Taking the easy way out

I'm hearing the same thing from the New England mail baggers that I heard during the Nixon Watergate hearings:

? What's the big deal? In politics everybody does it.

? You bleeding-heart liberals are trying to bring down a great American.

? So what would they really find out anyway? What's the competitive advantage? You still have to go out and get elected.

Before I get into those cop-outs, I mean, those seriously expressed thoughts, let me mention something a bit more apropos. The Punishment. Also known as the Judgment, or The Sentence. Boy are the Patriots' wrists gonna hurt. That was some slap that Sheriff Goodell gave them. Our E-mailer of the Week, Robert Fargher of Burnaby, B.C., feels that the wrath of the league should be more clearly expressed. "Does the Commish have the power to take the win away from the Pats?" he asks, a shocking point of view that I was pondering myself, actually.

Sorry, Bob, or would you prefer Robert? In a rare case, I guess it could be done, but handing the Jets a victory like that would have too much effect on the other teams in the league. I guarantee the screams would first resonate in the league office on Park Ave., head north to 135th St., take a left turn to Broadway, right again and north, all the way to Yonkers, where they would still be audible.

But that supposed penalty? Gimme a break. A player is found guilty of using a performance-enhancing substance and he sits for four games, which could cost him more than the 750 Gs for which the Patriots got hit. But when a team, especially one whose owner, Bob Kraft, is such a strong figure in league affairs, is guilty of using performance enhancers, no one gets suspended for any time at all.

OK, now that I got that out of my system, I'm ready for all you Watergate Patriots e-mailers. Step right up.

Tom of Portsmouth, N.H. -- Why is what the Patriots did worse than using binoculars and a pen?

Because they aren't illegal. Video equipment is.