The Spectacle of Spector
[Ed. note: This originally appeared as part of an e-mail response specifically to Gonzo, but it is reprinted here for feedback from the group on whole.]
As for Arlen Spector, I can only hope that his brethren in Congress take him aside when the cameras are off and tell him to start taking his pills again.. cuz he’s off his rocker. I would sincerely hope that the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have any number of more meaningful things to do (like… clipping their toenails, or… watching grass grow - or, I dunno, stuff that pertains to the myriad issues actually facing our country currently) - and would make their senior peer aware of their desire to indeed focus elsewhere.
He started his involvement when it occurred to him that his beloved Eagles may have been “screwed” in their Super Bowl loss a few years ago. No such evidence has surfaced to support that, so now he’s “upset as a Pennsylvanian” at the prospect of the Steeler tapes from 2004 when Pittsburgh beat the Pats in the regular season and then got destroyed by them in the AFC Championship Game (again). Has he never watched an NFL season? Does he not understand how difficult it is to beat the same team (good or bad) twice in the same season?
He clearly doesn’t watch, cuz he made a big deal of the “revelation” that the Pats were taping offensive signals. Hey, asshole… the QBs have headsets in their helmets to get the plays called into them - so any offensive hand signals from the sideline are going to be minimal to useless anyhow.
Finally, does he realize how unlikely it is that the Pats would have the time and ability to use those signals in the same game - which would really be the only application? I mean… I coach Little League, and *we* change up our freakin’ signs so that the other team can’t figure out a pattern. It’s like Terry Francona said when this stuff broke last September, “If you’re dumb enough to keep the same signs over the course of a season, or even a couple seasons… you *deserve* to have them stolen.”
Matt Walsh has *nothing* new… sorry, Senator. You hitched your wagon to a dead horse… it’s going nowhere.
The Patriots broke a league rule, and were *severely* punished by the league as a result… eight freakin’ months ago. Nothing new has been uncovered since then to dictate that Goodell take any further action. The Patriots shouldn’t have done it… I agree. They should’ve been punished… I agree. And they *were* punished. To the Pats credit, no finger-pointing to the countless teams around the league who were also likely doing this (at the same time, or in the past)… no half-ass public defense to try and get out of the penalty (aside from Belicheck’s ridiculous assertion when Goodell talked to him that he “misinterpreted” the rule)… no whining about the severity of the penalty. The Pats took their medicine. It’s *done*!!!!
On the one hand, I’m annoyed that he’s trying to continuously keep this in the news cycle. On the other hand, I’m enjoying the spectacle of Spector making a complete ass of himself. So I guess there’s a silver lining.
Okay… I’m done now.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Well one has to have some level of sympathy for Specter; he is on a Judiciary committee that refuses to debate or vote on judicial nominees, so he’s got to find *something* to keep busy with. And honestly, wouldn’t the country be far better off if our political class spent more time arguing over sports instead of devising new ways to foul up the economy?
May 17th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I think what’s worse is what ESPN is doing these days. They are desperately trying to keep the whole spygate thing going, which I get from a selling ratings persepctive, but at this point their commentators are sreaming bloody murder about the Pats based on what Walsh has reportedly said either to Goodell, Specter or Andrea Kramer, and “reporting” it as fact, without so much as a slight mention of the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Walsh is a disgruntled previously-fired employee with an axe to grind who is taking the opportunity to kick his former employer when they are down…oh by the way with the benefit of a full indemnity that covers him even if he’s lying.
It’s pretty gross at this point.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
The local talkradio guys have an obvious bias, I concede that. But Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie (i.e. ex-players) come on and are apoplectic that ESPN’s ex-players are so clueless and/or prostituting themselves to try and extend the story (as Jakes notes) by forgetting how things work in pro sports.
Teams try to steal other teams signs. Thus, teams try to switch up signs, and disguise signs, to prevent that from happening. A rule states you can’t videtape the other team doing that (i.e. you have to steal them other ways) - and the Patriots (arrogantly) broke that rule (that’s right, I don’t buy Belicheck’s “I misunderstood” explanation either). They got punished (harshly) as a result of breaking a league rule. It’s over.
Btw, by Walsh’s own testimony, he gave the tapes to Belicheck at the *end* of the game i.e. even if you wanna take a leap of faith that the Pats had time during the game to break down the tape and then use it in the same game… that’s not what happened, according to the Patriots *and* Specter’s star witness. So I get back to what I consider a key point for all the morons who make this out to be something akin to the 1919 Black Sox Scandal: If an opponent is stupid enough *not* to change signals the next time they play the same team (nevermind during the course of one game), then they *deserve* to have their signals stolen.
Shame on ESPN for not having even *one* “analyst” who is willing to point that out on national television.