Roger Goodell's Spygate Answers Deserve Further Investigation

A day after meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in Washington D.C., Sen. Arlen Specter said he continues to be troubled by a number of issues surrounding the league's handling of Spygate and will continue his investigation.

From ESPN:

Among the issues that continue to trouble Specter are:

• Goodell's imposition of a penalty -- the loss of a first-round draft pick, a $500,000 fine to coach Bill Belichick and a $250,000 to the team -- before the Patriots had turned over evidence, including notes dating to 2002 and six tapes from the 2006 season and 2007 preseason, requested by the league. The Patriots were caught videotaping defensive signals from the sidelines in their Sept. 9 season opener against the New York Jets. The commissioner imposed his penalty on Sept. 13, four days before New England provided the tapes and notes.

"Did they know the scope of the wrongdoing before the penalty was imposed?" asked Specter, a former Philadelphia district attorney. "The answer is no."

NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello, in response on Thursday, said Goodell's hasty punishment stemmed from the fact that the Patriots had been caught at the Jets game and Belichick's admission that he had been taping signals since he became New England's head coach in 2000. Belichick reportedly told Goodell that he thought he was within the rules to tape other team's signals as long as the information wasn't used in the game at hand.

"[Goodell] issued the discipline as quickly as could to send a strong message to teams that this wouldn't be tolerated, and there'd be a severe penalty if you violated the rules," Aiello said. "The discipline included they had to turn over everything that had related to that taping procedure."

Specter heard that explanation from Goodell on Wednesday. On Thursday, Specter said, "The word absurd and ridiculous keep coming to my mind, because he [Goodell] says it with a straight face."

• Specter said it was unsettling to learn that the tapes, as well as notes, turned over by the Patriots in September had been destroyed in Foxboro rather than in the league's New York offices. Aiello said the documents and tapes were destroyed after they were reviewed by NFL officials Jeffrey Pash and Ray Anderson, and that the call to destroy the material came from Goodell, saying "There's no further use for it, so he said get rid of it."

Specter said the league's suggestion that the material, particularly the notes dating to the 2002 season, was destroyed because it might have afforded a competitive advantage is unbelievable.

"Everything has changed," he said. "Nobody could use those. They are scrap paper -- except evidence."

With the evidence destroyed, Specter said there is no way to tell what advantage the Patriots might have gained in the illegal taping practice.

• Specter is particularly concerned about how the taping might have affected New England's games involving teams from his home state in the 2004 playoffs.

In a preseason opener in August of that year at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, the Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles played in what proved to be a preview of the 2005 Super Bowl, won by the Patriots 24-21. And in an Oct. 31 regular-season game in Pittsburgh, the Steelers beat the Patriots 34-20. Those two teams later met in the AFC title game, which New England won, 41-27.

Later Thursday, the Steelers released a statement that read: "We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a non-issue. In our opinion, they had no impact on the results of those games. The Steelers fully support the manner in which Commissioner Goodell handled the situation and the discipline that he levied against those who violated league rules. We are confident that the Commissioner has taken appropriate action in his investigation of this matter, and will do so again if new information arises which requires further investigation and or discipline."

• Specter believes the NFL hasn't gone far enough in its offer of legal protection to former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh, who has told ESPN.com that he has potentially embarrassing information about the team's taping practices.

The league has offered to indemnify Walsh against exposure to a lawsuit from the Patriots, but the proposal stipulates that Walsh must tell the truth and return anything he took improperly. Under those conditions, the team could still file suit against Walsh even after he turns over evidence to the Patriots and league.

"Matt Walsh is an important guy, and they have made it so conditional," Specter said. "All they got to do is say, 'We're not going to sue you.' It is not a big deal."

Specter said he has spoken with Walsh's attorney three times in the last two days and understands that Walsh is "scared." He said the Judiciary Committee could afford Walsh immunity if Walsh is ever summoned to testify at a Senate hearing. He described both Walsh and his attorney as "cooperative."

• Specter said he was concerned to learn from Walsh's attorney that an NFL security representative, Dick Farley, had been investigating Walsh. Specter said: "I confronted them on that, and Goodell says, 'Yeah, he [Farley] works for us. Yeah, he is a security guy, but we didn't know he was investigating him.' "

Aiello said Thursday that it is an overstatement to suggest the league is investigating Walsh.

"The only thing we're doing is looking at public records and trying to verify his employment history in an effort to learn about him," Aiello said.

I couldn't have said it better myself.....I support Specter 100% in his further investigation of the cheaters (cough) I mean Patriots.

Roger Goodell Is A Horid Commissioner

Did anyone actually watch this or have enough energy to watch this after sitting through the previous Congressional hearing of Roger Clemens? What genius of Roger Goodell to have his meeting with the Senator after Clemens' hearing. That doesn't mean I like Goodell. I just think thats brilliantly clever as a way to shift the focus of attention of Spygate.

Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents' defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots' coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday.

