New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft addressed for the first time the February 2 bombshell allegations from the Boston Herald regarding allegations that the team he owns cheated in the Super Bowl six years ago.
“A newspaper made a damaging allegation about the so-called Matt Walsh affair,” Kraft said on Monday. “I believe it’s something that never happened. If so, why wouldn’t — two months later – anything have come out? But we live in a society where people can make any kind of allegations. But then, it has to be substantiated.”
Though Kraft didn’t tiptoe onto the next stone of logic, an inability by the Herald to substantiate the allegations could expose the newspaper to a lawsuit from the organization.
But that’s for another day, if ever. For now, the focus remains on Walsh. Said Kraft: “[H]e never signed any confidentiality statement with us, so as far as I’m concerned, I don’t know why he doesn’t just come out and speak.”
Let’s repeat that. “[H]e never signed any confidentiality agreement.”
The supposed existence of a confidentiality agreement is what kept Walsh from spilling the beans to the New York Times on January 31, two days before Super Bowl XLII. But there isn’t one.
The non-existence of a confidentiality agreement previously was buried in a marginally-related article by Mike Fish of ESPN.com, and the non-existence of said confidentiality agreement was ignored by the rest of the media.
It shouldn’t be. If there’s no confidentiality agreement, there’s no reason for Walsh not to talk. So if he’s not talking, he’s not talking for other reasons.
So what the hell are they?
We have a feeling that we’re more likely to find out the number of licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.
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March 31st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Who cares if he didn’t sign a confidentiality agreement?
It’s just like any whistle-blowing: He speaks, the Pats sue his butt off and pick apart his life, revealing any and all embarrassing involvements since elementary school. He needs to get the NFL to agree to pay his legal fees, because whether his assertions are right or not, he’ll be spending a lot of time in court.
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March 31st, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Kraft: “I believe it’s something that never happened. If so, why wouldn’t — two months later – anything have come out?”
Senator Specter: “The NFL is discouraging Walsh from coming forward.”
Sadly, in this case, I give more credence to Specter than Kraft. Perhaps Kraft should be asked why he hasn’t sued the Herald yet for their “false report.” Hasn’t it been two months?
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March 31st, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Wow…..Classic! You pull out the old “How Many Licks? Commercial” That came out of nowhere. I always hated that owl for eating that kids lollipop.
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:05 pm
But wouldn’t he still be using stolen materials as evidence to substantiate the claim?
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Typical nonsense. Kraft’s statement begs the question: If Walsh didn’t sign a confidentiality agreement and there was no real threat of anything happening, why not put his ass on a plane and show him for the liar he is?
Because they’re afraid of what he has. He’s afraid of getting his arse sued off. I didn’t sign any confidentiality agreements - but if I walked out of the job with a whole rig of bartender’s tools, I’d probably get in a little trouble, right?
Too much playin’ dumb to be nothing here.
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Yeah, it’s not like a guy like Robert Kraft would lie or anything.
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Levy - a member of one of the highest profile law firms in our country, working at no charge - wants full indemnification for Walsh, not just immunity. That would give Walsh the ability to say anything at all and Kraft, Belichick, and the NFL could do nothing. There would be nothing to stop Walsh from going on TV or writing a book full of lies with that agreement. Nobody in their right mind would agree to that.
Seems to me that if Walsh is being honest, at least one person would have stepped forward and backed his story by now.
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:58 pm
So we’re just supposed to take what the owner of a billion dollar company who condones (and rewards) lying and cheating as fact?
I bet you believed the Enron guys, Martha Stewart, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens too.
If they truly have nothing to hide, why not just give him what he wants? If they do and he doesn’t have squat, he’ll be the one with no credibility and the Patriots might actually come out looking innocent for a change.
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Specter more credible? The same guy who used antitrust hearings to nullify a trade between San Fran and Baltimore so his Eagles could get TO? The same guy who used his meeting with Goodell about his actions with Spygate to back Goodell into a corner to allow churches to air football games without paying a licensing fee and lecture Goodell on how DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket is unfair to his largest campaign contributor - Comcast.
Mike can answer this issue better than I, but by the Kraft and his attorney stating in public that Walsh has no confidentiality agreement I think they have pretty much blown any lawsuit that they might have if they tried to sue because he violated the confidentiality agreement.
