The Patriots Spying Brouhaha

One of the scandals of the early 2007 football season has been the revelations of spying by the Patriots. It's been dubbed CameraGate since it involves illegal videotaping during games. The Patriots videotaped the signals of the Jets during week 1; the league caught them and punished them.

The media was riveted by this story, but I somehow managed to avoid paying attention to most of the ensuing controversy. My primary exposure to the media hype has been through the writing of Bill Simmons, a Patriots fan who has been fed up with the way sports commentators have piled on the Patriots. I can see his point, but I have some doubts about his defense of the Patriots. For example, he said on September 17, "If this pattern of inappropriate behavior had been happening for six years, wouldn't they have been caught before Sept. 9, 2007?"

I thought the Patriots had been caught before illegally videotaping during games and had been warned not to do it anymore. They may not have been stealing signals earlier, but that seems unlikely. It would be nice to get clarity on this point.