Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

[Vet Turf]

ESPN is running a story about how Spector is asking the league(Goodell) why the tapes were destroyed.

Should be interesting.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3225539

[saratoga]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Normally, I would think that this is bad idea, but Goodell has not answered the questions that I think many fans want to know.

What were the tapes?
How many games were involved?
How far back did this go?
Were any of the tapes of Super Bowls?

Congress can get answers that Roger won't give to the press.

And I kind of like this happening this week, cause I hate those cheaters.

[balto-eaglefan]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Nice timing........Notice how they pointed out that Specter is an Eagles fan?

Goodell's got a pair to ignore a letter from a US senator sent on Nov 15, and then say that he never got it.......Pats have the better team, but I tell you, this is a controversy they don't need, they have more to lose, and the Jints are the ones with nothing to lose......

[Vet Turf]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Perhaps the tapes were destroyed without ANY review in order to save the league from an event just like this. Goodell and his flunkies can testify that they are not aware of any evidence other than the one game v the Jets.

[balto-eaglefan]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Check out this article, vT......basically, it says that the NFL's statements stink of a coverup. Basically the NFL guys said "The tapes have been destroyed. There is no evidence that the Patriots cheated in the Super Bowl." But when pressed, and asked, "Do you mean that there was no evidence that they cheated? Or did you mean that there is no longer any evidence that they cheated?" The NFL guy only said, "I did answer your questions to the extent I'm going to answer them." It's called a non-denial denial.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ook/070925

[BIGPHILLY]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

I just love it. We lose the Super Bowl and the opponent shockingly knows how to run screen play after screen play perfectly timed. Ugh.

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/02 ... torltr.pdf
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/02 ... ellltr.pdf

[ThoughtProcess]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

I just love it. We lose the Super Bowl and the opponent shockingly knows how to run screen play after screen play perfectly timed. Ugh.

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/02 ... torltr.pdf
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/02 ... ellltr.pdf

Thanks for posting.

Yesterday ESPN showed highlights from that SB. I did subject myself to it. The Pats pass-rush seemed to overwhelm the Eagles OL, but they seemed to adjust to it somewhat. Those screens were perfectly-timed, seemingly. Is that a testament to the Pats' skills? What about Deion Branch going off? Is there more to this than meets the eye?

[Jukin]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Talking with my father yesterday he said that he read something last week about Congress still being angry that the NFL is broadcasting games on NFL network which is a paid subscription channel. I know that's old news, bu it seems that Congress is raising the issue again and has stated that if the league plans to continue this practice Congress will revisit the Monopoly exemption the league now enjoys. It sounds like some people on the hill are getting pissed off with the NFL's power and the way they wield it.

[balto-eaglefan]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Goodell's letter said that their investigation disclosed nothing related to the Pats stealing Eagles' signals during the SB, and adds that "the two teams played only one game against each other in the current decade, a preseason game in the summer of 2003."

How did Goodell get this wrong? They played them twice that year.

Preseason, which I forgot about:
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=2 ... &week=PRE3
and week 2, in which we got routed, which I remember too well:
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=2 ... &week=REG2

You know what, the more I think about it, the more that pisses me off. So Goodell:
- softpedals and skews the issue by saying that they only played each other once in the previous decade, when in fact they played each other only one year prior to the SB in question
- and he got that detail wrong, because the Pats got two opportunites to tape our signals, not one

I mean, if I'm the commissioner of the National Football League writing a letter to a US senator with regard to accusations about the outcome of a game in which millions of people care about the outcome (and a lot of advertising dollars, players salaries, and gambling takes place over the outcome too), you'd think he'd not only get the details right, but wouldn't skew the info so that it sounds like one thing, when really it's not.

[fly]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

balto - they played 4 times since 2002 (3 PS, 1 RS).

[balto-eaglefan]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Great find, fly! I really can't get over how the NFL commish gets something like that wrong.........I mean, wtf??

I posted that on the EMB, not many responses so far, though one guy did provide a link to Sen. Specter's website.

(Several hours later)
Just a few more responses, most seem to think it's either water under the bridge by now, or some sort of publicity/political gimmick by the senator. Oh well, guess I got carried away. The public relations people who wrote that letter for Goodell are still lazy though.

[Flying Dutchman]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Obviously, No-Goodell's swiss-cheese responses beg the question about how big, how extensive was the Bellicheat operation. What teams, what games, what SBs were affected by this operation? How far did the NFL follow up on the related accusations of electronic warfare being carried out by the Pats. Was there an allied operation that interrupted opposition electronics as alleged? To run both of these, tape/electronics, they had to have someone in charge of a NECIA division. I think the entire thing was an attempt to avoid public and congressional questioning.

[sdeaglefan]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Agree on balto's points on getting the details right. The error is so wrong, I wonder who was the lame brain who did the research and wrote Goodell's letter, or if someone on the NFL side was told "look at last year" not "look at the last decade," and then Goodell got it wrong. I mean, that's like me saying my car is red when it's really gray.

I think the bastards cheated against us and I hope it becomes clear.

[Luzinski's Gut]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Here's my take on the situation:

The biggest problem with the entire drama that's occuring here is one of transparency. The NBA has the same problem with the referee scandal.

Why destroy the tapes and not come clean with ALL the evidence? Doesn't make sense and immediately starts the conspiracy theories. Easiest way to deal with bad news is to come clean as soon as possible and explain what happened, why and what evidence was gathered - makes it a great example for others not to screw around.

Unless there was a major, league altering scandal under those rocks. If that's the case - in other words, the Pats had not only been cheating for a long time - and the league knew about it but did nothing, or maybe some gambling related issues were tied into this information - that is the only way it makes sense.

Greedell probably hoped that the destruction of the evidence would be the final straw, and that no one would ask questions. Well, a lot of us did ask questions, and no answers came.

I hope Specter tears him a new asshole. Get Taglibue up there as well. Integrity of the game is at question.

[fly]

Re: Spector asking league why they destroyed the Pats spy tapes

Not to keep this issue alive, but this reminds me so much of "A Few Good Men" in the following way.

If Roger Goodell had all the tapes (as guaranteed by the Pats) in a locked box, then why did he need to destroy them? Did he think someone from his office was going to make copies and send them back to the Pats?

=

If you ordered Santiago not to be touched, and your orders are always followed, then why did you fear for his safety?

.....................

I think this whole thing is a bit overblown, and I just shake my head at Spector specifically asking about the Eagles game. Ugh. At the same time, the NFL operates with enormous freedom and makes a TON of money...they shouldn't act so secretly when one of the bigger scandals comes up.