Dan Rooney is an NFL Hall of Famer, and while he may never be as beloved as his dad Art Rooney is in Pittsburgh (Mother Teresa is a distant second to The Chief in Pittsburgh), he has to be appreciated for keeping the Steelers competitive for much of the past three decades.But we also to have to remember one thing. When it comes to NFL insiders Dan Rooney is right in the middle of the inner sanctum. He's the owner who lined up Roger Goodell as Paul Tagliabue's replacement. He's the owner who turned his own team in for a salary cap violation.
So when Goodell says that the NFL's investigation into Spygate has successfully been concluded and no further punishments will be coming, it's no surprise that Dan Rooney was one of the first to say that the Steelers are quite satisfied.
"We are satisfied with commissioner Goodell's conclusion that nothing significantly new was discovered about the Patriots' videotaping matter after this morning's meeting with Matt Walsh," Rooney said in a statement released by the Steelers. "The NFL did a thorough investigation that spanned several months."We couldn't expect anything less. If Walsh had proven that the Patriots had secretly drugged Kordell Stewart into throwing his three interceptions in the 2001 AFC Championship, Rooney would have said the same thing. Whatever Goodell decided to do, the Steelers were going to back him. The NFL wants this to go away, so the Steelers will be happy to help.
Which is why as a Steelers fan, it's hard not to root for Arlen Specter here.
The NFL finds the whole subject distasteful, which is why the information about exactly how pervasive the Patriots taping was has leaked out in dribs and drabs. When the NFL announced that they had received all of the tapes and notes from the Patriots, it consisted six tapes from 2006 and 2007. The NFL was quite happy at the time to make it appear that the taping was a relatively recent case of cheating. And at the time, they said that the Patriots had given them all of the illegal tapes.
"All tapes, documents and other records relating to this matter were turned over to the league office and destroyed, and the Patriots have certified in writing that no copies or other records exist.Now it comes out that Walsh had eight tapes going back to 2000, but this isn't considered new information or materials. Maybe the Patriots gave a good explanation for that, but the public hasn't heard it. Maybe Specter will be able to find out an answer--we can't expect the NFL to explain it.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Specter's ire isn't good for Steeler fans, it's good for bloggers because the story writes itself.
Spygate story come out, blogger paraphrases it and adds disparaging comment about the Pats. Story complete.
See anyone can Blog.
Posted at 10:14PM on May 15th 2008 by Dana
2. Roger Goodell is a liar !!!!!!!!!
Posted at 10:32PM on May 15th 2008 by ryan leaf
3. Arlen Specter should take care of the finicial crisis in America and let the NFL police Spygate or the Republicans will feel the wrath of the voters by kicking out Republicans from their offices next election.
Posted at 1:00AM on May 16th 2008 by George B Vieto
4. The Pats stated that they repeatedly taped over previously used tapes. I am sure they would have taped over those earlier tapes if that thieving little bastard Matt Walsh hadn't stolen them
Posted at 6:51AM on May 16th 2008 by ciawhite2006
5. You should also note thta you can clearly see in the tapes that matt Walsh handed over that the taping that was done in those tapes was not done from the sideline, most of the tapes are done from a higher angle such as a press box or the end zone which according to what i understand from the rules is not illegal. From what i understand you are allowed to tape as long as its noton the sideline. So the reason Bill and Co. turned over the tapes from 06 and 07 is because those are the ones that were taped from the sidelines and those are the ones that were illegal.
Posted at 8:25AM on May 16th 2008 by creamer313
6. Well, haters, don't let this go away, because you will have a hard time explaining the Pats' dominance for the NEXT ten years, if you don't.
Posted at 7:48PM on May 16th 2008 by joe wallace
7. Arlen Specter should concentrate on the political matters that he was elected to do. Spygate was not was he was re-elected in 2004 to represent Pennsylvania residents as a senator in Washington.
Posted at 9:54AM on May 20th 2008 by John McGlumphy