POSTED 3:41 p.m. EST, February 16, 2008
SPYING AN INTERNAL THING, TOO
As the heat continues to rise regarding Spygate II, a reader has forwarded to us a link to a 1999 item from Mike Freeman, then of the New York Times and currently with CBSSports.com, regarding the possibility that the New York Jets (for whom Pats coach Bill Belichick worked at the time), might have been secretly videotaping . . . their own players . . . in the locker room.
The issue came up because an unnamed Jets defensive player entered a small room at the team's practice facility, which contained a bank of video screens. Some of the monitors included images of the locker room.
"A lot of things around here have knocked me for a loop, but this is one of the biggest,'' said the player. ''My first thought was, 'Has the team been spying on us?'''
In Freeman's article, NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw said that he believes 25 percent of the league's teams use hidden cameras in the locker room.
But Upshaw didn't seem to be all that bothered by it.
"When I'm in Denver, in a meeting with the players at the Broncos' facility, you see certain things in the room and know they're not lights," Upshaw said. "I know management is listening. When I'm in Cincinnati, I know Owner Mike Brown is listening. I don't want to say how I know, but I know. But when it comes to this issue of cameras around the players, it's not a big deal to me, because they are there for the security of our players, and obviously the safety of the players is a primary concern for me. I'd rather err on the side of caution, than have some nut come into the locker room and do something.''
But, Gene, are hidden cameras that no one knows about really going to deter a "nut" from doing anything?
Art Modell, who owned the Ravens at the time, confirmed Upshaw's beliefs: ''Some teams are using surveillance equipment in the locker room, yes. But I'd fire the first guy who did that here. No video cameras, no audiotapes, no eavesdropping.''
''This is a sensitive issue,'' Upshaw said. ''I'm sure it will be talked about a lot in the future.''
It hasn't been. But given the current focus on things the Patriots did or didn't do, let's not forget that there are 31 other NFL franchises that might be doing plenty of things that they shouldn't be doing, and that they merely haven't gotten caught.
