Posts tagged Spygate at FanHouse

Monday loomed as a deadline for a Jet fan to show reason why his lawsuit against Bill Belichick and the Patriots should go forward. The lawsuit had languished with no movement for nine months and the U.S. District Court in Newark said the plantiff had until June 30th to make progress or have the whole thing thrown out. Carl Mayer wrote a letter asking for more time, however, and a judge has given it to him.

Mayer claims that his co-counsel was sick and that new revelations coming to light have forced him to amend the lawsuit. He didn't specify what the revelations were but it seems that Arlen Specter's involvement in the case has sparked some litigious ideas in Mayer's head.

Mayer has not specified what other defendants or issues might be included in an amended lawsuit. But he has said the new allegations relate to the efforts of Specter, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican and a critic of the National Football League's response to what has been called "Spygate."

Mayer now has until August 30th to amend the lawsuit and serve notice on the defendants. The suit is seeking $184.8 million in damages under federal rackeetering and New Jersey fraud statutes. He filed the suit on behalf of all jets ticket holders because the Patriots taping of signals deceived customers who thought they were seeing an honest competition.

Carl Mayer has made a career of filing lawsuits against high-profile politicians but most of them have gone nowhere. His Spygate-related suit against Bill Belichick and the Patriots seems poised for the same fate.

Mayer, a Jets season-ticket holder, accused the coach and team of violating the contractual rights and expectations of ticket holders. He hoped to make it a class-action suit but has done nothing to advance the litigation since a failed attempt to serve the defendants in October. That's why the U.S. District Court in Newark has told him he has until June 30th to produce a reason for the suit to go forward or it will be dismissed.

Mayer vows to fight on, though, and hints that Arlen Specter's entrance into the fray has opened up new doors for his suit.

"He (Specter) uncovered additional facts regarding videotaping. We've been working to incorporate those with regard to other defendants," Mayer said. "Could we have pressed on earlier? Yeah, but tactically, we are doing what we need to be doing."

Mayer seeks damages for every ticket-holder for every game that Belichick has coached in the Meadowlands against the Jets. That amounts to $184.8 million in damages under federal racketeering and New Jersey fraud laws. Whether or not it continues past June 30th, it's hard to see the suit succeeding as anything more than a nuisance.

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."

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said today that an independent investigation is needed of the New England Patriots' practice of spying on their opponents.

"There ought to be an impartial investigation, an outside investigation, like the investigation that baseball had with Senator George Mitchell," Specter said.

Specter said he first became interested in the Patriotgate story in November, when he first heard that the NFL had destroyed the tapes the Patriots turned in to the league. He said the NFL was not responsive to his requests for more information, and he suggested that the league is trying to sweep the issue under the rug.

Whether Specter gets his Mitchell Commission or not, there's no question that despite the talk this morning that the Spygate story is over, Specter doesn't think it should be -- and U.S. senators have a way of keeping stories alive.

In a terrific interview entitled "Jay Glazer Owns the NFL," Deadspin's AJ Daulerio finds out how FOX reporter Glazer gets the NFL scoops. Lots of great stuff in the interview, but perhaps the best is Glazer talking about the Spygate videos. He shows them at home to his buddies because he says they are hilarious:

JG: Because it's not just football...it's classic. The tapes go back and forth between... Well, the first part of the tape, the guy recording it , all he's focusing in on are the butts of the Jet City Dancers. He's going from chick, to chick, to chick, and then you see, like, Tom Brady step in and then he'll [the dude taping it] hit the coaches a little bit, but when there's a break? He goes into the stands and then focuses on T and A. It is classsssic. It is like Spygate meets "Girls Gone Wild."

And that's what's on the tapes that everyone's getting upset about? Does that damage the credibility of those tapes at all?

JG: Oh, no, no, no,no - because the rest of it, is damaging. Because they go the coaches, to the down and distance, back up to the coaches, back to the down and distance - it couldn't be anymore clear. They focus in on three guys the entire time, it is soooo brazen it's incredible.

I could see why NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell destroyed the NFL's copies of the Patriot tapes after Glazer was able to obtain leaked tapes. It's embarrassing enough to receive cheat tapes from your repeat Super Bowl champion without the added bonus of minor video perversion. Obviously, I don't have the Spygate tapes, so the YouTube above is just of the Jets cheerleaders.
Sorry, No Photos

At FanHouse, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But only the few raise to the level of Notable Moments in FanHouse Commenting.

Ex-Patriots employee Matt Walsh has finally agreed to spill everything he knows to the NFL about Spygate, and eventually we will know the scoop. In the months since Walsh's name first emerged, there's been tons of speculation about what he knows. Is Walsh going to drop the hammer on the Patriots or is this just ridiculously overblown?