Specter said Goodell gave him that information during the 1-hour, 40-minute meeting, which was requested by Specter so the commissioner could explain his reasons for destroying the Spygate tapes and notes.

"There were a great many questions answered by Commissioner Goodell," Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters after the meeting. "I found a lot of questions unanswerable because of the tapes and notes had been destroyed."

Goodell said Belichick told him he believed the taping was legal; Goodell said he did not concur.

"He said that's always been his interpretation since he's been the head coach," the commissioner said. "We are going to agree to disagree on the facts." In other words, Bill Belichick believed cheating was legal? And Goodell disagreed, but didn't do anything to stop it?

Goodell also told Specter that that he doesn't regret destroying the Spygate tapes or the notes.

"I think it was the right thing to do," Goodell said.

Still, Specter wants to know why penalties were imposed on Belichick before the full extent of the wrongdoing was known and the tapes destroyed in a two-week span. Asked if he thinks there was a coverup, Specter demurred.

"There was an enormous amount of haste," Specter said.

He scoffed at the reasons Goodell gave for destroying the tapes and notes, particularly about trying to keep them out of competitors' hands and because Belichick had admitted to the taping.

"What's that got to do with it? There's an admission of guilt, you preserve the evidence," Specter said. As for keeping the tapes out of the hands of others: "All you have to do is lock up the tapes."

Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 because of the Spygate incident. The Patriots also forfeited a first-round draft pick. That penalty so so light Belichick basically got away with murder. They ended up acquiring the second pick anyway.

Specter has questioned the quality of the NFL's investigation into the matter and raised the possibility of congressional hearings if he wasn't satisfied with Goodell's answers. Specter also raised the threat of Congress canceling the league's antitrust exemption and reiterated that in the meeting with Goodell.

Goodell also said he has not heard from Matt Walsh, the former Patriots employee who performed some videotaping duties for the team.

Walsh told The Associated Press last week during the Pro Bowl in Hawaii that he couldn't talk about allegations that he taped a walkthrough practice by the St. Louis Rams before the 2002 Super Bowl. New England, a two-touchdown underdog, won that game 20-17.

Goodell said he has offered Walsh a deal whereby "he has to tell the truth and he has to return anything he took improperly" in return for indemnity. Specter said he, too, wanted to talk to Walsh and perhaps offer a different deal.

Goodell also said he reserves the right to reopen the investigation if more information is uncovered.

So what actually was accomplished here?? Nothing! I still can't tell if Goodell knew about the cheatings, but did nothing to stop it. I still don't know exactly how long the Patriots were cheating or in what specific games. I still don't know why Goodell's penalty on the New England Patriots was so light. Finally, I still don't know if the New England Patriots was a conspiracy team protected by the NFL and Goodell from losing in order to draw in ratings and viewers.

I do find it funny, however, that lately whenever there is a dispute in sports....right away somebody wants to take it to the Congress. Doesn't our government have enough already to take care of? As an aside, I noticed from the Clemens hearings that a lot of Congressmen are bitter, old men who almost all the time already have their minds made up before cases begin and when they question people, they are only looking for the answers they want to hear. If the Congressmen don't hear answers they want to hear, they either probe further or just randomly come out with their own point of view. Just because they have more power and a louder voice doesn't mean they are any more credible.

Does Anyone Notice Roger Goodell Is To Meet With Specter Wednesday To Discuss Spygate?

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter are to meet Wednesday to discuss the Spygate case involving the New England Patriots.

The meeting will take place at 3 p.m. ET in Specter's office in Washington, according to ESPN.com's Mike Fish. The Pennsylvania Republican has asked Goodell to explain his decision to destroy the tapes and notes from the case, which go back to 2002.

What genius by Roger Goodell as yet another way to hide the New England Patriots Spygate Conspiracy Theory. No seriously, that's brilliant. Have the hearing on the afternoon where one of the biggest Congressional hearings in sports history (Roger Clemens Vs. Brian McNamee) is taking place. That's great.

First, who knows how long the Clemens hearing will drag on for. This hearing has been hyped up for so long and is so draining all day who is going to want to watch ANOTHER hearing? Because all the attention today will be on Clemens and McNamee, I don't think they will have enough cameras, cameramen, and reporters to cover the Spygate story (that's a bad joke on my part, I admit). But still, what a way for Goodell to shift the people's attention away from the Spygate scandal, at least for today.

Once Again Our Government Feels The Need To Interfere With Sports

First, it was steroids in baseball. Now, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) wants to call NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before Congress to talk about the purging of evidence in the infamous Patriots "Spygate" case.

Now this is a very good question...but I find it suspicious that this question concerning the New England Patriots had to be asked on the weekend of their Super Bowl. I thought the whole Spygate scenario was over. That was 20 weeks ago.

