Cheating is cheating.

I cannot believe I have to say this again. Seems just yesterday I was making the same point.

But it was not yesterday it was twelve years ago. Twelve years ago when these same New England Patriots were caught illegally videotaping another team.

Then it was the 4-12 New York Jets, now it is the 1 and 12 Cincinnati Bengals. See a trend here?

These were teams that they clearly did not need help to beat. Yet they did it anyways.

And there is this from Judy Batista on NFL Network:

“People who have looked at that (#Patriots) video at the league level feel there is nothing on that video that you could not glean from seeing just a regular television broadcast or seeing the coaches tape.”

And?

Any benefit the Patriots may have gained is besides the point. That is not the question.

Simply put they cheated. They knew what the right thing to do, what the right way to go was and once again they chose to go the other way.

Over the last few days I’ve seen person after person say that they are being competitive. That they are just doing anything to try to win.

They tell me winning is everything. Winning is the only thing.

I do not remotely believe that is true.

Integrity matters.

What you do, what you say makes up who you are.

If you know what and you decide they do not apply to you then any victory you get from that is somehow hollow.

Sadly more and more people come down on the other side.

I know some are sitting there thinking ‘but it’s just sports’.

It is never just anything. These thoughts and behaviors they trickle down into the rest of our lives.

Once we begin to accept the unacceptable in something as simple as sports then we begin to accept it everywhere.

Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.

Right now in this world everyone is watching.

Integrity matters.