Update - Super Bowl Tainted By Spygate - NFL's Goodell Tagged As Hypocrite

Update - Super Bowl Tainted By Spygate - NFL's Goodell Tagged As Hypocrite

From Chicago Sun Times

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

$750,000 in fines and loss of a 1st round draft pick, and the Patriots never said a word.

Update from the Dallas Morning News -- "Report - Patriots Taped Rams Final Walkthru"

A new spying charge has nicked the New England Patriots.

A member of the Patriots' video staff taped the St. Louis Rams' last walkthrough before they played in the 2002 Super Bowl, an unidentified source told the Boston Herald for a story Saturday.

New England beat the heavily favored Rams the next day 20-17 for their first NFL title. The unbeaten Patriots will try to win their fourth Super Bowl in seven seasons Sunday when they play the New York Giants.

Goodell spent much of his state of the game address Friday talking about that episode. He said he did not think the Patriots used such tapes to win previous titles.

I guess without cheating, the Patriots couldn't win. Har!

How can NFL Commissioner Goodell be proactive about ill-behaved players yet so wishy-washy and tolerant when it comes to Spygate? Integrity is integrity, not to be addressed in some cases and ignored in others, especially when he might be protecting a powerful owner in New England and distancing the league from a historic scandal.

Mysteriously, Goodell was waving off his "investigation'' after mere days. More mysteriously, he was ordering that all six tapes submitted by the Patriots be destroyed. Is it possible Goodell's sudden mood swing had something to do with Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner, and his immense influence in the league?

This explains why Sen. Arlen Specter, the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants a few more answers from Goodell.

"I am very concerned about the underlying facts on the taping, the reasons for the judgment on the limited penalties and, most of all, the inexplicable destruction of the tapes," Specter said in a Thursday letter to Goodell.

Maybe Coach Don Shula wasn't all about "sour grapes" when he called for an asterisk for the Patriot's undefeated regular season.