Mort on Mike and Mike

[castlelong1]

He made some interesting points:

- He said Goodell will end Spygate on the 13th. He will meet Matt Walsh in the morning and in the afternoon he will meet the press and show them the videotapes and say the investigation is over.
- He also expects Goodell to publically admonish Walsh for not putting the Rams walkthrough rumors to rest from the beginning. Mort said that Levy should have publically denied that Walsh had the Rams videotape and that Walsh was the source of the Herald piece from the beginning and that they were wrong to let this thing linger.
- He met with Walsh the week of a Pro Bowl, but not in a formal interview and he said that Walsh was very evasive.
- He believes the Herald to publically either retract the Rams walkthrough story or publically stand by their source. Otherwise, there will be a lingering affect on them worse if they issue a retraction. He expects they will stand by their source.
- Said that when Walsh originally spoke to the press, he believes that Walsh did not know that the Patriots admitted to videotaping signals back to 2000.

Still ESPN is now and forever network non grata for me and I hope Earth when those idiots realize illegal placement of a camera-gate was a a tempest in a teapot.

 

[castlelong1]

I forgot one thing Mort said. He said he and ESPN knew about the Rams walkthrough rumor for months before it reported, but they felt it didn't meet the journalistic standard to report.

ESPN? Journalistic standards? That is the least believable thing he said.

 

[castlelong1]

October 20th, 2008 really needs to be a day of reckoning for ESPN. When they come to Foxboro we really need to make it publicly known how we feel about them and how they covered this story.

I certainly don't hope anyone takes Wilbon's wanting Brady injured AFTER THE WHISTLE to heart and does anything illegal if he comes to do the half time Pardon the Interruption thing.

 

[castlelong1]

This is certainly a relief...losing BB for the year would have crushed our chances at the Super Bowl...That being said, who really cares if Goodell backs the Patriots or not, all I am concerned with is putting this behind us and moving ahead into the future. This whole stupid Spygate was a major distraction all year, especially heading into the Super Bowl, and probably had some detrimental affect on the players, the coahces, and the organization. With this behind us, I am really excited about this year....

#$%& that. We have been in the feild since september. I'm ready to bat.

 

[castlelong1]

Well, I don't know what Walsh can say in the meeting that could change anything. He hasn't been with the Patriots in nearly five years. No one will back up any of his claims if he talks about any other allegation of cheating. Goodell can't punish the Patriots based on Walsh's word especially after he allowed the whole Rams walkthrough thing hang out there without denying that he had that tape.

I do think Goodell could go through the motions of investigating whatever Walsh has to say to keep Arlen Specter from having ammo to get Senate hearings. But he isn't going to punish Belichick based on the word of one individual especially one with some questionable incidents in his past.

He can suspend Pete Carrol.

 

[flasox27]

Metaphors
Just a few things, Goodell could have done differently.
1.How about punishing the Pats with a fine and loss of third round draft pick which is the standard penalty for rules violations.
2.How about saying it was it was a rules violation that other teams had done in the past
3. How about conducting an investigation of who leaked the tapes to Fox TV.
4. How about punishing the Jets after they were exposed taping the Pats without permission
5.How about closing the case when they realized after investigating Walsh that he was a liar and thief
6. How about saying now the case is closednow
Finally, for someone whose goal is not to tear down the Pats he has been pretty unsucessful in achieving it.

 

[NEPatriot]

Next Wed morning is the D day.

 

[PromisedLand]

"illegal placement of a camera-gate" - I love that! Henceforth I will always use that phrase to refer to this incident and the subsequent media circus. Unless, of course, I forget to...

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

If we polled all Colts fans, which of these two would they choose? I wonder...

Colts fans were willing to believe evidence AGAINST the Patriots was grounds for more and more punishment

and at the same time

They believe that the absence of any new evidence would be (and now is) merely a reflection of a vast conspiracy by the NFL to save their product, that the Patriots are guility of everything that anyone might imagine (including global warming and the price of gas), and that Goodell is keeping us from learning this truth.

With those two beliefs, no matter what evidence is presented, they can comfortably adopt the exact same stance: the Patriots are guilty of everything, facts be damned.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Colts fans were willing to believe evidence AGAINST the Patriots was grounds for more and more punishment
[snip]

I assume some of these fans were the ones behind this boycott?

 

[Kingasaurus]

Colts fans were willing to believe evidence AGAINST the Patriots was grounds for more and more punishment

and at the same time

They believe that the absence of any new evidence would be (and now is) merely a reflection of a vast conspiracy by the NFL to save their product, that the Patriots are guility of everything that anyone might imagine (including global warming and the price of gas), and that Goodell is keeping us from learning this truth.

With those two beliefs, no matter what evidence is presented, they can comfortably adopt the exact same stance: the Patriots are guilty of everything, facts be damned.

Bingo. All conspiracy-minded people have the same pathological mindset: the lack of evidence for a conspiracy actually proves the conspiracy - "THEY are hiding the evidence..."

