belichick admits it ... sort of

The Boston Globe has a fascinating story today about Spygate, with Bill Belicheat finally acknowledging his end of the bargain. The story outlines the specific rule Belicheat was caught violating, along with his response. And after stating he he never taped another team's walk-through, Belicheat had this to say about being caught red-handed filming the Jets's coaches' signals back on Sept. 9:

My interpretation was that you can't utilize anything to assist you during that game. What our camera guys do is clearly not allowed to be used during the game and has never been used during that game that it was shot. ... I respect the integrity of the game and always have and always will. I regret that any of this, or to whatever extent it has in any way brought that into question or discussion or debate. The decision was made by the commissioner, the practice was immediately stopped, and we're not doing it. ... Just going back over the whole taping incident, if I contacted the league and asked them about the practice, I'm sure they would have told me - as they have done - that it is not permissible. Then I could have avoided all of this. I take responsibility for it. Even though I felt there was a gray area in the rule and I misinterpreted the rule, that was my mistake and we've been penalized for it. I apologize to everybody that is involved - the league, the other teams, the fans, our team, for the amount of conversation and dialogue that it's caused. I misinterpreted the rule. The commissioner made his ruling and we've been penalized for it and tried to move on.

Interesting. The story does not address how many times the Patriots taped other teams' signals, nor does it address whether such information was then used in a later meeting between the teams, which gets back to what Sen. Arlen Specter was getting at last week.