ESPN Continues The Smear Of The Patriots

ESPN and also Sports Illustrated released pieces today rehashing long-discredited accusations of cheating by the New England Patriots, this in the wake of Roger Goodell's complete discrediting at the hands of Judge Richard Berman.   Goodel's discrediting by Berman showed how unfit for his office he is for it showcased his megalomania and complete ignorance of the game over which this ex-PR flack for the league office presides.

The ESPN and SI pieces rehash the mythology of cheating allegations made against the Patriots - that the Patriots stole playsheets and rigged transmitters in opponent locker rooms etc. - never mind that the security details of visiting teams control those areas, not the Patriots, and that Spygate was not about any violation of NFL rules, it was about the dishonesty and ignorance of Roger Goodell. It is noteworthy that the only real source for ESPN's story (it cites unnamed sources - and I will call out ESPN that these unnamed sources were made up by the writers) is long-discredited former assistant Matt Walsh, who was fired by the Patriots and was exposed as not credible by the league when it turned to him for what it thought would be a smoking gun of Patriots cheating - and merely got more sideline videotapes.   Walsh does not give information in good faith.

The piece's conclusion rehashes the excuses about the Brady verdict - "It didn't matter that Berman only ruled on whether the league had followed the Collective Bargaining Agreement, not on Brady's guilt or innocence."   False - Berman got the league to admit it never had any evidence against the Patriots - all it had were inferences from text messages, inferences that were never relevant to anything.  In short Berman proved Brady (and by extension the Patriots) were innocent.  "It didn't matter that the Patriots had accepted the league's punishment in May."   Again false - Goodell lied to Bob Kraft in May (and lied to and about Tom Brady from the beginning) and it showed in Kraft's training camp presser where he admitted being wrong in trusting the league.   The reason for the lying stems from Goodell's fundamental dishonesty, shown ironically in an overlooked angle - the effort to pry away trade secrets.

The ESPN piece has earned more notoriety for questions about a 2008 statement from ex-Rams coach Mike Martz.   Among the allegations made against the Patriots is they were able to key on Rams back Marshall Faulk in the Superbowl XXXVI win.  What the piece ignores is the real reason the Patriots are winners - the Rams were about trying to beat toughness, thoroughness, and situational football with athleticism and talent - and it failed. The reality is the Rams thought they were innovative and creative and they were not; they relied on athleticism, not smart play; if anything the Rams may have been tipping their own plays the way they leaned on Marshall Faulk. What Belichick did was expose that football is not about athleticism - and also that Tom Brady is the superior quarterback.


The simple fact is there never was any cheating by the Patriots.    The facts have long proven this.   The league needs to face that other teams need to define their game up, stop dumbing it down and stop punishing success. 

Spygate Returns

The Baltimore Ravens dragged Spygate into the fore again as coach John Harbaugh publicly questioned the integrity of the New England Patriots' three Superbowl titles. That he's doing this now shows how desperate the Ravens have become in their inability to defeat New England. Having won just one game in their entire history over the Patriots, it's clearly gotten to them that they've been unable to beat them.

Dragging Spygate into the issue continues to show how ignorant everyone remains about what actually happened - Roger Goodell lashed out at the Patriots because he didn't understand his own league's constitution and bylaws - a controversy that began because a league memo falsified what the rule in question actually allows.

The Mainstream Sports Media did an abysmal job examining Spygate and continues to do so. The fact remains the New England Patriots are owed a massive apology by the league - and everyone else.

UPDATE: Typical - Harbaugh has backtracked.

The Truth About Spygate

A look back at "Spygate" and how Roger Goodell proved he doesn't know his own league's bylaws.

Bob Ryan Out-Shanks Shaughnessy

The Dan Shaughnessy Blog does a great job dissecting the absurdities of Dan Shaughnessy writing, and when appropriate they also include deserving writers like Tony Massaroti and his ludicrous attack on the Patriots and their fanbase in the wake of Matt Walsh's testimony to the NFL.

But now Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan outdoes Shaughnessy (and Ron Borges) with a bitter and illogical attack on Bill Belichick It is worth some comment.

Ryan seems incensed that Belichick "still hasn't fessed up." Fessed up to what? Like so many others, Ryan refuses to understand exactly what Belichick did in Spygate. In casting that Belichick "was engaged in practices he knew were against the rules," Ryan ignores the facts about Goodell's malicious ignorance of the rulebook. Belichick was not engaged in activity he knew was against the rules - a fact Roger Goodell inadvertantly acknowledged with his comment that other teams wanted to tape, not doing so only because they felt it would be to no advantage.

Ryan also is outraged because the Patriots are "the most despised franchise" in pro sports. All that does is reflect poorly on the haters, who are as short on facts and long on vitriol as Ryan is.

Ryan is also ignorant on Watergate, to which he draws constant comparison. Watergate was not about an illegal break-in (in which nothing was stolen and no resistance to police offered) but about Democratic hate-mongering using the break-in as an excuse to persecute Richard Nixon for the crime of accomplishing more than they did, spelled out best in the book Bad News: The Foreign Policy Of The New York Times.

Ryan needs to reexamine himself here and while he's at it he can check Jeffrey Standen's examination of the Belichick-Goodell brouhaha.