Our friend Mike Felger of the Boston Herald and ESPN Radio in Boston, with whom we’ve appeared numerous times, was interviewed by phone on ESPN earlier this afternoon.
The exchange between Trey Wingo and Felger was tense at times.
Said Wingo at the outset, “Now let us bring in the man who represents the paper that’s sort of been behind the onus of all of this [Editor’s note: Was that Trey Wingo talking, or Emmitt Smith?], and that is Mike Felger, a columnist for the Boston Herald . . . . Mike, we heard the Commissioner basically say that Matt Walsh denied the existence of a videotape of the Rams’ walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI at his news conference. Your story, your paper of course, not your story, your paper reported that in a February 2 edition that a source told you that there was indeed a videotape of that walk-through. What’s your reaction to what the Commissioner had to say?”
Replied Felger: “Well, first of all, you say I ’represent’ the Herald. I don’t. You asked me to come on and give my thoughts, and I’ll give them to you. But I don’t represent the paper, and if you want those sort of questions, you’re gonna have to call my editor or my boss.”
Wingo talked over the last part of Felger’s response, clarifying that he’s not saying (even though he did say) that Felger “represents” the paper.
But Wingo wouldn’t let it go. Moments later, Wingo said this, “I guess you don’t feel comfortable speaking for the paper, but does the Boston Herald stand behind that story of February 2?”
Said Felger, “You just said I’m not there to speak for the paper. Are you gonna speak, Trey, for every ESPN story that’s aired over the last year? I don’t think I’d put you in that position, and I’m not here to do that today, either.”
Felger also pointed out the most ignored fact in all of this — that other teams cheat, too, and that the Patriots have evidence of it.
Finally, Felger said that there have been rumors “for years” that Matt Walsh has told people he taped the Rams’ walk-through. So either those rumors were bogus, or he told people that and was lying, or it’s true.
Based on today, the likely reality is that the rumors were bogus, or that Walsh was lying.
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Video: http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=8eebabc1-cc11-4b95-9335-f8e176f7238e
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Jeremiah, again….again…again…there was NO RULE AGAINST VIDEOTAPING DEFENSIVE SIGNALS UNTIL 2006 you freakin idiot.. Everyone did it……the league instituted the rule in 2006…..2006…..2006….2006.,….do you get that you assclown?
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I wonder how many “Patriot haters” out there realize that the Pats were not disciplined for stealing signals. STEALING SIGNALS IS LEGAL. Goodell said as much. Bellicheck thought he found a loophole in a rule as to where he could place the cameras and was wrong. Florio, could you please reiterate this?
Also, I must say you never see my Seahawks doing this… of course, you never see them playing football past January, so…
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
The ESPN Titanic and USS Boston Herald ships are sinking and the rats can’t jump off the boat fast enough! Mediots pointing fingers at each other. LOL!!
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“Jeremiah W, a Head Coach, says:
May 13th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Who cares about the “walk through”?
he Commish is spinning your head again. What took so long to have this meeting? How did they announce the result of the Walsh tapes before looking at them?
What about the fact that the Pats have been “mis interpreting” the rules since 2000?
How does anyone know that Walsh’s tapes ,including taping o coordinators, matches the evidence the NFL has already destroyed?
How could anyone not in the NFL front office confirm that this is not new information?
The story is over as long as it remains, NE has been cheating since 2000, and how much can never be proven because the Commish destroyed the evidence.”
You are slanted and refuse to accept reality buddy. I respond to each of your allegations:
What took so long to have the meeting was the legalities associated with the protections that Walsh was seeking. Ever deal with lawyers? It takes forever to get the simplest things agreed to.
They didn’t come to any conclusion BEFORE seeing the tapes. The tapes were sent days ago. Are you keeping up?
The Commish clearly stated that the Pats were punsihed for the offense going back to 2000 and that they did live up to their practices from the start.
The Commish clearly stated that a small group of people from the NFL front office reviewed each of the tapes and came to that conclusion. Are they all in cahoots?
The tapes were played at the presser today for everyone to see. Some of the original tapes were leaking onto YouTube too. Did you miss that? Matt Walsh even confirmed what the practices were and they are exactly as has been reported already for months. They were pretty darn thorough in their questions and statements.
