Felger, who contended for a long time that BB needed to just come out and deal with it, has spent the last 48 hours spinning just the reverse - that this is all spin obviously born of desperation that just underscores how much trouble they are in and means Walsh has to have something they can't explain away because he was their employee whenever he created or acquired it. All the lemmings who have as little access as Mike are lining up in lockstep because all they have left is this better be a story...
They can't or won't grasp that Spygate was a limited incident investigation relating to the on field video taping of coaches signals in violation of a Gameday Operations Manuel provision or the league's interpretation of it or the memo that superceded it. Belichick admitted the practice had been engaged in throughout the course of his tenure here. He sitpulated that he had turned over all tapes in the teams posession as well as any notes complied as a result or simply documenting defensive signals irrespective of how those notes were created. Harshest penalty in league history meted out as a result. END OF SPYGATE I.
Spygate II is a seperate and distinct issue irrespective of what the media or Arlen Specter or anyone wants to spin it as. Companies aren't obligated to investigate every rumor that surfaces absent some form of concrete evidence that it isn't baseless. Even governments don't do that. If Walsh had something of interest it was incumbant on him to notify the league. He chose instead to hint to reporters that he might have something, or he might not. He might have tapes, but if they are of defensive signals they are worthless since that matter was closed and the tapes are in his and not the teams posession which means he's also a thief. If he has a tape of some teams walkthrough, he will have to explain how he came to possess such an item. And if he cannot prove he was authorized to do so on behalf of the NEP, or if they can prove he absolutely was not, then that tape too is worthless. He could have bought it from Snoop Dog...
Somehow I think if the media were forced to deal in hypotheticals of their own, like would Mike Felger be responsible if the rumor that I may start that one of his minions snuck into competitor Glen Ordway's home while he was on vacation and planted listening devices that picked up some strategic conversations he figured his boss would reward him handsomly for acquiring... Oh no, Felger and ESPN would disavow any and all knowledge of what some misguided wack job producer wannabe did with no prior authorization from them. They would can the guy and claim you could not possibly hold them responsible for felonious conduct that was not undertaken at their direction unless you could prove beyond a reasonable doubt it was.
And even if they kept this clown on the payroll for a year after he bugged Ordway's house, they would claim indignantly that they let him go because they eventually realized he was an underperforming employee and potentially loose cannon only when they caught him bugging Mike and Sara's bedroom. And while they distrusted him sufficiently to have him sign a non disclosure agreement on termination they chose not to litigate because that can be messy and they had no knowledge of his taping Ordway's house and the proof was/is he still has the tape.
Those who persist in trying to make more out of this than reason remotely justifies are just jealous of this teams success or frustrated with their media access policies. And while some of them really wanted more to be made of Spygate I, they would have likely been satisfied with the outcome had Bill not been embraced by the fans, his players and ownership in week two and then proceeded to go 18-0 on the road another Superbowl. That just ripped it and demanded something else be done to show this SOB what being a closed mouthed, tight assed genius nets you. Hence, Spygate II. Pathetic in it's simplicity, which is why so many seemingly intelligent people apparently can't or won't just see it for what it is.
