The player in the photo to the right is Willie Gary, an undrafted rookie safety who played for the 2001 St. Louis Rams. Gary wasn't a particularly significant player on that Rams team (which is why that's the best picture of him I can find), but he may end up being a very significant part of the new round of Spygate investigations. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (via Pro Football Talk) that Gary has joined a class-action lawsuit against the Patriots, saying that by taping the Rams' final practice in violation of NFL rules, the Patriots cheated to win the Super Bowl, at a financial cost to Gary and his teammates.
Gary wants each member of the Rams Super Bowl roster to receive $150,000. According to Gary's suit, each Ram should get $25,000, which is the difference between the bonuses paid to the losing team and the winning team, as well as $125,000 as compensation for not receiving a Super Bowl XXXVI ring, an amount Gary arrived at because he says that's what a Super Bowl ring would fetch on eBay. The lawsuit also seeks a refund on behalf of everyone who bought a ticket to Super Bowl XXXVI.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 4)
1. Yeah! About time someone goes after BeliCheat. I knew that team was never that good. Screw em.
Posted at 4:31PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Adam
2. Hey a new draftee for the NFL's Mars franchise.
What a load of crap. Get over it and play some football in 08-09.
Posted at 4:32PM on Feb 15th 2008 by bigflyer
3. That is a very valid point Mr. Gary has made. Now let's expand on that andlook into baseball and the cheating going on by using roids" Who never made it to the big leagues because a pitcher like RC added 7-8 years onto his career by using HGH. This could be endless
Posted at 4:32PM on Feb 15th 2008 by craig
4. I'm gonna sue him for wasting my tax dollars and for being a moron
Posted at 4:37PM on Feb 15th 2008 by shawn
5. While I agree that something has to be done against the Patriots even if it means stripping them of their titles (the team and the players), a nobody player who is desperate for cash and attention is foolish for his eBay based lawsuit. Let the Spygate hearings and Goodell sort this out. But I guess since this is America and all we do is try and sue people so we don't have to actually work for a living, go ahead Willie and sue'em, I don't like the patriots anyway.
Posted at 4:38PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Allan
6. Too bad for the lawyers who thougut up yet another way to try to get money from someone. Even if they could prove that the Patriots "cheated" (which means (1) the NFL really did have a rule that carefully set out what you could or could not do in scouting another team's public activities AND (2) that the Patriots did something that was clearly not allowed according to the NFL's scouting rules, they'd also have to PROVE that it affected the outcome of the game. Pretty tough to do becaues the walkthrough was about redzone plays and the Rams never got to use any of those plays). Also pretty tough to do since the allegation that the Rams would definitiely have won is, at best, completely and utterly speculative and could not in any way be proved.
Posted at 4:39PM on Feb 15th 2008 by andre10056
7. I say strip their titles and take away their rings and shame on the players for knowing what their beloved coach was doing. As far as I am concerned, they all should be banned for 8 games whoever was on those teams. Robert Kraft needs to get his head out of his butt. I guess winning super bowls is far more important than integrity. What a loser.
Posted at 4:42PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Adam
8. Hey, some people have got to make what they can. This is as good a way as any. Against the Patriots, it is even better!
Posted at 4:44PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Budo
9. Let me correct my last post. The Rams DID get in the red zone once....and scored. So the information the Patriots allegedly had did absolutely nothing for them.
"On the NFL Network's pregame show, former Rams running back Marshall Faulk said St. Louis featured its red-zone offense in the walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI. The Rams were 1 for 1 in the red zone, scoring on a 2-yard sneak by Warner in the fourth quarter. But that came after the Patriots forced a fumble on fourth and goal from the 3 that was returned for a touchdown, only to be nullified by a holding penalty on Willie McGinest."
Posted at 4:47PM on Feb 15th 2008 by andre10056
10. We are a nation of whiners, not winners! Get over it. Are we going to have lawsuits because the first grade teacher favored the prettier girl or the brighter boy or girl?
Football is only a game -- played by millionaire athletes for billionaire owners. Time to focus on the real problems and issues of our world like ending poverty and racism.
Posted at 4:51PM on Feb 15th 2008 by JC
11. Adam wrote,
"I say strip their titles and take away their rings and shame on the players for knowing what their beloved coach was doing. As far as I am concerned, they all should be banned for 8 games whoever was on those teams. Robert Kraft needs to get his head out of his butt. I guess winning super bowls is far more important than integrity. What a loser."
And you say this because you KNOW that the Patriots "cheated"? How do you know that...cuz I know I sure don't.
