VectorPrime
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2010
- Messages
- 15,031
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I feel that too many people here are focusing too much on the rehashed Spygate stuff in the OTL report. We all know what the deal is regarding that and how none of it was actually cheating or even breaking the rules until at least the 2006 memo, and even then it just mattered where signals were filmed. Thats all a known commodity and that "news" will blow over soon enough because it is nothing new. The same applies to the weird gamesmanship of Belichick allegedly having spies at the team airports to see who is making the trip. Not against the rules in any way, and actually kind of funny. That stuff will all blow over.
The important thing to come out of today is the allegation that the Patriots had been habitually stealing playsheets from opponents locker rooms and interfering with the wireless communication of other teams. While there have been quiet whispers about these kinds of things from disgruntled teams nothing ever came out of them because there was nothing to cooberate them.
But I feel today's report is different. Now I want to preface this with saying that I don't believe that the Patriots actually did anything improper. But keep in mind that the report was the end result of an investigation by a highly esteemed and all around upstanding investigative journalist. One who has won two Pulitzers and a Peabody award. He is not a hack and does not seem to be the kind of guy who would outright lie and fabricate information. If he claims to have sources from former team employees and coaches then I am hesitant to outright dismiss them. And while they are the dreaded "unnamed sources" don't forget the immense importance of anonymous sources in journalism and how critical they are for any real shot at investigative reporting in pretty much any context. You cannot just always throw away anonymous sources out of hand. Especially when reported by as credible a journalist as this man appears to be. And also especially when it isn't one, or two, but apparently dozens.
At the same time people are claiming that this is just damage control by Goodell. I don't believe it because this report alleges that Goodell is even more corrupt then ever and literally in the pockets of the Patriots, letting them skate on numerous rules violations. I hardly believe he would want ESPN to be trashing him so thoroughly. So I don't know if it's really retaliation by him.
So this is what we as Patriots fans now have to be concerned about. These are the claims that will be on the nightly news and cast a shadow over the team going forward. That the team stole playsheets, allowing them to know the first 12ish plays of a team, and interfered with wireless communication. These acts would indeed be outright cheating. So where did these allegations come from, who made them, and is there any drop of truth in them?
So, that's where we are. And it f.uckig sucks more than I can articulate, especially since we were feeling so damn good about Brady being vindicated.
The important thing to come out of today is the allegation that the Patriots had been habitually stealing playsheets from opponents locker rooms and interfering with the wireless communication of other teams. While there have been quiet whispers about these kinds of things from disgruntled teams nothing ever came out of them because there was nothing to cooberate them.
But I feel today's report is different. Now I want to preface this with saying that I don't believe that the Patriots actually did anything improper. But keep in mind that the report was the end result of an investigation by a highly esteemed and all around upstanding investigative journalist. One who has won two Pulitzers and a Peabody award. He is not a hack and does not seem to be the kind of guy who would outright lie and fabricate information. If he claims to have sources from former team employees and coaches then I am hesitant to outright dismiss them. And while they are the dreaded "unnamed sources" don't forget the immense importance of anonymous sources in journalism and how critical they are for any real shot at investigative reporting in pretty much any context. You cannot just always throw away anonymous sources out of hand. Especially when reported by as credible a journalist as this man appears to be. And also especially when it isn't one, or two, but apparently dozens.
At the same time people are claiming that this is just damage control by Goodell. I don't believe it because this report alleges that Goodell is even more corrupt then ever and literally in the pockets of the Patriots, letting them skate on numerous rules violations. I hardly believe he would want ESPN to be trashing him so thoroughly. So I don't know if it's really retaliation by him.
So this is what we as Patriots fans now have to be concerned about. These are the claims that will be on the nightly news and cast a shadow over the team going forward. That the team stole playsheets, allowing them to know the first 12ish plays of a team, and interfered with wireless communication. These acts would indeed be outright cheating. So where did these allegations come from, who made them, and is there any drop of truth in them?
So, that's where we are. And it f.uckig sucks more than I can articulate, especially since we were feeling so damn good about Brady being vindicated.