There is no conspiracy here as much as that may disappoint you. Get over it.
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
BBrophy1 - your right - I heard him say “well I THOUGHT we were goign to get someone from the Heralds opinion…” and basically convinced myself the interview was over - but then mr. producer must have wrist slapped wingo
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May 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hahaha Wingo is a little B. He’s probably still bitter he had to cover the 2008 Women’s NCAA Basketball Bracket during March Madness.
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
So unless the reward for stealing signals was worth all this, why continue doing after 2006 when the Commish specifically warned them to stop?
Why destroy the evidence?
Why would a tennis instructor who used to be a videographer for the Pats need so much legal protection?
I read reports announcing the “no new information” company line well before the meeting, but like I pointed out, they can say that as much as they wan’t it is now imposible to prove because of the destruction of the evidence.
Just because the NFL had not specifically outlawed everything the Pats were doing before 2006, does not mean it was on te level or not cheating.
Try all you wan’t to
downplay the situation, but the fact is the 3 rings are tarnished. You don’t have enough proof to clear them of what they have admited to, and that is enough to taint the 3 rings since they had an unfair advantage, even if it was not specifically outlawed at the time.
No one is taking away the rings or the records, just the respect.
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Everyone cheats in the NFL. For years, the league has classified it as “gamesmanship”.
The Super Bowl champion Giants open the endzone/ramp tunnel doors every time a visiting field goal kicker attempts to kick a FG at Giants Stadium. The infamous communication “technical diffculties” on the visiting sidelines at Giants Stadium are legendary too. The Colts and the Seahawks pump in obnoxious amounts of crowd noise.
The Eagles use a live camera feed that zooms in and out quickly (on the kicker like a drunk camera guy trying to focus) on their HD scoreboard at whichever end the visiting kicker is kicking at. When Akers is kicking, the HD videoscreens are then completely blacked out except for a static Eagles logo.
Everybody cheats. And you can bet Belicheck let the Commish know it too.
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
What took so long to have this meeting?
Because Walsh insisted on getting an agreement allowing him total immunity from the NFL and they’ve spent months negotiating it. Where have you been?
How did they announce the result of the Walsh tapes before looking at them?
They had a list from Walsh of each tape. They also spent an hour before the press conference SHOWING THE TAPES TO EVERYONE. Who cares if they didn’t look at them beforehand, they’re not hiding them now.
What about the fact that the Pats have been “mis interpreting” the rules since 2000?
No one is denying that. They’ve been punished for it.
How does anyone know that Walsh’s tapes ,including taping o coordinators, matches the evidence the NFL has already destroyed?
We don’t.
How could anyone not in the NFL front office confirm that this is not new information?
huh?
The story is over as long as it remains, NE has been cheating since 2000, and how much can never be proven because the Commish destroyed the evidence.
Its clear nothing that anyone ever says or does regarding this story will every satisfy you unless someone comes out with evidence that the Pats did something horrible. You have your agenda and will not waver from it no matter what so its useless to even argue with you.
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Jeremiah, again….again…again…there was NO RULE AGAINST VIDEOTAPING DEFENSIVE SIGNALS UNTIL 2006 you freakin idiot.. Everyone did it……the league instituted the rule in 2006…..2006…..2006….2006.,….do you get that you assclown?
The commish even stated today that stealing signals is not illegal, you just can’t tape them. That’s where the Patriots went wrong.
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Jeremiah,
I think that, when you questioned how anyone knew the contents of the tapes prior to even looking at them you were referencing the initial comments regarding them last week. The answer to that SPECIFIC question is that Walsh’s lawyer informed the NFL of the tapes contents when he handed them over to the league.
This was reported last week when it was suggested that the NFL tipped off the Times as to the tapes contents…..it was then clarified that Walsh’s lawyer was the source of the info. Please try to keep up!!
As to asterisks, tarnished reputations and the like, you have expressed your stance ad nauseum…we ALL know your opinion on this now….your continued re-iteration of the same is becoming troll-like!! You’re adding nothing new…..just spewing the same trash over and over……….
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Florio, there is a third possibility–that he did indeed tape the walk-through, but did not keep that particular tape. If it went to the New England front office, it is floating in particles above Hawaii by now. If it went to the League office, it will forever take on a relationship with the Zapruder tape.