Then again, if there is nothing to hide, why destroy the tapes?? The Patriots' incident with the Jets was not just a one time issue. The Packers and Lions also complained about the Patriots spying on them. We're talking about 19-0; We're talking about history. Who knows how long the Patriots have been spying on teams. Therefore, if Congress feels the need to "cleanse" the game of baseball with their steroid investigations, then they have every right to investigate why the NFL would burn tapes of the Patriots if supposedly there is nothing to hide.

Then again, this is just another example of how when an athlete or a team rises and defies odds, right away everyone becomes suspicious that there is something unnatural about that athlete or team.

With the Super Bowl fast approaching, a senior Republican senator says he wants the NFL to explain why it destroyed evidence of the New England Patriots cheating scandal.

"I am very concerned about the underlying facts on the taping, the reasons for the judgment on the limited penalties and, most of all, on the inexplicable destruction of the tapes," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in a Thursday letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The story was first reported by the New York Times.

Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the matter could put the league's antitrust exemption at risk. In a phone interview with the Times on Thursday, he said the committee at some point will call on Goodell to address the antitrust exemption as well as the destruction of the tapes.

"Their antitrust exemption has been on my mind for a long time," he said in a Capitol Hill news conference Friday.

Goodell, in his previously scheduled news conference Friday from Phoenix, said, "I am more than willing to speak with the senator. There are very good explanations why the tapes were destroyed by our staff -- there was no purpose for them."

There were six tapes, according to Goodell -- some from the 2007 preseason, and the rest from 2006. Another reason he had them destroyed was one tape was leaked to the media just after the Patriots-Jets game. "We wanted to take and destroy that information," he said. "They may have collected it within the rules, but we couldn't determine that. So we felt that it should be destroyed."

The matter may not compare to the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes, Specter said Friday, but he added, "I do believe that it is a matter of importance. It's not going to displace the stimulus package or the Iraq war, but I think the integrity of football is very important, and I think the National Football League has a special duty to the American people -- and further the Congress -- because they have an antitrust exemption."

"It's a league matter," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Friday during his news conference. "I don't know anything about it."

Matt Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant and now a golf pro at the Ka'anapli Golf Resort in Lahaina, Hawaii, has suggested to ESPN that he has information that could have exposed the Patriots prior to the Jets' allegations which ended up with the record fines.

"If I had a reason to want to go public, or tell a story, I could have done it before it even broke," he told ESPN.com's Mike Fish. "I could have said everything rather than having [Eric] Mangini be the one to bring it out."

Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1996-2003, also suggested to ESPN that he has information that could be embarrassing for the NFL and the Patriots.

"If their doing a thorough investigation ... they didn't contact me, so draw your own conclusions," Walsh told Fish.

Walsh said he hasn't made a decision on whether he'll talk to Congress if asked, though he's considering it.

The Patriots play Sunday in the Super Bowl against the New York Giants.

The Spygate controversy surfaced in September 2007, when NFL security confiscated a video camera and tape from a Patriots video assistant during New England's 38-14 victory over the New York Jets at Giants Stadium.

I do believe that it is a matter of importance. It's not going to displace the stimulus package or the Iraq war, but I think the integrity of football is very important, and I think the National Football League has a special duty to the American people -- and further the Congress -- because they have an antitrust exemption.

--Sen. Arlen Specter

The assistant was accused of aiming his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.

After a league investigation, Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, the maximum amount, and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick. It was the biggest fine ever for a coach and the first time in NFL history a first-round draft pick has been confiscated as a penalty.

After its investigation, the NFL said it destroyed all materials, including six tapes, it received from the Patriots.

In a Jan. 31 letter to Specter, which the senator released Friday, Goodell said the tapes and notes on the investigation were destroyed to ensure that the Patriots "would not secure any possible competitive advantage as a result of the misconduct."

Specter said the explanation "absolutely makes no sense at all," and blasted the commissioner for failing to respond to his inquiries on the matter for more than two months. His initial letter to the league is dated Nov. 15, 2007; the follow-up letter is dated Dec. 19. Goodell said in his letter to Specter that he just became aware of Specter's questions Thursday.

"There's a credibility issue here," Specter said.

Specter, a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan who still calls sports radio stations on Monday mornings, said he was concerned about the integrity of sports.

"I don't think you have to have a law broken to have a legitimate interest by the Congress on the integrity of the game ... What if there was something on the tapes we might want to be subpoenaed, for example? You can't destroy it. That would be obstruction of justice," Specter said to The Times.

There is no timetable for when the committee would call upon Goodell.

The possibility exists that Patriots employees or other NFL personnel would have to testify before the committee.

"It's premature to say whom we're going to call or when," Specter said. "It starts with the commissioner. He had the tapes, and he made the decision as to what the punishment could be. He made the decision to destroy them."

He stopped short of charging a coverup, but warned that the judiciary panel may want to probe the matter.

In the meantime, Specter said he might miss Sunday's big game.

"I may play squash while it's on," Specter said.

Oh, and don't expect Bill Belichick to give you any answers.