"The Dark Side of the Game" by Tim Green --Spygate related

[ALP]

There havnt been too many threads lately regarding the subject, so why not add more?

I was given this book over the holidays. The author played in the NFL for 8 years on the DL for the Atlanta Falcons.

He writes about the NFL in general, and he has a chapter titled "NFL Spies and Traitors"

Here is a small snippet of the chapter:

"...When a team plays an opponent two times in one season and the first contest is at home, this format of spying can be done even more effectively by filiming teh signals from somewhere in the stadium and comparing them agaisnt game film to see what play corresponds with what signal. This of course only works for the home team who has the ability to put cameral wherever they wish..."

now if that is not an EXACT description of what happened, i dotn know what is...

funny thing folks, this book was published in 1996...

 

[Absurdly Metro]

Good find ALP. Unfortunately Spygate was a witch hunt and no amount of fact or logic will ever convince those whose sole intent from the beginning was only to devalue Belichick's accomplishments.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Great catch! Green was a DB not a DL. Wrote lots of thrillers.

 

[TripleOption]

He was a DL.

Tim Green - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ALP]

Great catch! Green was a DB not a DL. Wrote lots of thrillers.

LOL, if thats the case, he wrote it wrong in his book, LOL

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

I didn't want to bring up spygate again but since it is here...

I was listening to the Westwood One broadcast of a game in week 16, either Saturday or Sunday night. The color commentator mentioned how he used to steal signals as well when he was a coach. I am not sure who the announcer was, I apologize. I will see if I can find it. It was right out there on national radio for everyone to hear, but no one said anything regarding the Patriots or anything else for that matter. It was glazed over.


EDIT: The announcer was Dan Reeves to the best of my knowledge.

 

[PatsSox363804]

STOP. We all know it was ONLY THE PATRIOTS. Thats what they tell me, it must be the truth

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

He was a DL.

Tim Green - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How do you post exponential notation for # of times wrong?

 

[Koma]

Thanks for bringing this book up. I read it in the late 90s and thought it was decent.

It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure that Green passed along some advice in this book with regard to meeting NFL players: Don't try to impress them with a powerful handshake. Green's reasoning was that player's hands take a beating from practice and games, so they greeting them with a vice-like handshake isn't doing them any favors. I've never had the opportunity to use this advice, but it's stuck with me. (Sorry for the tangent.)

As far as the spygate stuff, I'm sure other football related books contain similar revelations. For whatever reason, the media has developed selective amnesia about all non-Patriot related "spying."

 

[JMarr]

I'm usually not a big "the media/ESPN sucks" guy, but on this one I definitely am. It's wrong on so many levels that:

1. Jimmy Johnson is the only coach/ex-coach who really got any national play in telling the truth about how this type of stuff works in the NFL (I don't know, were there others?),

2. As far as I'm aware, none of the national media broadcast/published, much less sought out, comments from ex-players like Green, which would have helped keep the coverage of this more balanced.

 

[JoeSixPat]

There havnt been too many threads lately regarding the subject, so why not add more?

I was given this book over the holidays. The author played in the NFL for 8 years on the DL for the Atlanta Falcons.

He writes about the NFL in general, and he has a chapter titled "NFL Spies and Traitors"

Here is a small snippet of the chapter:

"...When a team plays an opponent two times in one season and the first contest is at home, this format of spying can be done even more effectively by filiming teh signals from somewhere in the stadium and comparing them agaisnt game film to see what play corresponds with what signal. This of course only works for the home team who has the ability to put cameral wherever they wish..."

now if that is not an EXACT description of what happened, i dotn know what is...

funny thing folks, this book was published in 1996...

Very good find - send that one off to Florio, who at the very least is helpful in making sure that Goodell isn't allowed to engage in his own revisionist history. Showing that this was going on back 50 years ago, as the Lee Groscup SPORT article confirms, and in more recent years, as that book and Jimmy Johnson confirmed, all helps vindicate Belichick.

I'd also be interested in knowing, now 2 seasons after Spygate, if Goodell has made any changes to the rule that allows taping from the stands, as long as its within three walls and roof etc... (obviously we KNOW that teams film plays... where else they turn the camers and telecsopic microphones, who knows, since it seems clear that the NFL doesn't police what's being taped, or whether telescopic microphones are being used either... but confirmation that Goodell continues to have a rule on the books allowing taping from the stadium strikes me as quite damning for Goodel - and helps vindicate Belichick.)

 

[Jackson 2]

I'm convinced if a team other than NE had gotten caught doing the exact same thing last week-end and it was announced by the league no one would care.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

I'm convinced if a team other than NE had gotten caught doing the exact same thing last week-end and it was announced by the league no one would care.

They would say that somehow someway Belichick was involved and fine us our first round pick, another 3/4 million.....

 

[ALP]

Thanks for bringing this book up. I read it in the late 90s and thought it was decent.

It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure that Green passed along some advice in this book with regard to meeting NFL players: Don't try to impress them with a powerful handshake. Green's reasoning was that player's hands take a beating from practice and games, so they greeting them with a vice-like handshake isn't doing them any favors. I've never had the opportunity to use this advice, but it's stuck with me. (Sorry for the tangent.)

As far as the spygate stuff, I'm sure other football related books contain similar revelations. For whatever reason, the media has developed selective amnesia about all non-Patriot related "spying."

that part about handshakes is in the book, correct

 

[ALP]

I'm convinced if a team other than NE had gotten caught doing the exact same thing last week-end and it was announced by the league no one would care.

i am becoming more and more convinced of this myself

 

[unoriginal]

Great catch! Green was a DB not a DL. Wrote lots of thrillers.

I'm sure there was a Tim Green that played DB at one point in time.

 

[TripleOption]

How do you post exponential notation for # of times wrong?

You have me at a loss, what are you referring to?

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Green is a great guy, he was an All American Nose Guard at Syracuse, and was one of the greatest high school wrestlers of his time. He was the BMOC and you would have never known it. He was very humble and pretty low key guy. He carried a 4.0 GPA through out college as an English major.

He once helped me pull a Greek buddy (yes, frat brother, who was actually from Greece) out from the middle of a bar scrum that he got stuck in.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

There havnt been too many threads lately regarding the subject, so why not add more?

I was given this book over the holidays. The author played in the NFL for 8 years on the DL for the Atlanta Falcons.

He writes about the NFL in general, and he has a chapter titled "NFL Spies and Traitors"

Here is a small snippet of the chapter:

"...When a team plays an opponent two times in one season and the first contest is at home, this format of spying can be done even more effectively by filiming teh signals from somewhere in the stadium and comparing them agaisnt game film to see what play corresponds with what signal. This of course only works for the home team who has the ability to put cameral wherever they wish..."

now if that is not an EXACT description of what happened, i dotn know what is...

funny thing folks, this book was published in 1996...

Great find. I was, however, about to slam you with a "WTF; why do we need another thread on Spygate?" post and am glad I read to the punch line.

Suggestion: send a link and/or extended quotes to Peter King, Reiss and a few other scribes. It might get some play.

Thanks!

 

[jmt57]

I'm sure there was a Tim Green that played DB at one point in time.

Maybe you're thinking of Darrell Green? Or Tony Greene?