I am also disgusted with the way the media has reported on this. The larger issue is “cheating in sports”. Players, coaches and even officials in every major sport are crossing the lines of “competitive edge” into outright cheating. These are distractions from…well…our national distraction, sports. But even worse, when the games are no longer truly competitive, we are going to lose interest. Maybe wrestling fans don’t mind the match being fixed, but football fans won’t stand for it. I vote to expand your proposal on being ruthless with draft pick losses. Include teams caught cheating or looking the other way when their players cheat.
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Touché Felger. I can finally say you are NOT an ESPN arse kisser.
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May 13th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
bonecity7, You may be right that I am taking this way too far, and I do in fact live under a bridge.
I was just so sick of how the media has been on NE’s jock recently and how BB was always refered to as some sort of genius gameplanner, football mastermind and all that crap, when it turned out he was just a better spy.
That and I have nothing better to do, and this is more fun than porn past 5 minutes.
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May 13th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Not generally a Felger fan but today I am. ESPN is so pathetic they should really be ashamed. Why are they not asking questions about the whole matter. We all know that by Mangini’s own admission, the Jets taped, or tried to anyway, the 2006 PATS/JETS playoff game. The main difference being that the Pats removed the videogrpaher and didn’t go crying to the NFL. Why is the media not asking about sanctions against the Jets. How about the fact that Gooddell ADMITS that taping is “not very widespread.” Clearly then, someone other than the Pats is also doing it but does any media follow up on that and ask what the repercussions are for those teams? Wingo should have placed a call to his bosses and asked them if they still stood behind Mike Fish’s articles. ESPN SUCKS!!!
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May 13th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
At least now we have a pretty clear confirmation on why Walsh was holding on so long to get full indemnity from the league - he made misleading comments to the media which is why the whole Rams walk-through mystery tape became such a media circus in the first place.
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May 13th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
You know lumping BB in with richard nixon by referring to this as “spygate” is an insult. Nixon got popped the first time he cheated, BB got away with it for years. Let’s give him some credit and come up with a better name.
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May 13th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
jeremiah,
I take exception to your suggestion that this is better than porn!!
LOL!!! :^)
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May 13th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I was just so sick of how the media has been on NE’s jock recently and how BB was always refered to as some sort of genius gameplanner, football mastermind and all that crap, when it turned out he was just a better spy.
WHAT??? Take a look around some of the other websites today my friend. Peter King’s article on the subject: The end of Spygate: Walsh doesn’t deliver, but Belichick still looks bad. How about this one: Belicheat to walk away free from Diegateby STEVE SERBY, New York Post (granted, this one may be a little biased).
But make no mistake, no one is kissing his ass, and if they call him a genius, its because he actually is. To take away everything he’s accomplished is totally overreacting. His team went 18-1 last year AFTER all this came to light, and they were the most scrutinized in the league. You don’t have to like him, but you don’t have to be irrational either.
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May 13th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Kenmatik…teams run certain drills that other teams don’t…does this mean their drills are any better? fact is the Pats were 7-4 (3-3 and 4-2) with Walsh’s tapes. 18-1 without.
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May 13th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
The only thing that is difficult to come to grips with is how is something like “The New England Patriots taped the St. Louis Rams’ walk through before the Super Bowl” said yet it is 100 percent bogus. Was it TRULY made up, or was the tape found — and destroyed?
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May 13th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Listened to Felger on the way home (for about 5 minutes, which is all I can stand) and he totally kissed Schlereth’s butt. You could tell Felgie was so grateful Schlereth came on his show and was afraid to take him on. His ratings are in the toilet compared to EEI. What a wuss.
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May 13th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
ESPN must fill 24 hours a day with sports coverage. I don’t think it has a bias as much as it has a congenital need to turn anthills into mountains. Otherwise, how would it get through the day, the week, the month, or the year?
When you watch ESPN, just remember that it has to make the mundane seem extraordinary. Great sports stories, like great sports accomplishments, don’t come along every day, but ESPN must pretend they do.
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May 13th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Rubbish… All of it! I think in one of the videos you can see the cast of Bang Bros with a T.O. cameo
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