Personally, I don’t think Specter ever wants Walsh to speak and neither does Walsh. I think Walsh knows the appearance that he has dirt is more damaging to the Patriots than what he has.
I don’t see the advantage for the Patriots and NFL delaying what would be the inevitable for this to end - Walsh speaking. What are they waiting for? The start of the season so it can be when the NFL is in the spotlight? Maybe they will wait for the Super Bowl. Right now is the perfect time to let it out since the sports world is focused on baseball and NCAA basketball.
It’s like a bandaid. It is better to rip it off all at once than pulling it off slowly. If walsh truly has something, it is going to come out. I think the Pats and NFL want it now so there is distance before the regular season and whatever news.
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Here’s one possible answer to If there’s no confidentiality agreement, there’s no reason for Walsh not to talk. So if he’s not talking, he’s not talking for other reasons.
So what the hell are they?
If Walsh “taped recordings of conversations,” it may have been to cover his own butt should any of this come out in the future, i.e., now, so that HE would not be the scapegoat for recording walkthroughs, etc. If HE did record conversations, like say telephone recordings, is that not a felony and something for which the NFL cannot grant immunity?
He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
So to tell the “whole truth,” as the Pats want him to do, would he have to admit to a felony?
So the Pats have him by the balls, unfortunately, and can continue to pretend they won super bowls, AFC championships, and other games without cheating.
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Specter didn’t nullify anything regarding TO. The trade was nullified by settlement between the union, the league, the 49ers, Ravens and Eagles after TO’s refusal to report to the Ravens. Key to the case was the fact that the league and the union changed TO’s contract to move up the date that he would become a free agent, and TO never signed off on the change. This is why the 49ers, Ravens and the league preferred to settle rather than let the case go to the Grand Poobah or whatever it is that they call the judge that arbitrates disputes.
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Specter threatened senate Antitrust investigations if the trade wasn’t overturned and the league caved faster than a deck of cards. Tagliabue did a lot for the league, but a backbone wasn’t one of his strengths.
In fact, Spygate is the third time he has threatened antitrust investigations to get what he wanted from the league. Everytime it stemmed from his own personal interests. That time it was because TO wanted to play for Philly and Philly wanted him. In December of 2006, he threated Senate hearing because Comcast didn’t have a chance to get DirecTV Sunday Ticket. Now he has threatened potential senate hearing that stemmed from him trying to find out from Goodell whether the Pats cheated against the Eagles in the Super Bowl. Specter wears his agenda on his sleeve and uses his position on the Judiciary Commitee as a way to be the defacto commissioner of the NFL.
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Let’s assume, just for the sake of argument, that all of the principals involved here are being less than truthful about one or more aspects of this controversy.
Question: Who then will step forward and open his yap?
Answer: Nobody!
Under the scenario above it would not be surprising to see this thing proceed like a category 5 hurricane…narrowly approaching the mainland….. before it churns out to sea. But, not before it provides some killer waves for the dedicated surfers!
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
If Walsh did commit a felony and tape record conversations between him and Pioli without Pioli’s knowledge, how can any tape he has be tied back to the Patriots unless he has proof he was ordered to do so. If the Patriots have a copy of his alleged taping of Pioli, they have a get out of jail free card. That would prove that Walsh is a loose cannon and would do something like videotaping a walkthrough on his own without any direct knowledge of the Patriots, Belichick, Pioli, etc.
Besides,if Walsh is a felon who is wrapping himself up as an innocent victim and denying his crime through his lawyer, how trustworthy is anything he has to say?
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March 31st, 2008 at 11:10 pm
1. Specter has his own agenda. Doing the talk show circuit to promote his book has nothing to do with the best interests of the NFL. He’s a piece of sh-poop.
2. I never noticed that the owl in the commercial is guilty of littering. After it unwraps the lollipop, the wrapper is unceremoniously tossed, presumably on the forest floor. Nice.
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March 31st, 2008 at 11:21 pm
The truth will set you free, Robo769. Threats of anti-trust investigations have no teeth without the actual existence of anti-trust violations. Fact is any player has the legal right to refuse to play for any team that holds his rights, and it’s a very real, very persuasive tactic that has worked several times in the past. No need for a conspiracy to hook TO up with the Eagles, particularly when the league/49ers/Ravens case was so shaky, which was the REAL reason that the league/49ers/Ravens rolled over so easily.
