That New York Times article has many falsehoods within it As Jon Kraft said in a recent interview with WEEI that this particular story was misinformed on
a) the competition committee doesn’t field complaints, that’s the job of a different body so the claim of whatever source inside that committee really doesn’t make any sense
b)Also, all of the coach to quarterback systems, clock, etc. are run by LEAGUE EMPLOYEES
c) Roger Goodel looked in to all of these separate allegations and couldn’t find anything to back these assertions.

Interview here (around 11:30 mark) http://audio.weei.com/m/19888694/jon_kraft.htm?pageid=966

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at no point in time in my comment did i state that what this reporter did was not wrong. it’s just a COMPLETE double standard for you jag-off cheater fans to think the patriots were treated “fairly” while never admiting nor apologizing for anything, after it being PROVEN that the pats cheated FOR YEARS, yet you want this reporter strung up from a high tree branch. that’s all i’m saying.

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Anyone ever think of that?

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This was taken from the NY Times last Sunday (and it’s reporting not opinion) in the sports section:

“Copies of the 2007 manual obtained by The Times show that many of the recent changes concern policies on the placement of cameras and microphones, among other tactics the Patriots have been accused of pressing to their advantage.

The NFL team executive said the Patriots were the subject of most of the accusations discussed in the rule committee’s deliberations.

‘They were the only team, really’ the executive said. “Clearly they were the team mentioned far more than anybody else.”

Are we clear now? It’s the Patriots who are the source of the recent trouble, not the Chiefs or Vikings. The guilt is NOT spread evenly. That’s why there are no “wins” for the Pats or their fans, as this website so ridiculously claimed.

Walk-through taping or no taping, this issue goes way beyond that. Picking on Tomase is nothing more than a cheesy attempt to make Spygate seem like it boils down to one incident. It does not.

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Fact of life is that a rumor site doesn’t have to be held to the same journalistic standard as “legitimate” media. You wouldn’t hold TMZ or the National Enquirer to the same journalistic standard as Variety or the Hollywood Reporter?

I do think Florio can be irresponsible at times with printing some damaging rumors that don’t pan out to be true. Even on a rumor site, there needs to be some filters on what you publish.

But what Tomase did was wrong if it was printed in the Herald or published on this site. He took a rumor and portrayed it as fact. He attributed his source knowing without a shadow of a doubt that the walkthrough was taped. He admitted today that it wasn’t the case. Florio would deserve to be called out if he did that too.

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And as far as the name “the Rumor Mill,” PFT can call it whatever it wants, but much of what it posts under that heading is news gathered from the mainstream media that has been reposted, sometimes with commentary.

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You other jokers need to get over yourself. Walsh himself says that the tapes were not used in the same game they were made. Have you seen them??!! No great info is coming from these things.

If the investigation is to continue — every team needs to be investigated to the level that the Patriots have.

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I agree that Tomase followed the same standard that ProFootballTalk.com follows : dressing a rumor from a ’source’ as fact. Back in Feb, Tomase should have stated that the walkthru was a rumor that the Patriots denied. Simple deniability , but the story gets out there.

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Let’s look at Tomase’s own words from his column published on the Boston Herald website today:

“All of that said, I never expected to be running this story during Super Bowl week, but I opened the New York Times [NYT] on Friday, Feb. 1, and saw that not only was Specter complaining about the NFL’s investigation into the Patriots, but that the Times had tracked down Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant living in Hawaii who was suggesting he had more information on the team.

Walsh’s name set off alarms. He worked for the Pats during the 2001 season and his name had been floated amongst the rumors. Many believed he had filmed the walkthrough.

My determination to get the story had been re-stoked. I began reaching back out to sources.

One that I trust said he had been told the walkthrough was taped. A second said he had been told the same thing, but neither had seen a tape.

I already had been able to verify that a member of the team’s video staff had been setting up a camera at the walkthrough, but on the final, crucial point of whether the camera was actually rolling, I made a devastating leap of logic and assumed that’s what I was being told rather than confirming it explicitly. I considered the fact that it was taped unassailable. . . . ”

It sure doesn’t sound like was his source. So, who was it? If it was somebody Tomase trusted, then it had to have been somebody from whom he had obtained information previously, perhaps somebody previously involved with the Patriots in some capacity (but not Walsh). Who else served with the Patriots back then, but has since moved on? Who else has been mentioned in connection with this story?

Connect the dots, Florio. There’s a story behind this story, and it’s a pretty good one, I suspect.

The Patriots didn’t tape the walkthrough, but somebody got sweet revenge against them ahead of the biggest game of the year.

