Commissioner Roger Goodell Talks ‘Spygate’ With Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter
February 13, 2008 by David Kindervater
Filed under New England Patriots
Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter today to talk about “Spygate” and the questions that still surround the New England Patriots’ illegal videotaping scandal that was uncovered at the beginning of the 2007 season. They met for an hour and 40 minutes in Washington and I can tell you Sen. Specter isn’t happy with the answers he got from Commissioner Goodell, especially concerning the reasons why the tapes were destroyed.
This is really where the concerns are for Sen. Specter. Commissioner Goodell says he destroyed the tapes because he wanted to keep them out of competitors’ hands and because New England head coach Bill Belichick had already admitted to the crime. He felt destroying the tapes was the right thing to do. Case closed. Sen. Specter isn’t buying it. He feels the evidence should have been preserved.
I’ve rethought my initial impressions of this case somewhat and I guess it seems a little odd to me that the tapes were destroyed. Commissioner Goodell’s concerns that the tapes would get into competitor’s hands is a bit unusual. If they were under lock and key, how could anyone other than authorized personnel get at them? It just seems like something that would be kept in an NFL safe somewhere. On the other hand, if the Commissioner felt like the case was closed, he would be inclined to just trash the evidence and end it already. I’m sure he wanted the whole thing to be over. And with the admission of guilt from Coach Belichick a done deal and the hefty punishment already handed out, he felt it pretty much was. Honestly, I can understand both sides of the argument.
This disagreement, however, will almost undoubtedly lead to a congressional hearing on the matter with Sen. Specter’s threats of Congress canceling the league’s antitrust exemption possibly hanging in the balance. As much as I feel this hearing is inevitable, I hope it doesn’t turn into the circus that is baseball’s multi-year steroid scandal.
Sen. Specter’s witchunt is a joke. Something tells me if his beloved Eagles were at the center of a “Spygate,” the last thing he’d do is make a federal case out of it.
I agree with you, Jodie. And furthermore, Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents’ defensive signals since 2000. Within that time period, of course, the Pats beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. I think Sen. Specter still wants a piece of Coach Belichick, so to speak.
Sen. Specter may come off a bit over dramatic, but I am glad they are putting some heat on Goodell, Belichick and The Patriots. Why did Goodell destroy the Spygate evidence in less than two weeks after Belichick stated he was guilty when there was clearly more investigating that needed to be done. You don’t destroy evidence when someone admits guilt! It just coming off shady.