Integrity Takes a Holiday

May 14, 2008, 8:48:33 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

It was several years ago that I got the chance to spend some serious time with the man who ran the N.C.A.A. He had been part of college athletics for decades and during that time so much of his efforts and those of others were directed at rules. Creating rules, changing rules, enforcing rules … it was a never ending fight.

“Year after year, we try to stop cheating with new rules and legislation,” he said. “We are always reacting to what’s happened; some new loophole or transgression is always on the horizon.

“It will never end because you can’t legislate integrity.”

The NFL learned that lesson again on Tuesday. No matter your view, it was not a good day for the league shield and what it stands for.

After months of anticipation, Commissioner Roger Goodell finally met face-to-face with Matt Walsh, the former video department employee of the New England Patriots. Since early February, it was rumored and written that the Patriots had taped the St. Louis Rams walkthrough practice on the Saturday before the Super Bowl in February 2002.

It was all part of the controversy surrounding the illegal taping operation run by Patriots coach Bill Belichick for the better part of this decade. The against the rules program cost New England its first-round selection in last month’s NFL Draft, plus $750,000 in fines when the league caught them at the start of the 2007 season.

After months of legal wrangling, Walsh finally told the NFL what he knew. It wasn’t much that the league did not already know. There was no tape of the Rams in New Orleans and according to Goodell; Walsh said he was not told to tape the workout. He produced tapes of other games and instead of destroying them as the NFL did back in September, the league made them public.

Some pundits called it much ado about nothing. Wrong. Walsh provided us with several nuggets of information. The most important was this: he was told by his superiors that while he was taping opposing coaches flashing signals, he was to be careful that he was not caught.

Belichick has stated to Goodell and publicly that he believed he was within the NFL rules by doing the illegal taping. The fact is this: the Patriots head coach and his minions knew they were on shaky ground; why else would they advise Walsh not to get caught?

At the start of the 2006 season, the NFL sent out a league directive that now seems aimed entirely at Belichick. Without naming the Patriots, it made it very clear that the team’s taping practices were against the rules. I’ve read the memo from the desk of league official Ray Anderson and there’s no wiggle room there.

Belichick knew what he was doing was against the rules and the only employee willing to talk about the taping says he was told not to get caught. So Belichick is either incredibly arrogant or remarkably stupid.

We all know he isn’t stupid.

It comes down to one simple fact: someone either has integrity or they do not. There are not degrees of integrity. Just like a woman can’t be a little bit pregnant, someone cannot be said to have a little bit of integrity.

Sadly, what happened Tuesday was another reminder that one of the game’s most revered and successful coaches suffers from a lack of integrity.

For anyone who reveres the NFL shield, it was a very sad day indeed.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.