updated 9:13 p.m. ET Jan. 11, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The asterisk the Jacksonville Jaguars had on their web site next to New England’s perfect record, a mark indicating the Patriots were caught cheating in one game this season, has been removed.

The Jaguars, who play at New England in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs Saturday night, decided to removed the asterisk Friday.

Jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman put the asterisk next to the Patriots in his weekly “power rankings.” Ketchman said he put it there in “an attempt at subtle humor.” It remained there, mostly under the radar, for four months.

That changed this week, when several media outlets turned the asterisk into a story.

“All of a sudden, the subtle humor was gone,” Ketchman wrote Friday. “All of a sudden, the asterisk was being treated as though it was critical commentary.

“Retracting our position? No way. Hey, it was up there for four months. There’s no retracting that. The jaguars.com executive committee just decided ... to take it down because our position had become distorted.”

Ketchman added that he “never thought an asterisk could cause such a disturbance,” citing all the e-mail he received this week from angry Patriots fans.

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