It's really hard to say what is more troubling. That Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has stuck his nose into the NFL's Spygate, a place he clearly doesn't belong? Or that the NFL, which generally has done everything right to become the greatest sports league in the country, has botched the Bill Belichick cheating scandal so badly that it deserves every bit of Specter's scrutiny and more?

First, Specter.

It's bad enough that he wasted his precious time on Spygate, which centers around Belichick, the New England Patriots coach, taping defensive signals of opposing coaches against NFL rules. Now, he is talking about expanding the investigation. In an interview with ESPN.com, he said, "I'm determined to go forward," and quoted Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) as saying he's "prepared to have the committee pay for people who travel and investigate."

I would mention something here about your hard-earned tax dollars at work, but why ruin a pleasant weekend morning?

Who knows what's motivating Specter? Maybe it is, as he says, that he's concerned about the integrity of the NFL games, although I'm not sure that should put him in the center ring of this circus. Spygate isn't like baseball's steroids scandal, which is a health issue and prompted the congressional hearing Wednesday with seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens and former trainer Brian McNamee. Spygate is a football issue and should be handled by the NFL, not the federal government.

Specter also might have ulterior motives. He is closely tied with Comcast, which is in a bitter fight with the NFL over Comcast's refusal to include the NFL Network in its basic-cable package. Maybe Specter is trying to add to his in-state popularity with Steelers and Eagles fans, who watched their team lose big games to Belichick's Patriots. Or maybe Specter is a die-hard fan himself, a guy who is looking for answers why his Eagles were beaten by the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. Maybe he just wants to know if Belichick's cheating contributed to the Patriots' 24-21 win.

I just want Specter to go away and worry about more trivial issues facing the country.

You know, like national security. Or the economy. Or the price of gasoline.

Of course, the NFL also wants Specter to go away. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the team owners are brilliant businessmen who are used to total control. They don't want an outsider meddling in league matters, even if that outsider is an influential U.S. senator.

That's why Steelers owner Dan Rooney was quick to issue a statement yesterday in support of Goodell and his handling of Spygate, this despite the Steelers losing twice to the Patriots in AFC championship games after the 2001 and '04 seasons. In September, soon after the scandal broke, Goodell stripped the Patriots of a first-round draft choice, fined the team $250,000 and fined Belichick $500,000.

"We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a nonissue," Rooney said. "In our opinion, they had no impact on the results of those games ...

"We are confident that the Commissioner has taken appropriate action in his investigation of this matter and will do so again if new information arises which requires further investigation and/or discipline."

Translation:

Belichick might be a cheat who has impugned the integrity of our game, but he's our cheat and we've taken care of it. Now leave us alone.

If only it were that simple.

Goodell brought on the scrutiny because he destroyed the evidence against the Patriots. He made it look as if the NFL has something to hide. The last thing anyone in the league wants is to have to explain that the three-time Super Bowl-winning Patriots were frauds.

But the Belichick problem goes back to before Goodell, to his predecessor, Paul Tagliabue. There have been loud whispers around the NFL that Belichick has been doing the shady videotaping since the 1990s, when he coached the Cleveland Browns. Why didn't anyone come forward to offer proof? Why didn't the NFL investigate the whispers, anyway?

Belichick admitted to Goodell that he had been doing the taping since he took the Patriots' job in 2000. His defense? He misunderstood the rules.

There's a lot of that going around, isn't there?

Barry Bonds misunderstood that he was taking steroids instead of flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis.

Clemens said teammate Andy Pettitte "misremembered" a conversation they had when Clemens allegedly told Pettitte he used human growth hormone.

Now Belichick misunderstood the rules?

Belichick might be the least believable. If an NFL coach doesn't know the rule book inside out, he's foolish. And Belichick is no fool.

Who knows what impact the cheating had on the games? I'm even more confused about that since former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, in an interview with the Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette, cryptically said, "Is it an advantage to steal signals? Yes. Did it determine the outcome of the game? No."

Say what?

Even if nothing more comes from Specter's investigation and it's never proved that the Patriots won because of Spygate, Belichick still will pay a heavy price. Just as with Bonds and Clemens, no one will look at him the same way again. His reputation has been forever sullied. His accomplishments always will carry an implied asterisk.

I'm not sure Specter or the NFL could do anything worse to Belichick than that.