And though all thoughtful comments at FanHouse are appreciated, I feel that this comment from Bob deserves special recognition. It is his theory about the delay in working out an agreement with Walsh:

Here's the hold up. Walsh has several tapes that Goodell wants to see. The first shows the Rams Super Bowl walkthrough, including the play where Kurt Warner fumbles in the end zone. Interestingly, the tape also shows Willie Gary wearing Ty Law's jersey when they practice the play where Law intercepts Warner and takes it in for a touchdown. Another tape shows Bill Belichick in Dallas on November 23, 1963. He's just a kid, but the tape clearly shows him holding a high powered rifle running from the grassy knoll. The third tape proves that Tom Brady and Gisele are both aliens sent here to bred and take over the world. The fourth tape is the biggest problem. It shows that Elvis is alive and well and works at a Stuckies off of I-40 in Tennessee. Goodell isn't sure he wants to see this tape, but I think he should. Who knows what they put into all of those peanut logs?

In a meeting with AP Sports Editors today, NFL disciplinarian commissioner Roger Goodell claimed he is keeping an open mind about what ex-Patriot employee Matt Walsh might tell him about the Spygate video scandal. When asked about if there would be further punishment if it is shown that the Patriots taped the Rams walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, he responded:

"Taping a walkthrough is much different from what I punished them for."

He has already severely sanctioned the Patriots, fining them $250,000 for taping the Jets opener and taking away one of their first round picks in 2008. Patriots coach Bill Belichick received a half-million dollar fine.

So, if Walsh has videotape evidence, what more punishment will the Patriots receive from the commish for taping a pre-Super Bowl walkthrough? There's really no predicting because Goodell seems to be making it up as he goes along.

I would think that the punishment the Patriots already received is deterrent enough from doing more bad stuff. I'm guessing Goodell wouldn't be pleased if it is proven that the Patriots hid stuff from him after the original investigation because well, it makes him look bad.

(This entry is dedicated to KGar to try to explain why Walsh talking matters to NFL fans, particularly Patriot fans).

Yesterday, ex-Patriot Matt Walsh and the NFL reached an agreement that will encourage Walsh to fess up everything he knows about Spygate to the league. I generally prefer to write about sports more than things like "contractual indemnification" and "release law" because sports is much more interesting. But if you are interested in hearing what Walsh might say, this contract sheds a lot of light.

Walsh initially refused to talk to the NFL for fear of being sued. Generally speaking, an indemnification and release agreement like this will protect Walsh from liability and lawsuit because the NFL agrees not to sue him and assumes some of his legal risk. Greg Bishop of the New York Times asked me to comment on the terms of the agreement -- you can read his brief overview here.

Contracts like this are often about fear and paranoia. Each party wants to protect itself and not get tooled over by the other guy. To understand a contract and a contract negotiation, you have to understand the fears of each party.

The NFL has announced that Matt Walsh, the former Patriots employee who has long been rumored to have evidence that the team videotaped opponents in violation of NFL rules, has agreed to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell next month.

Walsh, who lives in Hawaii, will travel to New York to meet with Goodell on May 13. He has agreed to return any tapes or other items in his possession that belong to the Patriots, and the NFL and the Patriots have promised not to sue him and to pay any legal fees he incurs.

What, exactly, Walsh will say or show is the subject of a great deal of speculation. Some people believe he has evidence that the Patriots videotaped the Rams' final walkthrough practice before the 2002 Super Bowl, which would undoubtedly result in severe discipline for coach Bill Belichick. Others believe he has nothing at all and this investigation will exonerate Belichick.

Mr. Jeffrey Pash, Counsel for NFL
Mr. Michael Levy, Counsel for Matt Walsh

Dear Sirs:

Today, the Boston Globe Herald noted that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is hopeful that a contractual deal may be struck soon with former Patriots employee Matt Walsh. Walsh has refused to divulge information he knows about the Patriots using video equipment to steal defensive signals until he has contractual assurances that he will be protected from ruinous legal and financial harm.

Goodell states in the Globe Herald article that Walsh says he "has evidence and new information that would lead to further disciplinary action."

Of course, there was a report about a month ago saying a deal between the NFL and Walsh was going to be struck soon, and nothing came of that either. They have been working on a deal for over two months, and still nothing.

As an NFL super fan and as an attorney who has written, taught, and even testified in front of a state legislature about indemnification issues, I believe I understand the emotions and issues involved and the concerns that both sides have. Just because each side is acting a little paranoid, doesn't mean that their concerns aren't legitimate, especially when their there is a large amount of mutual distrust.

I hereby offer my mediation services to you for free to help resolve this contractual impasse.