Revisionist history: Belichick, NFL, Tapes ‘n Tapes
Posted on May 8th, 2008 – 10:50 AMBy Michael Rand
We’re beginning to suspect all the pieces in this Patriot spying fiasco — which we will call Tapes ‘n Tapes from this point forward — don’t quite add up and that the NFL wishes it would all just go away. Short of that, the NFL wishes we would just believe everything it says at every turn. But doing so leaves some statements that are not necessarily outright contradictions but certainly leave one scratching his or her head. Let’s roll:
Sept. 14, 2007, Associated Press: The New England Patriots coach tried again Friday to move on from the sideline spying scandal in which he was fined $500,000 and ordered to forfeit a top draft choice — the latest misstep in a year of distractions for the coach who preaches about avoiding them. … (Video assistant Matt Estrella will not be punished, league spokesman Greg Aiello said, adding that there is no investigation into claims that the Patriots have been doing this for years. “Our goal is to stop this type of conduct going forward and level the playing field,” Aiello said.
Feb. 1, 2008, ESPN.com: “If they’re doing a thorough investigation — they didn’t contact me,” (former video assistant Matt) Walsh told ESPN.com. “So draw your own conclusions. Maybe they felt they didn’t need to. Maybe the league feels they got satisfactory answers from everything the Patriots sent them.” Goodell said at his annual address to the media at the Super Bowl on Friday that the tapes turned over by the Patriots date back only to 2006, well after Walsh had left the organization.
Currently, AP: Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh sent the NFL eight videotapes that show New England violated league rules by recording opposing coaches’ playcalling signals. The tapes include signals by coaches of five opponents in six games from 2000-02, but don’t include video from the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl. The NFL said it received a letter from Michael Levy, the lawyer for Walsh, detailing the tapes that were scheduled to arrive Thursday at the league’s New York offices. The tapes sent to the NFL show the Patriots recorded signals in regular-season games against Miami, Buffalo, Cleveland and San Diego, and against Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFC championship game. “This is consistent with what the Patriots had admitted they had been doing, consistent with what we already knew,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press.
We’re confused. Maybe there’s an explanation we’re not seeing, but this is what we’re reading by connecting the dots: The NFL was not investigating cheating done by the Patriots prior to the incident with the Jets that got Belichick in trouble; all the tapes the Patriots turned over were from 2006 or later; but now these tapes the NFL is about to receive from 2000-2002 are somehow consistent with what they already knew about the Patriots cheating? Maybe all Aiello meant was that these new tapes will show similar kinds of evidence as the more recent tapes already in the NFL’s possession. Still, this all doesn’t seem to add up. And we have to think there should be more of a punishment coming to the Patriots and Belichick, particularly if the part about the AFC title game is true.
Speaking of Tapes ‘n Tapes, this might be the best video to come from the whole affair. It’s for the song, “Hang Them All.“
19 Responses to "Revisionist history: Belichick, NFL, Tapes ‘n Tapes"
I’m confused, why should there be more punishment? If this stuff happened all over the league, as many have reported. I am assuming that teams knew to change their signals during half time. Helen Keller could figure that out.
The more you get caught, the more you pay. Hey, academic fraud happens all the time. Why punish the Gophers basketball team? It’s ridiculous logic.
Lots of people are naked in public, why should I get a ticket?
Coming soon to ST.com: Listen Up!, the music blog of the sports department.
Seriously, I think this would fly.
Jon, Mr. Reusse has a bone to pick with you…
Rand
They have already been punished for cheating. It’s not like the Vikings got caught so why punish the Pats. The Pats are the team that was already punished. Your “logic” must be different than mine. We don’t know what the NFL has actually seen. I did’t expect Goodell to come out and say we have 3 tapes from weeks 2,6 and 8 from 2006 and 7 tapes covering these weeks in 2004. My guess is the NFL already knew about what is getting handed over now.
As much as I hate the Patriots with their smug little bending of the rules, I think it’s hard to punish a team twice especially over something that happened over 5 years ago.
It would be fun and games until Seifert busted out the Weird Al.
Yeah what’s up Reusse? Somebody better get all sharp objects away from him. It sounds like the sky is falling in the Reusse household.
Heh Dave. Just read that too. Why are people incapable of seeing a world in which blogs and print media both offer their own insight?
I’m frequently on ST.com, and I gain a lot of knowledge thanks to Neal, Christensen, Russo, Zulgad and Seifert. Through stories AND blogs. I just hope they’re blogging like they should be, in their underwear in their mothers’ basements.
It will be a long time before blogs can do the reporting on sports - not the opinion, the reporting - as well as *any* newspaper. And Reusse’s right: the reporting staff at the Strib is pretty darn good.
In a distant galaxy far far away I would imagine there is a time with a very limited paper copy of the news. I see a place like Minnpost hiring reporters to report the stories online.
Imagine if the Strib and the other local combining and cutting costs while producing the same quality of news. I’m sure Rand would be the CEO of said made up company but I don’t think we are decades away from seeing this. The newspaper business needs to realize that online advertising is going to have to be their #1 priority.
Jon
I know Yahoo isn’t a blog but they have hired some great reporters to do reporting on sports. I realize they don’t generally report on a local level but I can’t imagine that those days are too far away.
Well, when the old guard, like Reusse and Buzz Bissinger, pass on into the Obits section, all that will be left are the people who understand the value of this crazy series of tubes we call the internet. Isn’t the majority of this website an online newspaper? News reporting will always be news reporting, and blogs are just online columns not bound by rules as tight as those at papers.
*most* blogs, sorry. Got jumpy. Blogs based on news reporting will be easily identifiable vs. the rest.
I just hope they’re blogging like they should be, in their underwear in their mothers’ basements.
Move “mothers’” in front of underwear.
And Reusse’s right: the reporting staff at the Strib is pretty darn good.
Correct, even if they’re, on balance, a bunch of soccer kisser-uppers.
Quit trying to make soccer happen. People play it recreationally, and I’m sure it’s fun. But I don’t want to watch it.
Why don’t they push rugby? I think I’ve mentioned before in these pages that if there was one rugby match on TV per week I would watch. I was enthralled with the matches I’ve seen even though I had no [redacted] clue what was going on. I totally know what’s going on in soccer, and I still don’t care.
It seems a British band is now pushing Soccer on America. Thank you very much WWL
Those Rugby players aren’t all there either. What would you do after a horrible loss?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080506/od_nm/austria_strip_dc;_ylt=AgCc23Js0RDB45oye4zVO6YZ.3QA
What’s going to happen if they find out he was doing it when he was the head coach of the Browns? Or an assistant with the Jets? Punish them too? It’s not like it was helping those teams any…
Jama, please see previous post for your answer to the cycle in fornicating.
