Argue if you will whether the penalties that Roger Goodell levied on Bill Belichick and the Patriots  for their videotape spying on the Jets were sufficient.

If you haven't heard by now, Belichick was nailed for $500,000, the maximum for a coach. The organization was tagged for another $250,000. And New England forfeits either a first-round draft pick if the Pats make the playoffs or second- and third-round choices if they do not. The Patriots happen to have extra first- and third-round picks in the 2008 draft anyway.

Look, the $250,000 fine to the team is immaterial. That's about what you'd pay a rookie making minimum salary. The shot to Belichick's wallet is an ouch. It has been estimated he makes about $4 million a year so that's a 12 percent hit. But that's not nearly as severe a hit as what Dallas assistant coach Wade Wilson will suffer (assuming his five-game suspension is unpaid), which will be closer to 30 percent. And Wilson was hit for buying human growth hormone after his was finished playing, contending it was for health issues related his diabetes. Hardly an issue of competitive advantage, unless he was supplying players, and that hasn't come up.

What really is irritating about Belichick is that he obviously doesn't get it. He doesn't get this whole thing about wrongdoing. His admission of culpability is no admission at all. Read his statement. He's sorry for the embarrassment and distraction and the penalties that resulted from the incident. Meaning he's sorry he got caught. And he says he takes "responsibility."  But responsibility for what? In his words an incorrect "interpretation" of the bylaws and constitution. What a novel approach to a guilty plea. The only thing missing was a resolute declaration from Belichick that ,"I am not a crook!"

Photo credit:  Vctoria Arocho/AP (Belichick), Associated Press (Nixon)