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http://beta.profootballtalk.com/2008/02/13/ap-story-raises-questions/
AP STORY RAISES QUESTIONS
Posted by Mike Florio on February 13, 2008, 10:18 a.m.
For once, we have to agree (albeit reluctantly) with something that we heard on Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio.
Discussing the brilliantly-timed Wednesday meeting between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) regarding the Spygate scandal, Mike Greenberg expressed confusion regarding an Associated Press item that was printed in USA Today, and that showed up on many sports-related web sites on Tuesday evening.
Addressing the aftermath of the signal-taping incident that resulted in a $500,000 fine against Pats coach Bill Belichick, a $250,000 fine against the team, and the loss of a first-round pick in the 2008 draft, Dave Goldberg of the AP writes: “The tapes and notes dated as far back as 2002 and the NFL said in October that Belichick acknowledged to Goodell that there had been spying since he became New England’s coach in 2000.”
Greenberg and on-air partner Mike Golic expressed confusion as to the assertion that the NFL said in October that Belichick admitted to spying dating all the way back to 2000.
We agree. As far as we can tell, the NFL didn’t say anything about Spygate in October, and we can recall no assertion by the league or admission by Belichick that he had been videotaping defensive coaching signals since his first year with the Patriots. The entire issue was dead until the days preceding the Week Fifteen game between the Pats and the Jets. Then, Spygate disappeared until two days before the Super Bowl, when the names Arlen Specter and Matt Walsh became inextricably linked to the controversy.
A cynical mind might think that the NFL is pushing the issue in this regard in order to subtly persuade Specter (and the general public) that the Spygate investigation was more comprehensive and thorough than Specter has described it to be.
And if anyone out there has a link to any item in which the NFL plainly states that Belichick admitted to spying that extends back to 2000, send it in.