Re: Lets face the fact's (homers not welcome)
First of all, there's no damn apostrophe in "facts" in this usage.
Secondly, the facts seem to be that we have a report of Goodell saying that the taping goes back to 2000. He also says none of the Super Bowls or playoffs were "tainted". He also says, the door is always open for new evidence, and nobody seems to have any.
Thirdly, the fact is that the Dolphins and Jets have already been caught red-handed doing the same thing (though the Dolphins got their tape from a fan, as I understand it.) Furthermore, at least 1 former head coach says he did it, and he said that some of the holier-than-thou teams also did it. Many read this to mean the Colts, for what it is worth.
Fourthly, Goodell sent around a memo to the league in 2006 demanding cooperation with the rules regarding videotaping. This does not suggest that "nobody is doing it." It suggests that "illegal" taping was being done. Only by the Patriots? Sure. But then why send the memo to all 32 teams?
People can claim whatever they want to claim is "tainted." Specter's motives are beyond horrific: he claims to care because he is a sore loser. I buy this. But it also covers up a second agenda: serving his financiers at Comcast by bashing the league.
If Specter can finagle it, he'll have the league squirming. If the league is squirming and it can get off the hook by throwing the Pats under the bus, the league will do so.
It remains to be seen whether Specter will take it that far, and it remains to be seen whether the league will have that option.
But beyond the politics and personal motivation at the heart of this witch-hunt, at this point the League and, if it comes to it, the Senate, have a burden of proof beyond just that the Pats were taping.
They need to also prove that the Pats' taping activities were unusual as measured against the activities of the rest of the league.
Danny, you've gone after the Pats' first-round runningback, running around shrieking the sky is falling. Now you're going over to the "tarnished legacy" camp. And you do it all claiming that only homers could possibly believe otherwise.
You need to get it through your head that the objective fact is, we're screwed. Most fans hate us. A fan of a team we beat is coming after us, continuing the Mahe/McNabb quest for a ring for the losers. He's backed by the cable industry, because he's a soldier in the war against the NFLN, from their point of view.
Now then: tell me how objective that set up is.
In these times, my friend, you better be a homer, to some extent. The people coming after the Pats aren't objective, and they aren't pursuing fairness. When the playing field is defined by fairness, why of course I'll then put my loyalty on the shelf, and listen studiously to the charges against us.
For the time being, however, I take the prosecutor of these charges with a very, very large grain of salt.
PFnV
