Senator Arlen Specter is going after the NFL for the way the commissioner handled the Spygate scandal. Specter especially didn't like that Goodell had the tapes destroyed, saying, "The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game. It’s analogous to the C.I.A. destruction of tapes."
Here's my question to Mr. Specter: Exactly why is this such an important issue to you?
I love the NFL, but should we really be criticizing Goodell for the way he handled the taping issue? Sure the commissioner could have done more, but after penalizing the team and coach Bill Belichick a combined $750,000 as well as a first round draft pick, what would you have had him do?
Goodell saw the tapes and gave the punishment he felt was appropriate. Specter, like much of the public, might want to crucify the Patriots, but the commissioner knows that would only be ridiculous.
He saw those tapes, he knows the advantage that could have been taken from them was not great, and he also knows one of those Jets coaches turned and waved to the camera. This supposed great crime was acknowledged and not thought much of.
After seeing the tapes, Goodell made his call and dealt out the Pat's punishment. And that was that until our good friend Sen. Specter decided it wasn't enough. Now this whole thing is going to get dragged out even more.
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It wasn't bad enough that the Patriots' entire season was in question. It wasn't bad enough that their previous Super Bowls were questioned. As long as Bill Belichick is the Patriots head coach anything and everything they do will be questioned.
After Specter's announcement it came out that the Patriots may have taped the Rams run through before their Super Bowl. Would it have come out had Specter not picked at the Patriots scab?
More importantly does anyone really believe that all that much was gained from the possible filming of a run through? Sure, it might be true that the Rams ran some of their redzone offense.
Even more importantly: Did those plays really look the exact same on the field as they did in the conference room with many of the players in suits?
During FOX's pregame show Jimmy Johnson talked about how, as a coach, he always expected someone to be watching him. That's why he always made sure that he ran plays he had little to no intention of using during run throughs to try and fool the other team.
Did Mike Martz really run those seven red zone plays during his run through that he ran in the game and make it clear he was running them in the game? Probably not.
There is also the one point that seems to get passed over far to much: The Patriots can not be the only team that has filmed other coaches to try and get an advantage.
To think that only one team in the NFL tried to get that kind of advantage is not only naive, but foolish. The difference between the Pats and the rest of the league is that they're the only ones who got caught...and by caught really I mean ratted out, but that's another matter.
This whole issue is being dragged out far beyond what is necessary. Goodell dealt with it and the league and the public should move on, including Senator Specter, who has no business in this private matter.
It's one thing for these government officials to go after steroid users who have broken the law, but no law was broken here. The game's "integrity" has not been challenged. If nothing less, Goodell proved that he is willing to not only deal with this problem but significantly penalize it.
Basically I'm just trying to say that Senator Specter should grow up and realize that there are better ways to spend his time in office. This issue will not be resolved because he threw his hat into the ring. If anything it will only make matters worse.
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9 months ago
The pats didn't get ratted out.... they were caught red handed taping the Jet's coaches in practice with the intent of gaining an unfair advantage. If there was no advantage to having the tapes, then why were the patriots risking their reputation and fines to get them? Everyone has acknowledged that having an idea of the coaches hand signals as to a line up or a play call could be a huge benefit. Remember these games often come down to one or two plays. Saying that other teams may have done it, is a poor excuse to not investigate a team that was caught cheating.
Get your fact straight. Goodell did not see the tapes and hand out the punishment. The punishment was handed out before Goodell ever saw all the evidence-- part of Specter's complaint that the NFL's investigation seems fishy. Who hands out a punishment before all the evidence is assessed? It's obvious to everyone involved that the NFL cares much more about perserving their multibillion dollar industry aka reputation, as opposed to finding out the truth. If a full investigation proved that the patriots cheated since 2000, that would cost the NFL billions of dollars in advertising, lawsuits, etc.
9 months ago
As to guessing what the ramifications were or the extent of the cheating, the only way to find out is through a thorough investigation. Put players and coaches under oath and have them have to risk jail time if they're going to lie. Imagine an assistent coordinator for the patriots that gives detailed information on how they cheated, and how it worked, and whether or not if effected the outcome of the games.
I think the american paying conssumer, and fan has the right to know. The NFL's anti trust status allows them and their franchises to make over 24 billion dollars through 2011. I think we all understand that the NFL has no intention of taking an investigation any further. Why would they? It's a lose lose situation for them. If the players, coaches, and management swear under oath as to the extent of the cheating, then I'm happy. I'd sleep well at night with the knowlege that if other information came out in the future (like a taped phone call with a player and a coach) that this would put those people behind bars for lying under oath. I think that is more then fair. If it comes out throught the depositions that Belichick authorized cheating on multiple occasions, and benefitted from it, he should be banned from the game. I'm not going to watch another football game until spygate is handled.