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April 1st, 2008 at 12:09 am
Yes, because the Patriots*** organization has always been so trustworth and forthright. (insert sarcasm here).
I really, really hope that he’s got something damaging and that the NFL has no choice but to drop the hammer on those self-admitted-cheating-since-2001 tainted crew.
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April 1st, 2008 at 12:51 am
Yeah Arlen Specter certainly has ulterior motive. Has nothing to do with the huge campaign donations he receives from Comcast. Who by the way at a recent public hearing in Boston to hear people speaking out to keep the internet from becoming the private property of corporations like Comcast, admitted to paying people to take up some of the limited spots available to keep activisits from speaking out against Comcast and the rest of the scum companies.
Specter doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Spygate, its all a way of pressuring the NFL to cave in to the cable companies.
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April 1st, 2008 at 7:20 am
vandilay what team do you root for. By saying the pats super bowls where tainted shows me you no nothing about football.
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April 1st, 2008 at 8:15 am
Vox Veritas, you might want to seek some of that truth yourself. Of course threats of having their antitrust exemptions examined pushed the league to find a quick resolution. Even a hardliner like Goodell has been making concessions to Specter since meeting with him to try to keep him at bay.
Name one other time where the league forced a trade overturned. If it is so easy for player to refuse to play for a team and make the league broker a deal to nulify a trade where the player didn’t want to play for, there should be other examples. There aren’t.
Besides, no matter if Specter had an effect or not, it exposed his agenda when it comes to the NFL and his willingness to abuse his political powers to satisfy his own selfish Eagle fans’ needs. Just because his threats had no teeth as you suggest, does that make his actions and agenda any less dubious? He still butted in where he really shouldn’t because it benefitted his Eagles. It establishes a pattern of Specter getting involved in league matter when it satisfies his own personal interests and agendas. You can’t deny that.
It is Specter’s actions and agendas that are in question in my mind. If you try to murder someone and you fail, are you not a criminal? Specter has established a pattern of pushing his own selfish agenda within the NFL in several occassions which makes anything he says on Spygate dubious in my mind.
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April 1st, 2008 at 11:47 am
vandilay = seinfeld = new york = jets < pats
ZING!
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April 1st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
It put no more pressure than TO’s refusal to show up put. Seriously. And like I said, the case was shaky. Ask Florio, you don’t get to legally screw a guy over just because you don’t like him and you’re in a position to screw him over.
“Name one other time where the league forced a trade overturned.”
No need, as nothing was “forced” by the league in the TO/Ravens/Eagles issue. It was a settlement.
“Just because his threats had no teeth as you suggest, does that make his actions and agenda any less dubious?”
Of COURSE the man has an agenda! It’s not a coincidence that he counts lots of Eagles fans in his constituency! Before he became the longest-serving PA Senator EVARRR he was a two-term Philly DA!
“Butting in” on behalf of his constituents IS HIS JOB. Even when it comes to the NFL. Don’t talk about murder. This isn’t a crime. This is politics.
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April 1st, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Roofdog — when the Patriots*** admitted that they have been taping other teams (aka cheating) since 2001 and since they won three SB’s by a total of 3 points, yeah, I can feel pretty comfortable saying they’re tainted. Keep your tainted goggles on if you must.
javajay77 — the only thing worse than your post was the fact that you actually ZING’ed yourself.
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April 1st, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I feel bad for vandilay… his family history of inbreeding and the years hes spent as a Jets fan have had an obvious and severe effect on his ability to make rational, intelligent football arguments. Plus, he has to live with the fact that the Jets won’t be serious contenders in the division until Brady retires. As for Matt Walsh, why is he worried about legal fees? If he has a tape of the Rams walkthrough he would have an endless amount of lawyers clamoring to represent him pro bono because of the insane amount of publicity sure to follow.
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April 1st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Jared21,
Despite your awkward attempt at a feeble Ad Hominem attack, you are the one who has skirted the issue and made not a single arugment at all.
1) The Patriots*** admitted to taping/cheating since 2001. That is an undisputed fact.
2) # 1 above, combined with the fact that they won their SB’s by the narrowest of margins and therefore concluding that their SB “wins” are tainted is harly an irrational argument. What I do love is that that is how many in history are going to remember this team.
3) I’m not a Jets fan, but feel free to bash them or to continue your simple conjecture.
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