Today, "Golf Pro" Matt Walsh met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding his role as video assistant, scout, gopher, driver, whatever for the New England Patriots organization.
Walsh presented eight grainy video tapes from six games between the '00-'02 seasons. But one video, supposedly the most damning, was missing.
When viewed by the media, none of the tapes seem to contain the infamous St. Louis Rams walk through before the 2002 Super Bowl.
Walsh, I believe, claimed no knowledge of such a tape prior to Tuesday's meeting with Roger Goodell and restated that claim during the meeting.
However, Walsh brought to light two new violations. Supposedly an unnamed Patriots player, who was on the injured reserve list, took part in practice during the 2001 season.
The other violation was that Walsh and unnamed Patriot players scalped Super Bowl tickets—up to 12 of them over the course of two seasons.
Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that he is satisfied with the punishment handed out by the league—$500,000 fine for Head Coach Bill Belichick, $250,000 fine for the New England Patriots, and the docking of a first round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.
Goodell also stated that the tapes presented nothing new. Matt Walsh has brought nothing new to the table other than an injured player practicing (I wonder what Walsh's idea of practicing is?) and his admitted involvement in a scalping ring.
Is this what everyone has been waiting for all this time? What a waste of time.
Things could get more interesting as Walsh flies out to Washington to meet with Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania.
Well, the commish has stated no further action regarding Spygate.
What do you think?
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about 1 month ago
First, let me say it is a stupid rule that hopefully can be changed now that the defense can get plays through a helmet ear-piece. Why create a rule that creates a challenge to catch and enforce?
But, it is a rule, and Belichick's explanations are ludicrous. Even if he did not know it was going on (and c'mon, do you honestly think anything goes on that control freak doesn't know about?), ignorance is no excuse for the law, and never has been. And the idea that they were only taping division foes for future games is refuted by the fact that there were tapes of Cleveland and San Diego as well as Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game among them.
Bottom line is a lot of this is because Bill is a jerk. Had he not run up the score against Mangini, Eric never would have ratted him out; had he not been so contemptuous, Arlen Specter would have been willing to acknowledge that he has more important things to do that Spygate. It does appear, however, that Goodell is not swayed by that, and I am okay with the punishment he meted out.
However, I sincerely feel bad for you fans who now have to live with a perceived asterisk next to those titles.
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