TIME FOR SPECTER TO CALL IT QUITS
We initially had mixed feelings about the decision of Senator Arlen Specter to suddenly stick his nose into the affairs of the NFL. On one hand, we thought that it was good that someone was asking questions that needed to be asked. On the other hand, we were skeptical of Specter's motives, and we were aware that he has close ties to Comcast, which has been caught in a quagmire with the league regarding the availability of NFL Network to those of us who would be inclined to watch it.
But we're now thinking that Specter has made his point. He has gotten his meeting with the Commissioner. Now, Specter should leave it alone. If Specter doesn't, we think he'll quickly become the target of an effort to expose the possible fact that he's merely carrying water for Comcast.
Of course, the league can hardly complain about this. By using its own connections in Congress to force the Comcasts of the world to carry NFL Network on basic cable, the NFL willingly entered the political arena. To the extent that Comcast has friends who can create problems for the NFL, such troubles go with the territory on which the NFL now treads.
Still, Specter has gone about as far as he can with this. He's not the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the guy who is has made it clear that he isn't inclined to hold hearings on the matter.
That said, there really won't be closure on Spygate until we know what Matt Walsh knows, or what he thinks he knows. Walsh made a dramatic entry into this story two days before Super Bowl XLII, but he has since clammed up. Until his version is told, it's impossible for this story to truly end.
And while Walsh's words might not change the minds of the folks on the fringes, there is a gulf of people in the middle who can and will be swayed by more evidence about what really happened, specifically as it relates to published reports of spying prior to Super Bowl XXXVI.
In this regard, we also think it's time for the Patriots to put their own cards on the table about what did or didn't happen. To date, they've only said that the report of a pre-Super Bowl videotaped walk-through practice are false. More details would be nice, to the extent that the team wants neutral observers to accept that the Boston Herald staked its reputation (and circulation) on a controversial, inflammatory item, and lost.
At this point, we don't know what to believe. And we can't form an opinion without more facts. Although we hope that such facts ultimately will be forthcoming, we think that Arlen Specter's role in this saga should end. There's nothing that Specter can do to force further disclosure, and any additional efforts by him to attack the NFL could come off as vindictive and unseemly.
With all that said, we won't play the "Doesn't Congress have better things to do?" card. Congress is the sole federal lawmaking body for our nation, and new legislation doesn't appear out of thin air. The following that the NFL enjoys and the benefits it reaps from the antitrust exemption make its activities a matter of national concern. Besides, Congress spends plenty of time on issues far more frivolous on potential cheating in pro sports.
Specter, however, isn't Congress. He's one member of Congress who is dangerously close to being perceived as having an ax to grind. If Congress decides to take these matters up, so be it. Again, there are still questions that need to be asked. But Specter has asked all that he should.
