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Ex-Patriots Assistant Sends the N.F.L. Eight Tapes (Congressional investigation soon to follow)
NY Times ^ | 5/8/2008 | GREG BISHOP

Posted on 05/08/2008 11:37:23 AM PDT by tobyhill

A former New England Patriots employee has sent the N.F.L. eight videotapes showing the team recorded play-calling signals by coaches of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons, in violation of league rules.

But the group of tapes does not include video of the St. Louis Rams’ walk-through practice the day before the 2002 Super Bowl. The employee, Matt Walsh, had been linked to such a tape by news media speculation.

Walsh emerged as a pivotal figure in the spying controversy that enveloped the Patriots last season after they were caught taping Jets defensive signals in the season opener.

Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, agreed to turn over the tapes and other evidence by Thursday under an agreement reached last month between lawyers for the N.F.L. and Walsh. The agreement indemnifies Walsh from all future legal fees.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


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To: BigJohn44

Who didn’t know what play the Steelers were running?

That had to be one of the most predictable offenses I have ever seen.


101 posted on 05/08/2008 2:18:18 PM PDT by outpostinmass2
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To: Just another Joe
Seriously, mnove the camera to the 1st row in the stabds, zoom in a little more and there is NO infraction and they get the EXACT same information.

I have never once attended a professional game (football, baseball etc.) that allowed fans in the seats to video the game.

The TV networks pay big bucks for the 'exclusive rights' so if you pull out a video camera and start taping the action on the field, you will soon feel a tap on your shoulder from and usher and a stadium security officer.

102 posted on 05/08/2008 2:46:28 PM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: outpostinmass2
Who didn’t know what play the Steelers were running? That had to be one of the most predictable offenses I have ever seen.

Not when Kordel Stewart was at QB. They did all kind of razzel dazzle gimmick plays then.

103 posted on 05/08/2008 2:49:38 PM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: Ditto
But a representative of a team could do it.
The only restriction on the team taping is where they tape it from.
As far as I know it's restricted to a very narrow place on the sideline.
104 posted on 05/08/2008 2:59:54 PM PDT by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: WayneS
NO FEDERAL LAWS WERE BROKEN

That is correct if you overlook the fact that the NFL is a privately owned corporation operating with an anti-trust exemption granted by congrees and they have potentially perpetrated a fraud on the public using the public airways while executing that fraud in a $750M facility that was in large part paid for using tax dollars.

105 posted on 05/08/2008 3:20:52 PM PDT by IamConservative (Character: What you do when no one is looking.)
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To: tobyhill
I saw this posted earlier. I really like it. (I think the poster had the NE Patriots in mind):

Perfectville
Population: 1
No Cheaters Allowed

106 posted on 05/08/2008 3:29:46 PM PDT by rawhide
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To: lexusppd
I spent time in your area

And just how was your "special" wedding at the Universalist Rainbow One Love Church? Did you march down the aisle to a Broadway tune, or was it the Village People?

107 posted on 05/08/2008 5:43:32 PM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: outpostinmass2
Who didn’t know what play the Steelers were running?

That had to be one of the most predictable offenses I have ever seen.

Not hardly. That was the 'Slash' offense days.

108 posted on 05/08/2008 6:07:20 PM PDT by Ghengis (Of course freedom is free. If it wasn't, it would be called expensivedom. ~Cindy Sheehan 11/11/06)
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To: Just another Joe
But a representative of a team could do it.

You are stretching. If he's a 'representative of the team' that already has a guy way up in the press boxes making game films, what's he doing in the stands shooting the sideline action? The teams actually are required to trade game films with each other. They are bird's eye views of each play and they are studied intently during and after the game. Those game films are intended strictly for the action on the field, not to record the coaches on the sidelines, and then to match that up with game film at halftime to 'break the code.' In reality, it ain't much different than bugging the other team's headphones.

Sorry, but at some point, you have to say, this just ain't right.

Even 15 years ago, it would have been impossible to 'break' the code of coaches signals during a game, but with digital editing, after a half of football, it would take only a few minuets to match the coaches signals with game film and figure out what the calls were. Especially true with defensive calls on blitzes etc. If you know the safety or corner back is coming, it's pretty damn easy to block him.

109 posted on 05/08/2008 7:16:20 PM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: george76
That's cryptic, George. Didn't know who Matt Walsh was and didn't care. These investigations conducted by congress will go nowhere like the MLB stuff they pulled last year. This congress wastes more time on trivial matters rather than the business they were elected to perform.

Besides, beat .
110 posted on 05/08/2008 9:19:57 PM PDT by BIGLOOK (MSM-Keelhauling the News daily!)
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To: BIGLOOK

I never heard of Matt Walsh either.

Even cheating, the Pats lost.


111 posted on 05/08/2008 10:02:17 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost

LOLOL! That’s too much. You can’t do it no matter how hard you try. :-)


112 posted on 05/09/2008 4:29:41 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: IamConservative

One of the NFL’s teams may have cheated (i.e. violated the rules of the GAME they play).

It is an extreme leap from there to “...NFL...may have perpetrated fraud.”

Again, please cite the section of the CFR which the NFL violated.

PS - If some localities are foolish enough to use their precious tax money to build stadiums for GAMES, and if said loaclities’ citizens are willing to be subjected to it, that is their (local) problem. It STILL does not rise to the level of federal scrutiny.


113 posted on 05/09/2008 4:41:06 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: WayneS
PS - If some localities are foolish enough to use their precious tax money to build stadiums for GAMES, and if said loaclities’ citizens are willing to be subjected to it, that is their (local) problem. It STILL does not rise to the level of federal scrutiny.

Enterprises cannot broadcast frauds over public, e.g. FCC regulated, airways. Cheating during a nationally broadcast event brings you into Interstate Commerce with advertisement and ticket sales. The players are paid to perform ergo pay federal income taxes. Stadium operators pay taxes. The franchises pay taxes. Like or agree with it or not, there are intersections between the business that is the NFL that are well within the federal jurisdiction.

Do I think NFL cheaters are a high priority? No.

114 posted on 05/09/2008 10:23:50 AM PDT by IamConservative (Character: What you do when no one is looking.)
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To: IamConservative
Enterprises cannot broadcast frauds over public, e.g. FCC regulated, airways.

If that's the case, I'd suggest we go after CBS News before we worry about the NFL.

115 posted on 05/09/2008 10:46:35 AM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: WayneS
Football is a GAME. There have been no federal laws broken here no matter how bad the “cheating” has been.

It's also very big business - in fact, interstate. That falls squarely within Congress's Interstate Commerce jurisdiction.

116 posted on 05/09/2008 10:49:51 AM PDT by jude24 (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: Hatteras
LOLOL! That’s too much. You can’t do it no matter how hard you try. :-)

Let's see if you can admit what the Patriots did had no material effect whatsoever on the game as played on the gridiron . . .

117 posted on 05/09/2008 11:02:49 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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