Bruce Allen catches ESPN's Don Van Natta lying about his ESPN story

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch Tweeted out conflicting accounts of how Roger Goodell went about destroying the Spygate tapes. In the ESPN story released yesterday, he said Goodell acted on his own and when the owners found out they were irate.

Back in December, Van Natta was on Bill Simmons' podcast and claimed that Goodell conferred with a group of owners and they all decided to destroy the tapes.

Here is a link to Barstool sports that details it better. I would link to Bruce's site, but he doesn't seem to have a story up yet:

http://www.barstoolsports.com/bosto...-to-get-his-story-straight-regarding-spygate/

Simply hilarious. It's not like he said that 5 years ago or something. He said it not even a year ago. So he was lying 9 months ago or he is lying now, which either way he has lied and that kills any credibility of this story.

Bruce Allen ‏@bruceallen 16h16 hours ago
In Dec @DVNJr told @BillSimmons that owners agreed spygate tapes should be destroyed. Today writes they couldn't believe Goodell did it.

Bruce Allen ‏@bruceallen 15h15 hours ago
This is @DVNJr From B.S. Report in December: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/b-s-report-don-van-natta-jr-2/… (about 44min in)


Bruce Allen ‏@bruceallen 15h15 hours ago
This is today:

IMO the ESPN article did not paint Goodell in a good light at all.

I do wonder if this was a retaliatory strike against Goody & the league for feeding Mort bad info.

Hmmm.

How does this help the Patriots?

They are obviously setting Goodell up as the fall guy. He will be fired and all the "lying and deception" ...and "covering for the Pats" will go with him. The MFL starts all over with "fairness" and ugh..."integrity".

robertweathers said:

IMO the ESPN article did not paint Goodell in a good light at all.

I do wonder if this was a retaliatory strike against Goody & the league for feeding Mort bad info.

Hmmm.

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Sure, it paints Goodell in a negative light. BUT he was already in that light after losing the court case. What this article does is change the focus BACK onto the Patriots, and away from the league in some respects. It also provides a justification for the heavy penalty which by all accounts was seen as unreasonable. By bringing up spygate again, the NFL is trying to frame deflategate as part of a pattern of Patriots cheating, thus justifying the penalty. All ********, but that's how I think the league is trying to frame this.

Silver Blue&Red said:

They are obviously setting Goodell up as the fall guy. He will be fired and all the "lying and deception" ...and "covering for the Pats" will go with him. The MFL starts all over with "fairness" and ugh..."integrity".

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We could only wish...

fumbrunner said:

Sure, it paints Goodell in a negative light. BUT he was already in that light after losing the court case. What this article does is change the focus BACK onto the Patriots, and away from the league in some respects. It also provides a justification for the heavy penalty which by all accounts was seen as unreasonable. By bringing up spygate again, the NFL is trying to frame deflategate as part of a pattern of Patriots cheating, thus justifying the penalty. All ********, but that's how I think the league is trying to frame this.

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There is no question about that. I totally agree.

I really think that the NFL went to ESPN and SI and asked them if they would be interested in more information on Spygate and how badly the Patriots cheat....as you say a way of messaging out how the league needed to justify it's actions with Deflategate.

SI went along and authored a total piece of crap.

ESPN went along, also authored a total piece of crap but in the process needed to re-establish (or make the attempt) the OTL (and ESPN) brand as unbiased credible journalism. I do think it sensed the public view it as being in the NFL's pocket and it needed to respond to it. In other words, I think the article was a negotiation between the two. I also want to to believe that ESPN is pissed at the NFL for the Mort report and wanted to use this as getting even.

Q: How can you tell when an ESPN writer is lying?

A: When the story is about the Patriots.

The Brandon Five said:

Q: How can you tell when an ESPN writer is lying?

A: When the story is about the Patriots.

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Also
Q: How can you tell ESPN will release a slanderous piece against the Patriots?

A: 30-60 minutes prior to a Goodell public address to the media (on Patriot only topics).

Ivan said:

How does this help the Patriots?

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It simply proves what we already knew, that those who work for ESPN will throw the team under the bus even when it's lying or doesn't have the facts straight.

supafly said:

It simply proves what we already knew, that those who work for ESPN will throw the team under the bus even when it's lying or doesn't have the facts straight.

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I turned the political networks off years ago because they are simply mouthpieces for their respective party's and have zero interest in truth, ESPN has revealed itself over the years to be exactly the same kind of entity and I simplywon't watch them anymore unless the Patriots are playing and I have no choice at all. The garbage they threw out there yesterday was clearly an attack coordinated with the league office and while it has the desired effect for the league of changing the narrative to put the Patriots on the defensive it also was so blatant that it diminished both ESPN and the NFL in the eyes of anyone with a shred of decency left.

JMC00 said:

Simply hilarious. It's not like he said that 5 years ago or something. He said it not even a year ago. So he was lying 9 months ago or he is lying now, which either way he has lied and that kills any credibility of this story.

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"Case Closed" no need to discuss per you. I expect the name calling to start like "idiot" "moron" or something similar.

Minihane and Van Natta had an epic twitter fight last night. The primary thing Minhane is good for is not pulling his punches and he was totally over the top. It was excellent reading!

Brewskies said:

"Case Closed" no need to discuss per you. I expect the name calling to start like "idiot" "moron" or something similar.

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Uh....wut?

Brewskies said:

"Case Closed" no need to discuss per you. I expect the name calling to start like "idiot" "moron" or something similar.

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He dug up a horse that had been dead for years just to beat it some more and then it turns out in his "report" one of his biggest points was a complete contradiction of something he said 9 months ago. So he was either lying then or he is lying now about that. Either way he is lying about one of those, which hurts his credibility and makes me wonder what else he could be lying about in this.