9 months ago
Great comment, who cares whether you sleep or not, and who cares whether you watch a football game or not, your comment is from a man who hates the Patriots, sly Mangini ratted on his mentor, created this spygate scandal, the Jets camera man was caught by the Patriots, and admitted by low life Mangini by saying they gave us permission to tape, when the Pat's were asked about that they said no permission was given and was told to leave the premises, get your facts right.
9 months ago
We are in a war, have a lot of pressing economic and social issues, and a Senator is spending his time worrying about cheating in football? I trust that Goodell and the rest of the league are going to keep this on the down-low, much the same way that Harvard doesn't publish statistics on violent attacks on campus - its not good for the bottom line. People might like hating the Pats, but do you really want most of New England pissed off and tuning out the games because the Pats have been punished so hard they can't compete? But I do trust the league to make sure cheating is punished, and that a severe ethical breach is punished hard. Belichick and the Pats were punished severely here - and probably not as much for the advantage they gained, which is likely minimal, but more for the arrogance displayed by ignoring the league memo. Senator Specter, with two PA teams - the Steelers and the Phillies, that have lost to the Pats regularly (maybe the Senators from Indiana should get involved as well), and a huge donation from Comcast, no fan of the NFL network, seems to be preening for the press, not anything more than that. Where was the oh-so-ethical Senator when that NBA ref was caught gambling, with a major suspicion that games, including PLAYOFF games were fixed? I didn't hear a peep from him then...
from 9 months ago
No one cares about the NBA
How many NBA office pools have you been in lately?
9 months ago
The people that spend their hard earned cash on this multi-billion dollar enterprise deserve some kind of action from the authorities. Even if nothing comes of it, Spygate is certainly worth looking into.
Specter has every right to call Goodell on the carpet. The issue at hand is that some teams and/or individuals in America's most popular sport may be engaging in unsavory and - possibly- corrupt activities.
The Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls in the past 7 years and almost just won another. If they are 'cheating' then it needs to be exposed and dealt with.
9 months ago
I would have liked to have seen Roger Roodell stand up to Sen. Specter. He is the leader of the NFl, he conducted an investigation, and he made a decision. That should have been it. Why did he erase the tapes - it was his decision, he had viewed them, he had spoken to the Patriots, and he had severely punished the Patriots (how nice would having two first round picks be right now?). Back in October, A-Rod took tons of grief for making an announcement, that he could have made any other time, during the World Series, trying to upstage the World Series. Here was Arlen Specter, he had all season to make an announcement. His comments were not based on any new evidence, they weren't based on anything that wasn't already known in September - but he tried to upstage the NFL's biggest game of the season, waiting until the Friday before the game to release his statement. I am not David Stern's biggest fan, but he is a strong leader of the NBA and he never would have allowed this to linger like it has. The NBA investigated the Tim Donaghy situation, Stern made a ruling, made a statement, and that was the end of it. Goodell should have done the same here.
9 months ago
Wow, I had no idea how biased Patriot fans were until I saw this site!
First, if I identify the man who robbed my house to the police, am I the one at fault for my house being robbed? Then why is Mangini to blame for identifying the man stealing signals from his team to the league? That's just the cry of someone who doesn't want to believe his team is guilty of cheating.
Second, so we are at war, what do you expect a Senator on the Judicial Committee to do about it? One of the major lessons from Viet Nam was that politicians need to send the troops and then let the military run the operation. If Specter can't deal with JUDICIAL matters (ie, image cover-ups by anti-trust exempt organizations) because he has to deal with the war, this country is in greater peril than we thought!
Third, with the amount of money that Belichick makes, and that the Patriots make, was $750,00 really a "major" penalty? Does taking one of two draft picks really penalize the team? And, isn't it suspicious that the man who penalized them "so heavily" also says that the tapes didn't really reveal anything? Why were the penalized then? I hear a lot of Patriot fans talking out of both sides of their mouth on this point: A) the tapes showed they didn't do anything wrong, B) the penalty was hard but fair. If my team (Tampa Bay) hadn't really done anything wrong, I'd be hollering that they were penalized at all. So which is it: fair punishment for being cheaters or unfair punishment for no good reason?
Finally, Specter was forced to get involved. The NFL ignored many allegations (that is, they were brought to the NFL's attention and NOT investigated) and then claimed that a "thorough" investigation had been performed. Specter tried THREE times to get the leagues attention. He sent Goodell a letter in October and another in November. The league IGNORED both of these. So, Specter took the only grounds left to him, he went public at a time when the entire nation was focused on the league and the Patriots. The only person to blame for the timing was the Commissioner who decided NOT to deal with Specter.
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