Stop Snitchin' is the Credo in the NFL

at least among coaches.

Okay, it's really not the same thing as people who live in innercity neighborhoods who are strongly encouraged not to cooperate with the police and prosecutors. NFL coaches and front offices will cooperate with the league when asked or else they'll find themselves without draft icks or in some doghouse somewhere. But then again, they don't find themselves going to the authorities when they see bad things happening, or, at least, that's what the credo about Peter King writes in Sports Illustrated this week.

What do you think? Should teams tell the league about other teams' transgressions or should they try to work it out amongst themselves?

Well, two teams last year did call the Patriots last season on what's now become the most publicized fascination with tape since the Nixon Administration and Watergate, and, guess what? It apparently didn't work, because the Pats continued their tried and true old tricks this year. Perhaps they did promise two NFC teams whom they won't see again for a while that they won't illegally tape events in the future. But perhaps they didn't say they wouldn't do it again, period. If that's the case, do you have a choice? Don't you turn them in because they were warned?

Rex Ryan, the defensive coordinator for the Ravens and Buddy's son, makes the most sense when he says that coaches should spend their time on how to beat the other team rather than how to disguise their signals. He's absolutely right about that.

When, or how, will this scandal finally go away?

Well, here's one solution. O.J. Simpson did make bail, and he allegedly has a weapon, so there's no telling what he might do. As Dustin Hoffman's character in "Wag the Dog" said about a president whose administration was in trouble and needed a distraction, "What we need now is a pageant."

Indeed.