ESPN in cahoots with the GOP?

by **StrykerFSU** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:20 am

On last night's 6PM Sportscenter, coverage of Wednesday's Spygate summit between Commissioner Roger Goodell and U.S. Sen. Specter dominated much of the discussion. Repeatedly, ESPN committed the despicable act of referring to Sen. Specter repeatedly as a Democrat. Clearly this was a deliberate act meant to tarnish the image of the Democratic Party and help the GOP dodge the stigma of being the party that is investigating the Patriots. Unfortunately, I was unable to find video evidence on the Internet this morning as ESPN has likely destroyed all tapes, not coincidentally the very crime that the Patriots are accused of committing. This was obviously no accident but rather a wanton abuse of the power of media. Who knew that ESPN would take a page straight out of the FoxNews playbook?

Actually in all seriousness, the dumbest part of the story was that apparently some people think that Sen. Specter's interest in Spygate is fueled by his support of the Philadelphia Eagles who of course lost a Super Bowl to the Patriots.

**Sponsor**

by **DanGenck** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:28 am

ESPN is ridiculous. They should be ashamed of what they are doing to athletics.

As for Spector, he's just participating in the time honored tradition of political grandstanding. Maybe next he'll sign a petition reaffirming his support for Freedom Fries?

by **Pinball** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:58 pm

What are they doing to sports?? I watch sportscenter/nfl live/PTI/ATH religiously and am not sure how ESPN is ruining sports.

by **CATLAX MAN** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:06 pm

One thing that Sportscenter has fostered over the last number of years is that they have aggrandized the "look-at-me" individualistic attitude amongst players at the expense of the team-first concept. That has had one of the most negative impacts on all sports over the last 15-20 years or so.

by **Dr. Jason Stockton** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:12 pm

If the Patriots did in fact film the walkthrough by the Rams the day before the Super Bowl, that is totally messed up and the Patriots will again feel the wrath of public opinion (see Bonds and Clemens). . .Goodell wanted this all to go away, but now he has the "hard-ass" reputation to protect and if evidence gets out that the Pats cheated the night before their Super Upset, this thing will get very ugly. . .

The NFL wants to bury this story (much like Bud Selig tried to bury the steroid disaster). . .and once again our government has nothing better to do than police professional sports.

If the Pats have been cheating since 2001 and they get caught with hard evidence, will their three Super Bowls be as tarnished as Clemens' Cy Youngs or Barry's MVPs???

by **Gvlax** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:57 pm

I know high school teams that tape other teams practices all the time... so they do it in football, big deal. I doubt they are the only team that do it but they are the only one getting called out on it. Excuses that people come up with so that sportcenter has something to talk about during hockey season (no offense to hockey lovers, im personally a huge fan of red wings).

by **KnoxVegas** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:26 pm

Fox News routinely missidentifies members of Congress with the wrong party affiliation.

by **ZagGrad** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:26 pm

I'm just sick of the fact that Sportscenter has turned into "Soapscenter" where they re-hash every drama of the chastised-of-the-day athlete. I want more highlights of more games and less talk/banter/bs of Roger Clemens, Jessica Simpson, OJ Simpson, Brian McNamee, Michael Vick, etc., etc., etc.

by **primetime21** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:17 pm

not to get off subject...but hasn't MTV done the same thing over the last few years. while at least espn is sticking to its foundation of showing sports i.e games and highlight shows, mtv is gone away from music television and replaced it with reality shows galore. if cable stations would stick to the groudwork we wouldn't be having this coversation.....c-span sticks to politics, espn= sports and MTV=MUSIC!!!

by **Ben Clark** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:49 pm

Who's Now?

That made me want to throw my TV out the window, and then bring it back inside so I could throw it out again.

by **Kyle Berggren** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:53 pm

Gvlax wrote:I know high school teams that tape other teams practices all the time... so they do it in football, big deal. I doubt they are the only team that do it but they are the only one getting called out on it. Excuses that people come up with so that sportcenter has something to talk about during hockey season (no offense to hockey lovers, im personally a huge fan of red wings).

Which would be fine of the stadium wasn't closed & you could come watch the practices, but it was a closed session. If I knew the other team was watching my final practice before a game, it would go a little differently. We wouldn't walk through our redzone options for one. For two, I wouldn't run the first 15 plays I scripted either. In lacrosse, I wouldn't be walking through our EMO opportunities. While I love the idea of knowing what we're doing & stopping it are two different things, I want those adjustments made by the other team on the fly.

by **Gvlax** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:04 pm

they won by a field goal, man that cheating really helped them.

by **Jolly Roger** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:18 pm

Gvlax wrote:they won by a field goal, man that cheating really helped them.

If I recall, the Pats were prohibitive underdogs,

Perhaps they ware able to make defensive alignment calls that took their opponent out of certain plays that might have been successful.

Perhaps they were able to line up in ways that negated their opponents "variations" on their regular defense.

Perhaps they noted how their opponent was planning to fake a punt and aligned in a manner that would force the team to audible out of the fake

Perhaps they saw that a particular player was having difficulty with sideways mobility due to an injury and exploited that weakness in their play calling.

The list goes on....

Perhaps the sum total of this illicitly-gained information offset the legitimate advantage their opponent had.

by **Gvlax** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:03 pm

or maybe the pats were a field goal better than the Rams. I'm not saying "cheating" is ok by any means but if they are not going to strip the pats of the super bowl lets do everyone a favor and move on because pats have proved to us all after that game that they are legit and i hate when Sportscenter carries on these stories far too long.

by **BigheadTodd** on Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:13 pm

Jolly Roger wrote:
Gvlax wrote:they won by a field goal, man that cheating really helped them.

If I recall, the Pats were prohibitive underdogs,

Perhaps they ware able to make defensive alignment calls that took their opponent out of certain plays that might have been successful.

Perhaps they were able to line up in ways that negated their opponents "variations" on their regular defense.

Perhaps they noted how their opponent was planning to fake a punt and aligned in a manner that would force the team to audible out of the fake

Perhaps they saw that a particular player was having difficulty with sideways mobility due to an injury and exploited that weakness in their play calling.

The list goes on....

Perhaps the sum total of this illicitly-gained information offset the legitimate advantage their opponent had.

If they taped the final walkthrough, they knew the Rams first 15-20 plays of the game, as Martz routinely scripted the first several drives. I am a pats fan, but if they did indeed do what is claimed, I could see a title vacated(did I just say that?)