With your brain hermetically sealed like that, no potential new information can possibly change your mind. Anything and everything that happens is automatically evidence FOR the conspiracy. You forfeit your right to be taken seriously when you "think" like that.

If you want serious people to listen to you, your opinions should be falsifiable, at least in principle.

 

[patchick]

Colts fans were willing to believe evidence AGAINST the Patriots was grounds for more and more punishment

and at the same time

They believe that the absence of any new evidence would be (and now is) merely a reflection of a vast conspiracy by the NFL to save their product, that the Patriots are guility of everything that anyone might imagine (including global warming and the price of gas), and that Goodell is keeping us from learning this truth.

With those two beliefs, no matter what evidence is presented, they can comfortably adopt the exact same stance: the Patriots are guilty of everything, facts be damned.

This is an old classic among logical fallacies, the self-sealing argument. It's a theory designed so that any evidence in any direction will be taken as support for the same conclusion--therefore evidence and argument are pointless.

 

[MKats31]

I'm honestly sick of all this "Spygate" crap....just end it for gods shake

 

[RussFrancis]

MIKE WILBON's take on PTI-


Thought Id follow up with the ESPN commentary in this thread about something Mike Wilbon had to say on PTI this afternoon which really needs to be pointed out and commended. Not sure it deserved an entire thread of its own. Anyway, Wilbon fully recognized how the "media as a group" needed to accept responsibility for "FOAMING AT THE MOUTH" over the Spygate 2 dilemna, that they should have had the attention meter dialed down to a 2 instead of a 10, and that Bill Belichick is to be "fully exonerated". He referred to the entire 3 month period of the second phase of LIE-gate as JUNK! JUNK! Very much happy to hear him responding this way. Wilbon gets props for the take here on this. So, catch the later airing of this show if you havent seen his take and want to get a chance to do so.

 

[juny]

I knew I liked Wilbon for a reason. His NBA insights are pretty good too.

 

[goz421]

Did you here the ahole after him who espn dragged up. Some old fart, can't remember his name said becuase it was a championship game coach B should be suspended for a year and fined 5 million dollars. Where does espn drag up these a holes. Did anyone forget to tell him the Steelers knew of this a long time ago and said it was a non issue. That competitve edge was gained.

Alll they care about is drama.

 

[castlelong1]

Metaphors
Just a few things, Goodell could have done differently.
1.How about punishing the Pats with a fine and loss of third round draft pick which is the standard penalty for rules violations.
2.How about saying it was it was a rules violation that other teams had done in the past
3. How about conducting an investigation of who leaked the tapes to Fox TV.
4. How about punishing the Jets after they were exposed taping the Pats without permission
5.How about closing the case when they realized after investigating Walsh that he was a liar and thief
6. How about saying now the case is closednow
Finally, for someone whose goal is not to tear down the Pats he has been pretty unsucessful in achieving it.

You make a good case for Goodell's being an idiot. (Maliciousness is tough to prove)

 

[castlelong1]

MIKE WILBON's take on PTI-


Thought Id follow up with the ESPN commentary in this thread about something Mike Wilbon had to say on PTI this afternoon which really needs to be pointed out and commended. Not sure it deserved an entire thread of its own. Anyway, Wilbon fully recognized how the "media as a group" needed to accept responsibility for "FOAMING AT THE MOUTH" over the Spygate 2 dilemna, that they should have had the attention meter dialed down to a 2 instead of a 10, and that Bill Belichick is to be "fully exonerated". He referred to the entire 3 month period of the second phase of LIE-gate as JUNK! JUNK! Very much happy to hear him responding this way. Wilbon gets props for the take here on this. So, catch the later airing of this show if you havent seen his take and want to get a chance to do so.

It almost gets him off the hook for calling for someone to hit Brady in the knees AFTER the play. ALMOST.

 

[Kontradiction]

MIKE WILBON's take on PTI-


Thought Id follow up with the ESPN commentary in this thread about something Mike Wilbon had to say on PTI this afternoon which really needs to be pointed out and commended. Not sure it deserved an entire thread of its own. Anyway, Wilbon fully recognized how the "media as a group" needed to accept responsibility for "FOAMING AT THE MOUTH" over the Spygate 2 dilemna, that they should have had the attention meter dialed down to a 2 instead of a 10, and that Bill Belichick is to be "fully exonerated". He referred to the entire 3 month period of the second phase of LIE-gate as JUNK! JUNK! Very much happy to hear him responding this way. Wilbon gets props for the take here on this. So, catch the later airing of this show if you havent seen his take and want to get a chance to do so.

I love Michael Wilbon. Tony Kornheiser, not so much. What did he have to say about this entire thing?

 

[flasox27]

Intentional or not, his actions do not give me any comfort that he has the willingness or ability to close this case if he gets any pressure from media or politicians regardless of the lack of substantiation of claims.