FanHouse Willie Gary

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?

Former St. Louis Rams safety Willie Gary filed a lawsuit last month alleging that the New England Patriots had taped the Rams' final practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, depriving him of a Super Bowl ring that would be worth $125,000 on the open market.

But now that lawsuit has been dropped. Pro Football Talk has the link to the Rule 41 dismissal of Wille Gary et al vs. New England Patriots et al, in which Gary's attorneys say they're dropping the case, basically because they have no evidence, although they leave room for the possibility that they'll re-file if former Patriots employee Matt Walsh comes forward with evidence that the Patriots did, indeed, tape the Rams.

The whole thing comes across as fairly ridiculous, as Gary and his lawyers seem to have filed this lawsuit based solely on one article they read in the Boston Herald -- and a misreading of the Herald article at that. There may be merit to the Herald article that got this whole Patriotgate Part 2 started, but there does not appear to be any merit to Gary's lawsuit.

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.