Pats to Colts: Cheaters!

So it has come to this. The Pats are accusing the Colts of piping in crowd noise during yesterday’s game, making it difficult for the Patriots to hear their offensive signals. This is not the first time someone has accused the Colts of such malfeasance, and this appears to be the latest in an ongoing tug of war for the very soul of professional football. Or, to put it another way, the Patriots hate the Colts, and vice-versa.

Here’s the best part:

Observers at the game said there seemed to be a “skip” in the sound during the game Sunday, which the Patriots won 24-20. That might confirm the long-held suspicion among many people in the NFL that the Colts play loud crowd noise to help distract opponents when the other team is on offense.

You mean to tell us the Colts can’t even cheat right?

In the past, Indy football honcho Bill Polian has accused the Patriot defensive backs of roughing up the Colts receivers, which led to a specific rule change. He also allegedly, exhorted his team to break Doug Flutie’s leg, while watching the 2005 game in the press box.

(Side note: I have sat near Polian in the press box of another city and while I didn’t hear anything similar to the Flutie incident, he is a tad, uh, animated. Unprofessional would be another adjective we could use.)

The league says they are investigating, and while it will be interesting to see if ESPN Page 2 columnist Gregg Easterbrook uses the occasion to compare the Colts to say, fascist Italy, one shouldn’t hold ones breath.

What’s next? Fake snow from Killington imported just for the playoffs?

UPDATE: CBS is claiming credit for the “skip.” Odd, though that Bob Kraft and the Patriots traveling party would have made the claim based on a production snafu since they were in the building at the time. Rest assured that the Cold War between the two franchises won’t be thawing any time soon.