Posted at 4:51PM on Feb 15th 2008 by andre10056
12. What about all the gamblers who lost money on the game . Who speaks for them?
Posted at 5:04PM on Feb 15th 2008 by ryan leaf
13. Actually Andre, the one area where the Rams struggled in that game was the red zone. The best offense the league has ever seen at that point had trouble scoring on a 17 pt underdog in the red zone. Dunno if this is the way to ruin the Patriots dynasty however.
Posted at 5:07PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Miguel
14. I think they should have a rematch, how about this Sunday. May the better team win.
Posted at 5:34PM on Feb 15th 2008 by ciawhite2006
15. Makes you wonder and consider who blew the initial whistle-a former coach to Bilichick. Then Bilichick makes a vague apology to the team, after immeditately accepting the fine from the commissioner. On top of that, why was the commissioner so quick to destroy the said tapes? Now, there's a former employee who did the video for the Patriots in 2001, and says, he did tape the Rams final walk through before the Super Bowl. Condsider this fact too-How does Bilichick get out coached by Tom Coughlin in the Super Bowl with spygate still looming?
Posted at 6:26PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Bob
16. FORMER REDSKINS COACH GEORGE ALLEN BELIEVED NFL SCOUTS FROM MANY TEAMS ILLEGALLY WATHCED HIS PRACTICES IN THE 1970'S AND 1980'S!
THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS IN THE 1970'S ARE BELIEVED TO BE THE FIRST NFL TEAM TO HEAVILY USE STEROIDS. THEY WON FOUR SUPER BOWLS! WILL WE INVESTIGATE THEM TOO???
EVEN THE STEELERS DOCTOR LAST YEAR WAS FIRED FOR PRESCRIBING STEROIDS. WILL WE INVESTIGATE THEM?
THE CAROLINA PANTHERS HAD THREE PLAYERS USING STEROIDS WHEN THEY PLAYED AND LOST TO THE PATRIOTS IN THE SUPER BOWL SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THE PLAYERS WERE LATER PUNISHED BY THE NFL. SHOULD THE CAROLINA PANTHERS FORFEIT THEIR SEASON SINCE THESE PLAYERS TOOK IT ALL SEASON?
NO TEAM IN THE NFL HAS ALWAYS FOLLOWED THE RULES. SHOULD WE ELIMINATE PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL AND CHANGE IT TO TOUCH FOOTBALL???
HAS THE PERSON READING THIS E-MAIL PUT HIS SIGNAL LIGHTS ON 100% OF THE TIME WHEN CHANGING LANES HIS ENTIRE LIFE? IF NOT YOU'VE BROKEN THE LAW MANY TIMES. MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE EXECUTED IF CAUGHT???
Posted at 6:35PM on Feb 15th 2008 by Kilroy
17. Are you kidding ? Do you people honestly believe that only The Patriots were videotaping ?? We were turned in by a former Patriot insider who calls himself a coach. Regardless of all of your stupid comments & lawsuits, the table will be run once again next season & all of you whinners will be the losers again. Thank you for the incentive.. See you
next year.
Posted at 7:19PM on Feb 15th 2008 by jesse
18. Jesse,
You are a moron. Peyton will be the Manning who wins it all again. Get over it, the nation hates the Patriots and what they stand for now, cheating. The Patriots, Yawn, are never going to be redeemed. I love to hear the Pats fans already talking about how they are going to run the table again, yawn, LOL, the nation and all real NFL fans are laughing at you Jesse, can you hear us, LOL, LOL, Colts, Colts, Peyton rules, Brady sucked, and Rodney the big mouth will always be remembered for getted burnt on the pass that secured the drive that will go down in history as saving the NFL nation from all the loud mouth Pat fans like you. Have a nice summer loser.
Posted at 7:25PM on Feb 15th 2008 by tim raver
19. ALL TEAMS CHEAT, MABE THE GIANTS CHEATED SB SUNDAY
I STILL THINK THE PATS WERE CHEATED. THE REFS NEED TO BE FIRED
Posted at 7:25PM on Feb 15th 2008 by PATS FAN
20. HEY ADAM, SHUT YOUR BLEEPING PIE HOLE, HOW THE F***
DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PATRIOTS, EVERY TEAM CHEATS, IF THE JETS COACH DIDNT OPEN HIS BIG MOUTH , NO WOULD HAVE KNOWN AND MABE THAT IDIOT SPECTOR WOULD NOT HAVE CAUSED THE PATS TO LOSE THE SB. THE GIATS CHEATED SUNDAY, SOMEONE SHOULD CHECK TYREES HELMET FOR VALCRO.
Posted at 7:32PM on Feb 15th 2008 by PATS FAN