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Personally, I think the source was an ex-Patriots coach, perhaps one now working for the Jets. This would explain why the New York press was the font of so many of the hatchet-job pieces against the Pats in recent months. Do not underestimate the enmity of the relationship between the Belichick and Mangini camps.

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So lying in a story is nothing wrong? Tomase clearly did something wrong. He admitted all he had was a rumor and that he connected the dots when Walsh was outed. He then positioned the videotaping of the Rams’ walkthrough as fact and not a rumor. That is almost as bad as plagiarism. That is why many of the sports writers around the country chose not to write this story when they knew the same rumor.

I suggest some people on this board need a journalism class or three.

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Keep trying. You keep on desperately trying to come up with a conspiracy. The Pats tried so hard to tape the walkthrough that they purposely left the camera batteries back in the hotel. Doesn’t using the foresight to leaving the only way to power the cameras at home and not bring them to the stadium a clear and deliberate act of premeditated attempt to film the walkthrough.

Get a life already.

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What is the name of this section of this website? “The Rumor Mill”. As much as I feel Mike Florio shouldn’t post some of the rumors he post because they are inflamatory, he doesn’t hide the fact he is posting rumors. Tomase wrote the rumors he has as facts in the Herald. That is a monumental difference.

If Florio went on and portrayed a rumor as fact and the was caught in a lie like Tomase was, then he would be just as guilty. If Tomase positioned the Rams Walkthrough as a rumor than a fact, I wouldn’t slam him. He didn’t.

If you can’t see the distinction, then I am sorry for you.

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So what Tomase did wasn’t just as bad. What if he heard a rumor about you that he heard you murdered someone and then printed in the Boston Herald as fact citing an unnamed source or sources. Would you say no harm no foul.

What John Tomase did was cheating. He didn’t have a story and only a rumor, but attributed it as facts because he wanted to win the race to the first publish the story. Isn’t that exactly what people are trashing Belichick and the Pats for.

Just because people hate Belichick and the Patriots doesn’t mean Tomase should get a free pass. He basically admitted to making up a source. All he had was a rumor that was given to him as third hand and he attributed the source saying it definitely happened when the source never said that. That is just as bad a plagiarism.

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I agree with Zolak that Tomase is a dead man walking when it comes to the Patriots locker room. I have heard that the organization’s disdain for him should not translate to the players. But this one crossed the line and Zolak is right. Tomase won’t have nine lives like Borges had (and he used up ten before moving on). The Herald may let him linger for a year and they may even ask Michael Felger to get his hands dirty again. Felger will wind up leaving the Herald too and just stick with his radio and tv shows, leaving the Herald with poor football coverage.

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Tomase didn’t do anything wrong. The Pats are cheaters, period.

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I think their intent was to rescue a basket full of puppies.

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maybe Florio should be fired for screwing up the Dungy report earlier this year?

Mistakes happen. ”

Note the heading of this section… “Rumor Mill.”

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… except when Florio posts rumors from unnamed sources, right?

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I don’t believe Walsh was his source, but that his source told him Walsh was at the walkthrough. I believe his sources told him the truth, that they had heard rumors about a tape and that Walsh had been at the runthrough (both of which are true things: there were rumors and Walsh was there). He just decided to make all the leaps for himself without, you know, actually getting someone to tell them that is what happened.

The guy failed Journalism 101 in a big way and deserves to be fired. I’ll never trust anything his “sources” claim again.

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Fired.

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Ummm . . . the Patriots already admitted to that. If there’s anyone you want to blame, it should be Goodell, for having the communication skills of a two-by-four.

In any case, the NFL has said that stealing signals is legal, so basically all you’re saying is, in effect, that aggravated jaywalking should carry the death penalty.

In any case, it’s worth noting that Walsh NEVER went on the record as saying he had taped the walkthrough. It’s not clear that he ever even implied it off the record, either.

On the other hand, you also have to explain this: if Walsh believed that what he was doing was wrong, why on earth did he hang on to those tapes, anyways?

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It is disgusting that a journalist would rely on a rumor he heard from multiple sources as his only evidence for such a large story as this. I think this exposes one of the biggest crime of this whole Spygate incident. The media have been exposed as for their lack of journalistic integrity.

Kudos to Mike Florio for calling out a lot of these guys.

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While we’re apologizing I’ve got something I should get off my chest too. You know that guy who works in the donut shop you visit every morning before work? Yeah, that’s me.

You know that large coffee and Boston Creme Donut you’ve order just about every morning since early February? We’ll, I don’t want to get into the details but let’s just say I’m feeling a little bit remorseful as of today.

