Posted by | Madison | in News

My initial response to Roger Goodell’s lenient “punishment” for VideoGate was that it was a race thing.  All the players who have received suspensions have been black and Goodell must have been blinded by Belichick’s whiteness that he couldn’t suspend him.

Yeah, I went there.

But I was wrong since Goodell has already suspended Wade Wilson, a white coach.  But when you look at Wilson’s suspension, it just further calls to light how easy MachiaBelichick got off.

Wilson, who is diabetic, purchased what is believed to be HGH, not to distribute but for his own personal benefit as HGH helps regulate blood sugar.  His punishment was a five game suspension and a $100,000 fine.

MachiaBelichick, lucky enough to coach one of the best team in the NFL, still felt it was necessary to break the rules and resort to video chicanery to gain some sort of competitive advantage.  He was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,000 and they have to forfeit draft picks depending on how they do this year.

Wilson is obviously wondering why Belichick got off so easily.  And he’s got a point - let’s take a look at how inconsistent the punishments are:

Wilson has been suspended for five games and fined 33% of his 2007 salary.

Belichick was not suspended and fined 11% of his 2007 salary.

I know you Patriot fans are saying, “But what about the other fine?  What about the draft picks?”

Please…

As I already said, having the Patriots forfeit draft picks doesn’t actually hurt them that much since they have two picks in the first round.

And I know $500,000 is a lot of money but losing $500,000 when you’re making $4.5 million is a lot easier to handle than losing $100,000 when you’re making $300,000.

Why the disparity?  I don’t know why but in this moment, I am reminded of Kanye West: Roger Goodell doesn’t care about diabetics.