Dan's Papers - September 21, 2007

Last Sunday afternoon, during the second quarter of the New York Jets vs. New England Patriots football game, security guards walked down the Patriots' sideline and accosted a man in street clothes who appeared to be videotaping the hand signals of the Jets' Defensive Coach who was standing across the way. The guards took the camera away from him, put it into what looked like a metal lunchbox, wrapped it with white medical tape to secure it and took it up through a gateway into the back of the stands where, eventually, it got into the hands of the Commissioner of Football.

The next day, word got out that the man accosted was Matt Estrella, a Public Relations Department employee for the New England Patriots organization. And this was not the first time he had a video camera taken away from him. Two years ago, during a game against the Miami Dolphins, he had made a big scene with security when a video camera was taken from him. Nothing came of that. But this time, after the Commissioner watched what was in the taped metal box, he vowed that this time he would hold a hearing to see what the Patriots had to say, and if it was found they were taping hand signs and if it was within his power to punish the Patriots, he would. This could result in high fines and the removal of first and second round draft picks next year, which is the occasion where coaches take turns selecting college players for their teams. Losing draft picks could potentially cripple the Patriots for a decade.

During the next few days, columnists for some of the New York dailies suggested that the game, which the Patriots won by a wide margin, be replayed. But what good would that have done? Anything learned from the video recorded in the first quarter couldn't be analyzed before the middle of the second. And by that time, the Patriots were far ahead. Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady was throwing the ball with pinpoint accuracy. And the Patriots, signals or no signals, were already taking apart the Jets. The Patriots, after all, have won the Superbowl in three of the last six years.

On the other hand, it was also noted that one of the Jets defensive backs commented at halftime that Brady seemed to know in advance what defensive configuration the Jets would put into effect on each play. How could they do that?

What was most intriguing, to me anyway, was the fact that there are so many other ways to steal signals. The coaches pat their heads, raise fingers, cross their arms, stick out their elbows. It's right there to be seen, by both the offense and defense. Opposing coaches have been stealing signals for years.

Also, it's totally possible for anyone in the stands to videotape what's going on with any particular coach and then send it on or report to the bench what they have seen. Indeed, up in the owner's boxes sit the strategists for each team, with earphones on and microphones at the ready. There's guys all around the place with or without binoculars looking to see what is what, and although I haven't seen it, I suppose in the owner's box, too.

I was also intrigued to learn just exactly how videotape helps a coach. Well it can, late in a game. The videos could be sent back to a communications truck and analyzed. They did this and then the team did that. They could perhaps count on an opposing defensive coach offering up the same signal to get the same result later in the game. Advantage offense.

I also remember that one of the most famous moments in sports has been determined to be the result of somebody stealing signals. In examining the 8 mm films of the most famous game in baseball ever played, the game where Bobby Thompson of the New York Giants hit a homerun in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Dodgers for the National League Pennant in 1951. There was a guy with binoculars in the centerfield stands stealing the catcher's signs and, with his own hand signals, forwarding that information to the Giants dugout. Old timers that were on the Giants' roster at the time have confirmed this. Thompson knew what Branca was going to throw at him. And it was low-tech.

And to be perfectly honest, with television and computers, its possible to steal almost any sports information at any time.

What prevents, for example, an interested party watching a prize fight on TV and phoning what is being said by the coach to a boxer between rounds to somebody with a cell phone standing right behind his opponent?

The camera moves in as the boxer sits down on his stool. He is given water to swish around in his mouth. A cut man puts astringent goo on a laceration over his eye. And his trainer says, "When he comes in with his left, he's a sucker for a right uppercut. Try it in the next round."

"He's gonna try to sneak in a right uppercut," the man with the cell phone at the other corner says.

And almost always, when a basketball game ends in a tie and they are about to start the overtime, the TV cameraman manages to get a peek inside the huddle on the sidelines where the coach is explaining the upcoming play to his team. And he's usually drawing on a small chalkboard, which everybody can see.

"Ratliffe, you swing around here, but it's a fake. Charles, break in here and the bounce pass comes right to you, then lateral back to Hennings following behind and there you go.