So I’m willing to accept your “my bad” and think we can just call it even.

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Either way, I cant believe there isnt more of an uproar over the tape of an AFC Championship game. And who knows how many playoff games or Super Bowl matchups were in the tapes that Goodell burned eariler this year.

I think it’s time to put an * by the Cheatriot SB victories.

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Mistakes happen.

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Let’s keep in mind, Goodell was the one who destroyed a bunch of tapes in the beginning of this whole fiasco, I’m not entirely certain he or the league has anything to gain by dragging this thing out any longer. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear there was a lot of this stuff going on, and Goodell just said let’s save whatever face we have left, drop a “I didn’t see nuthin’” in regards to the walk-through, hang Tomase out to dry and be done with all of it.

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Why is Walsh, a disgruntled ex-Patriots’ employee, being given an ounce of credibility?

Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he produced tapes of the Cheatriots videotaping (among other games) the AFC Championship game against Pittsburgh.

He PROVED that the cheating wasn’t an isolated couple of incidents, but an extensive, 8+ year pattern of illegal behavior that has CLEARLY tarnished not only their three fraudulent Lombardi trophies, but also the NFL itself.

The only reason this scandal isn’t even bigger is that more matt Walsh’s won’t step forward. I commend him.

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Why did Walsh tell Tomase one thing in February, and then tell the Commissioner soething else? To even consider this question, one must assume that Tomase is telling the truth. Could it be that Tomase is lying to cover himself? Could it be that Mr. Wonderful, Matt Walsh, has been making things up all along?

Could it be that Walsh was discovered by the NY media…who ran a check on ex-Patriots’ employees, hoping to find one with an axe to grind? Could it be that Walsh is nothing more than a stooge for the media, and/or Arlen Specter? After all, who set Walsh up with his high-priced DC lawyer?

Why is anybody affording Walsh an ounce of credibility? Hes’ a disgruntled ex-Patriots’ employee, a thief (he has admitted to stealing the tapes which he handed over to Roger Goodell, along with tons of Patriots’ memorabelia), and now, a liar. How do we know hes’ a liar? Because his story allegedly went from taping the Rams’ SB 36 walk-through, to just being on the sidelines in Patriots’ garb, observing it…and then telling what he observed to then Patriots’ assistant coach, Brian Daboll. Yet, both Daboll (who, incidently, is now an assistant with the Jets), and ex-Rams coach Mike Martz dispute this latest Walsh tale.

The truth of the matter appears to be that a the NY media and frustrated Philadelphia Eagles fan, Arlen Specter, concocted a scheme to distract Bill Belichick and the Patriots, on the eve of their SB battle with the NY Giants. If anything should be investigated, it should be the actions of the NY press and Specter.

Why not ask these questions: Who found Walsh? How was he found? When was he found? What did he report to those who found him? Who set him up with his high-priced DC attorney? Why was the Walsh story broken (as if we don’t know) on the eve of the SB?

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You close this article with this statement:We also can’t help but wonder whether the Pats are eager to “move forward” on this one in part because they don’t want that question to be asked,or to be answered.
If the question were asked of Walsh, how could we know whether we we get a truthful response? Could it be that Walsh was lying from the get-go? Could it also be that he was discovered by the NY media, who may have embellished the story they got from Walsh? Could it be that Walsh is nothing more than a media stooge? Could it be that Arlen Specter put Walsh up to this? After all, who was it that got Walsh his high-priced DC lawyer?

Walsh is an admitted thief and now, a proven liar. Not only has he back-tracked from his story about taping the Rams’ walk-through, but he apparently has lied about watching the Rams’ walk-through from the sidelines, and talking to then Patriots’ assistant coach, Brian Daboll. Even ex-Rams coach Mike Martz disputes the Walsh tale.

Why is Walsh, a disgruntled ex-Patriots’ employee, being given an ounce of credibility?

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I don’t know if this points to Matt Walsh being the original source or not - but if he was it seems from this quote here that whoever was the source did not completely verify that there was in fact a taping, as he claims he was never lied to.

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I don’t know if Matt Walsh was the key source in this instance just based on this statement. If it was, then from this statement we can gather Walsh never gave him false information or told him explicitly that he taped it….just my two cents.

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As for John Tomase’s apology. He said what he had to say. But he has clearly done enough to warrant being suspended or fired. You really have to demand firsthand accounts or see something for yourself to make the accusations that he did. Or merely say, “A source heard from a friend that there was a walk through.” …

This way, the journalist is pretty much covered. Of course, saying something exactly like the aforementioned will not be taken seriously.

I’m curious if the identity of the source is figured out and what happens to Tomase.

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