- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
- Messages
- 49,635
- Reaction score
- 28,361
Great article bringing back the Wells defiant press conference on how he was independent and the league has no influence on him whatsoever.
http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/will-nfls-lie-about-wells-independence-even-hurt
Especially with Professor Bluster going off on everyone in May as to how independent he is, was, always has been and that accusations otherwise offended his honor.
Exhibit A.
“I would like to start out by responding to criticisms by Mr. Brady's agent, Don Yee, about my independence and his suggestions that the conclusions of the report were somehow influenced by persons in the league office who wanted to find wrongdoing by the Patriots and Mr. Brady.
The conclusions of the report represent the independent opinion of me personally and my team. And those conclusions were not influenced in any way, shape or form by anyone at the league office. We made a fair and reasonable review of the evidence and we reached conclusions based on the preponderance of the evidence standard, which I was required to apply based on the league's rules.”
We have since come to find out, though, that the league did indeed have a hand in the Wells Report. Pash – the NFL’s No. 2 man behind Goodell (and much savvier than Goodell) who’s not an attorney – edited the Wells Report.
Wells told folks at the appeal hearing that Pash edited the report.
On his conference call, what did Wells have to say about Pash’s involvement?
“The only role Jeff Pash had was as what I'll call a facilitator in terms of process issues. If I needed to get access to somebody, I would call Pash. There's things of that nature. Jeff Pash did not participate in any of the interviews. He did not participate in the evaluation of any of the evidence or our deliberations within our team.
“I will tell you, when that press release was issued and I saw it, I didn't know that statement was going to be in there. I called Jeff and just asked to clarify what was meant by that. And he confirmed that he was there to help in terms of process. And we agreed up front, and I made it clear, that this is my investigation and I'm going to run it the same way I did the Dolphins investigation, and I did.”
Jeez, that’s a pretty big detail for Wells to leave out during the conference call, that Pash actually edited the report prior to its release. Oversight by Wells? Memory lapse? Or a willful omission of a fact because he knew how Pash’s direct editing of the report would play on a conference call with reporters.
Nobody would have known of Pash’s involvement if it hadn’t been brought up during the appeal. And nobody would have really known what was said during the appeal if the seal on that transcript hadn’t been popped.
http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/will-nfls-lie-about-wells-independence-even-hurt