Periodically, the name still comes up.  Matt Walsh.  The guy who knows (or thinks he knows) something incriminating about the New England Patriots, the St. Louis Rams, and Super Bowl XXXVI. 

The situation has become downright comical, for all concerned.  Walsh, who initially hid behind a confidentiality agreement that in reality (according to the team, whose assertion has not been rebutted by Walsh’s lawyer) doesn’t exist, wants absolute and total legal immunity and protection before Walsh does or says anything.  The league, ignoring perceptions and obsessing instead over legal mumbo-jumbo, comes off as fearful of what Walsh might say, and as hopeful that he’ll simply go away.  Walsh, by striving to get the legal equivalent of an entire stack of “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, comes off as being unreasonably paranoid — or, on the other hand, reasonably worried that he has done something for which he could get into real trouble.

We mention this again because there’s a brief report from John Tomase of the Boston Herald regarding the status of the Walsh discussions.  The full text of the entire article is as follows:

“It has been more than two months since the name Matt Walsh entered the local sports lexicon, and we may finally be close to knowing what light, if any, he can shed on the Patriots’ videotaping practices.

“Speaking at the SMU athletic forum luncheon in Texas on Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed hope that a deal allowing the former Patriots video assistant to talk will be struck soon.”

Um, Goodell has been expressing hope for most of the more than two months since Walsh’s name first surfaced.  But hope isn’t putting Walsh in a position to talk.  There’s an impasse between the two sides, and no one is willing to blink. 

It’s well beyond the point of ridiculous, in our view.  We think that the NFL should give Walsh whatever protections and indemnity he wants (but nothing more, such as for example payment of his lawyer’s fees), and publish to the media the letter (written hopefully in plain English) articulating the offer.  If Walsh thereafter fails or refuses to speak, it will be safe to assume that the current resident of Hawaii is full of something other than pig and pineapple.

One of Roger Goodell’s biggest strengths during his time as Commissioner has been his willingness to approach problems with common sense, without allowing the stew of worries that lawyers can conjure to paralyze him.  This time around, however, we fear that Goodell has let the lawyers set the agenda, which has prevented the league and the Patriots from putting these vague, but sinister, allegations behind them.

And that’s what ultimately needs to occur.  One way or the other, the league and the Patriots need to close the book on this.  If, as the Patriots contend, nothing improper occurred in connection with Super Bowl XXXVI, it’s in everyone’s interests to let Walsh speak, to respond to his statements, and to move forward.