never been the reason the Packers didn't go to/win the Super Bowl so I really don't care in that sense. I resent that this, or any team, seems to have such a trail of mischievous behavior, or at least questionable circumstances following them.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

What other pro sports team do we hear about this with, though? The Heat, Lakers, Yankees, Seahawks, Cowboys of the '90s? Sure, many were hated as much as the Patriots, but we only hear about things like this, at least with this regularity, with the Patriots.

This isn't sour grapes coming from me. The Pats have never been the reason the Packers didn't go to/win the Super Bowl so I really don't care in that sense. I resent that this, or any team, seems to have such a trail of mischievous behavior, or at least questionable circumstances following them.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

I think you asked a question that answers itself and if not, I feel I have already explained the reasoning in an earlier post. None of the teams you listed off were great for over a decade with a coach that people liked to hate. You also listed off teams in sports that America doesn't really give a damn about relatively speaking of course. The NFL is the monster of America and they have a team that has been dominating for over a decade with six Super Bowl appearances with four championships.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I mentioned the Cowboys and Yankees, 2 that have easily been hated as much as the Pats, likely more, yet no smoke like this. I get your point about the NFL, and not many have sustained success like the Pats aside from Dallas, and maybe the Ravens, Pitt, or the Pack...again, no accusations like the Pats have seen.

Deflategate bored the hell out of me and I couldn't care less about that, it's the obvious willingness to repeatedly circumvent rules. This is more than ESPN trying to get hits to appease advertisers.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

5 teams claim Pats tampered with headsets 

Tampering charges go back as far as 2007 

Locker room espionage - includes headset jamming reference BEFORE Steelers 

Those are 3 articles outlining headset jamming by the Patriots, including the last article which ISN'T EVEN ABOUT HEADSETS! It's about reported locker room espionage. It's common knowledge that if you go to Foxboro, the visiting team will lose communication. Vic Ketchman has been saying this for MONTHS. This isn't just Tomlin being pissed he lost the game This is what PFT had to say three days before the Steelers game

Along with the jamming of radio signals — something many coaches around the league have complained about for so long it seems desensitized — the story paints a picture of the lengths the Patriots would allegedly go to.

Spying, deflating, headsets, locker room spying. That's four legitimate complaints raised against this franchise. What other dynasty has had more than one? Cardinals and stealing the Astros' scouting info, the Spurs sitting starters (and that's not even cheating), and maybe the Saints' bounties. I can't think of anything else - yet the Pats have FOUR accusations against them. Explain one or two away? Sure, fine. However, this is just way too many for me to feel like it's all coincidental and bitterness about losing.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

I mentioned the Cowboys and Yankees, 2 that have easily been hated as much as the Pats, likely more, yet no smoke like this. I get your point about the NFL, and not many have sustained success like the Pats aside from Dallas, and maybe the Ravens, Pitt, or the Pack...again, no accusations like the Pats have seen.

Deflategate bored the hell out of me and I couldn't care less about that, it's the obvious willingness to repeatedly circumvent rules. This is more than ESPN trying to get hits to appease advertisers.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

When the Steelers’ coaches headsets malfunctioned on Thursday night in New England, it was treated by some as evidence of cheating by the Patriots. But several NFL head coaches said on Friday that in reality, headset problems are commonplace around the league, and not just in New England.

“It’s a league problem. It’s wherever,” said Panthers coach Ron Rivera. “It will go out right in the middle and not just here or in New England or in San Francisco, but it could go out in a critical time.”

Said Texans coach Bill O’Brien: “It happened in Dallas, it happens here, it happens wherever I’ve been.”

Said Eagles coach Chip Kelly: “I’ve heard a lot of things on the headsets, I think there’s a lot of frequency issues some places. I’ve heard air traffic control and a lot of different things.”

Said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett: “That’s certainly been a part of having to deal with game day situations, throughout my career as a player and a coach.”

Said Jets coach Todd Bowles: “It’s happened a bunch of other places. There have been times when the headsets have gone out, it wasn’t New England, I can’t remember the places we’ve had it, but we’ve had some of those headset problems.”

Said Lions coach Jim Caldwell: “It happens sometimes, sometimes there are quirks and technology is not always perfect. Things pop up. The problem is if you’re not prepared for it. If you’re not prepared for it, you’re going to have some issues.”

On Friday morning, it appeared that the NFL was about to have another scandal on its hands in the form of “Headset.” But as Friday wore on, it began to look more like the NFL just has a problem common in a lot of workplaces: The communications technology doesn’t always work properly.

Michael David Smith  wrote: