The sporting world is ready to throw the book at New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.  People are tossing around words like “tarnished” and “legacy” over allegations that the Patriots have been using illegally filmed footage of opponents’ sideline signals to gain an edge on the competition.

It’s just the kind of thing that makes some people wonder if maybe Belichick doesn’t deserve the label of football genius, after all. 

But before we send the NFL repo man to take back his Super Bowl rings, we should take a second to think about what these allegations really mean.

As it stands, Belichick and the Patriots are accused of using a stealthy on-field cameraman to steal their opponents’ defensive hand signals. That’s against NFL rules, which makes it cheating.  At least technically.

I’m not condoning it or saying the NFL should look the other way, but you have to admit it that it’s a pretty lame form of cheating.  It isn’t like putting Super Glue on your wide receivers’ gloves or spraying down players’ jerseys with silicone to keep anyone from getting a hold of them (I’m looking at you, Bill Romanowski).

Stealing signs is more like scouting your opponent to a ridiculous extreme.  Which, when you really think about it, is what every NFL team is already doing, just in different ways.

Every week NFL coaches and players spend hours watching video of upcoming opponents, using computer software that breaks down each team’s statistical tendencies in each possible situation, and exploiting every conceivable advantage in an effort to be just a little more prepared than the guys on the other side of the field come Sunday.

Stealing signs isn’t illegal, let’s not forget.  It’s using a video camera to do it that gets the Patriots in trouble.

The question we should be asking before we go tearing the man down is how big a role stealing signs could have possibly played in Bill Belichick’s success. 

Was it the deciding factor in his three Super Bowl wins?  No way.  Did it make a significant difference in the game in question, where the Patriots flat out-played the hapless Jets?  Probably not.  It is against NFL rules, but it’s more embarrassing than it is an illegal advantage. 

If anything, it almost makes me like Belichick more.  It reminds me of the story about Michael Jordan playing cards with a college teammate’s mother one Thanksgiving break.  Legend has it, he was getting beat by this middle-aged woman and couldn’t stand it, so he attempted to cheat when she got up to use the bathroom.  Jordan, like the Patriots, got caught.

But that’s how much Michael Jordan wanted to win, even at a meaningless card game.

Sure, that’s kind of pathetic.  But it’s also kind of awesome.  It makes competitiveness seem like a disorder, one that has its pros and cons.

It’s like brilliant artists that can’t navigate the simple details of day-to-day life, or great mathematicians who can’t comprehend other people’s feelings. 

All right, maybe I’m getting carried away, but it’s still not a serious crime.  It’s not the reason why Belichick has been so successful as a head coach so much as it is a symptom of it.  The man will do anything to win, even bend the rules a little. 

Maybe I’m morally bankrupt for respecting that in a man, I don’t know.  But I do know that if I was an NFL player, Belicheck is the kind of guy I’d want to play for.