Spygate is still expected to be addressed as "a league matter."
So we're here at Hofstra for one of the Jets OTA sessions that will be open to the media this month. We'll do our best to count the respective snaps each of the quarterbacks takes this morning, but let's not get too carried away with how one voluntary practice session plays out. Long way to go in that race. The Democrats will, presumably, have a nominee before the Jets name a starter. So the schedule today is this: Eric Mangini will talk to us at 10:15 and then we get to watch practice. Player interviews will take place coming off the field at 12:30 so I'll file a report after that. And yes, there will be more than just the quarterback derby to report on. It's all about diversity.
As an aside, Matt Walsh apparently has some bombshells he drops in an upcoming HBO interview. Bob Glauber writes about it, as does our sports media reporter Neil Best. The gist seems to be that Walsh says the Patriots derived more benefit from the illegal taping than Bill Belichick said they did. Um, well, obviously. That's why they did it for more than one or two or three seasons. I'll withhold judgement until seeing the full interview but my initial take is, Matt, your 15 minutes are up. Yours too, Sen. Specter. Back with more OTA info later.
Comments (12)
Sorry Erik, As a Jets fan I want Mr. Walsh and Arlen Spector to get a lot more then '15 minutes'
Erik, I gotta say I don't understand why so many of you sportswriters want to dismiss the whole spygate issue. You have to admit that it's at the very least interesting, don't you? The storyline for several years has been that the Patriots, an incredibly dominant team that maximizes value out of no-name players, has been led by a genius coach. His reputation is so good that even his coordinators and assistants are treated like demi-gods. Then it comes out that they cheated, but the fans are told that it was isolated and didn't matter and we should move along. Now- as Glauber's post implies- more allegations indicate that the cheating might have had an effect on the outcome of specific games- they were able to predict Tampa Bay's defense 75% of the time. Maybe it wasn't an overwhelming factor, but it's still pretty newsworthy, isn't it? My other thought is, if it's true that cheating goes on all the time, how come other teams or even you reporters don't uncover it and write about it? Sorry for length of post.
Arlen Specter is going to be a United States Senator much, much longer than you're going to be a Jets-beat writer. This is a guy who has been the bane of Penn. conservatives, a power-broker for the GOP, and a constant pain-in-the-you-know-what to Potomac Dems. Roger Goodell better bask in his own 15 minutes if he decides he wants to try and buck the senior Sen. from PA. Spercter is pissed about this whole thing. It's not going away any time soon. You can go ahead and bet the mortgage on that.
Darrell, I know full well who Specter is. No need for the politics primer. I meant his 15 minutes on this issue. And it's not a matter of sports writers wanting this to go away. Look, if there was a walkthrough tape, fine, that's new. But absolutely nothing new came out of yesterday and Walsh's HBO interview isn't disclosing much. What more do you want done to the Patriots? I have said and continue to think Belichick got off easy but they're not going to retroactively punish him or the Patriots. As I said in the above post, obviously the Patriots felt there was a benefit, that's why they did it as long as they did. Ok, now to some OTA stuff.
Big E, it's not a matter of what I want done to the Patriots. It's not like a crime has been committed. I just think it is a very interesting story and, like I said originally, I'm perplexed by how many sportswriters want to move on. Few revelations come out of Walsh's carefully controlled interview with his lawyer present, so that means there's nothing to the story? I don't get it.
"it is a very interesting story"? Come the hell on, there is video tape footage that the Patriots cheated in trivial regular season games. It's kind of like the divergence and convergence tests in calc, if they'd cheat on something smaller than supwerbowl and playoff games, then they'd sure as hell cheat on the important ones. I don't see how Belichick can still be coaching.
Also, after that Brady post, I noticed something interesting to show the "class" of the Patriots. Belichick was brought up in a marriage hearing a while back as having had relations with one of his ex-coaches wives. Brady has denied to even accept his child with his ex-girlfriend whatshername. Not to mention Randy Moss hits women. Gee, what a great team. (Belichick really seems to lead his guys on and off the field).
Matt, fair questions you ask and the one good part about Specter's original involvement is it made Goodell accountable to someone other than himself. Sometimes sports leagues get a little too full of their own bluster and don't think they have to answer to anyone. I don't think it's always bad for Congress to remind them that they do. My argument isn't that there's "nothing" to this story, it's what is there new to it? Though the last couple days have sounded fresh because it was debated on TV and in print for the first time in months, everyone took the same stances on this that they had before. I'm not sure what more Walsh can add is all. As I said, a walkthrough tape would have been fascinating stuff but he's had nothing approaching that.
And, yes, Cliff, Brady and Kraft need to stop acting like victims here in going after the Boston Herald, ESPN or the Jets. Their organization cheated. Period. They should speak softly - really, not at all - in using words like "respect" and "class."
Cliff, when I wrote that it was "interesting" I was intentionally downplaying the sensationalism of the story, just trying to point out that for reporters it meets even the minimal threshold of being "interesting" and thus worth covering. Just like a story about how Sione Pouha was a missionary or saved someone from a burning building probably doesn't affect his gameplay, but is interesting and worth a column. Sports reporters are in the entertainment business. My personal opinion is that the Walsh stuff is just the tip of the iceberg.
**what do I want?**
A little consistency would be nice. Roger-boy gives Pacman Jones a year off for an incident that had no effect whatsoever on any NFL games and gets a year suspension. Belicheat may have been garnering an unfair advantage ON THE FIELD and doesn't miss so much as a week. For those hollering that Arlen Specter should mind his own beeswax and let the NFL handle their own, perhaps Roger-boy should do the same and keep his nose out of police matters.
Boland. All you need to know is that your customers think it's an important subject and they feel it's your sworn duty ( I know Glauber made you pinky swear) to protect our team and go investigate this matter fully. Go plant some evidence or pay off the guy who cleaned the toilets at Pats headquarters to tell you he saw BB watching those films late at nite or something...Maybe you could become the next Woodward and Bernstein. Find Deep Doody...
Living across the river from Philly, and hearing the buzz about "did the Patriots cheat in the Super Bowl against the Eagles", I think I understand the emotional side of the Specter crusade. These people live and die with the Eagles and their window is closing with McNabb. Maybe, if the Pats are proved to have cheated in the Super Bowl, maybe, just maybe, the league would make them forfeit their victory.
I think at least that's how it started with Specter. At this point, he is just following through with what probably seems like the right thing to do for the sport, ala baseball.