more spygate ... duh duh duh!

The New York Times today says a New England Patriots player, on condition of anonymity, has acknowledged that Bill Belicheat began illicitly videotaping opposing teams' signals as far back as 2000. It's interesting that the league's executives (read: owners) don't think there's much too this, even as more revelations continue to surface. The NFL clearly wants this to go away, but this story has legs now and it looks like it's going to be around for a while. Congress and Sen. Specter should probably stay out of it, but the league, which has been printing money for years, has got to do something more to salvage its credibility. Then again, will people really stop paying attention to football over this? Not likely.

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.

spygate and ... the steelers?

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, ever eager to do the people's business in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, now claims Bill Belicheat and the New England Patriots filmed the Steelers during the teams' two meetings in 2004, at least according to this Fanhouse blog on AOL.

Thanks to Diaz, a loyal Eagles fan (of all things) but a concerned Pennsylvania citizen, for the heads-up.

UPDATE FOR THOSE WHO DON'T GET IT: I'm being sarcastic. I really don't think Congress ought to be this involved in regulating professional football. Heck, even Dan Rooney agrees.

specter, spygate & the super bowl

Let's start with this: For all the talk of his independence of mind, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) can be a blowhard and an opportunist. And for his latest stunt, he's demanding to know why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell destroyed evidence of the New England Patriots' alleged spying on other teams, a matter that first surfaced back in September and quickly went away after the league office handed down its punishment. Not one to shy away from hyperbole, Specter even suggested the NFL's action was on par with the CIA having destroyed interrogation tapes. You know, because lives are at stake and stuff. Predictably, Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe is outraged, going so far as to call Specter a "grandstanding yahoo Eagles fan with a lot of power," which, come to think of it, actually rolls right off the tongue with relative ease. Cynics (who? me?) will find it easy to point out that Specter waited until Nov. 15 to write a letter to the league office expressing his concern. Of course, cynics (me again) will also note the irony of Specter's having leaked this story to The New York Times just two days before the Patriots play the New York Giants in tomorrow's Super Bowl. All well and good. But then comes word that one Matt Walsh, a former Patriots intern and employee, may have information linking Bill Belichick to spying all the way back to when Coach Hoodie was in Cleveland. To say nothing of this Boston Herald report, which cites a source who says the Patriots taped the St. Louis Rams during a walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXXVI six years ago. Look, the Patriots are on the brink of something incredible, an undefeated season culminating with their fourth Super Bowl title in seven years. Personally, I think the NFL destroyed the tapes and levied the Patriots a fine and the forfeiture of a draft pick simply to make this thing go away. The hope, perhaps, was that everyone would focus on the punishment and forget about the possibility -- note I said possibility -- that this thing runs any deeper. If it did, it calls into question all of the Patriots' past achievements under Belichick. Shaughnessy, like most Patriots fans, takes umbrage in the notion that other teams were no doubt cheating, but that only the Patriots got caught. But not so fast. There's a distinct difference between stealing signals, which is and always has been gamesmanship, and positioning a video camera on the opposition's sideline in an attempt to steal signals. The league's rules are very clear on this. Considering the monumental achievement the Patriots are about to achieve by winning tomorrow, it's a shame. But the integrity of the game is the integrity of the game, and if there's more to this, we deserve to know. I do wonder whether this matter ought to be of any concern to Congress, but they do possess the subpoena power to compel witnesses like Walsh to testify. So expect more grandstanding from Washington, and more bellyaching from Boston. And in the meantime, let's all try to get on with our lives, OK?