Patriots latest: P. King on Spygate; Mike Vrabel 'classless'?; Harrison on FSR

* This nugget was in Peter King's latest MMQB, as entry #3 in the 'Ten Things I Think I Think' section of the column (bold his):

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/10/07/mmqb.week5/4.html


I think what makes me not want to forget the Patriots' Spygate story are conversations like the one I had with a club official the other day, a man I respect a lot. "From what I hear, it's best for everyone in the league if this story just goes away,'' he said.

Maybe. Or maybe it's best for the 130 million Americans who watch some part of the Super Bowl every year to hear an explanation from Bill Belichick or the league about what was found -- and whether there was something in the tapes that was a tangible benefit to a team winning any of three Super Bowls by three points apiece. I still think we're owed an explanation that's never been offered.


This is why Peter King is a legitimate journalist, unlike, say, ESPN blogger Bill Simmons. Although King likes the Patriots and Bill 'Belicheat' Belichick as does Simmons, King still seeks out and reports on aspects of the yet-unresolved Spygate scandal which continues to fester and threatens to permanently undermine any Pats accomplishments, both ones this season and those of their 3 championship seasons.

Well done, Mr. King. Nice to see you -- or anyone -- join the efforts of the Gregg Easterbrooks (and Dr. Zs, and Scoop Jacksons, and...) of the world to try to follow-up on this story, whatever depths it may lead to.

I'm curious to know who the unnamed Pats official was whom King quoted, and who is spreading the word that 'it's best...if this story just goes away.'

Anytime Belicheat wants to come clean on the totality of his malfeasance and/or Commissioner Goodell wishes to explain to the 130 million Americans who watch some part of the Super Bowl each year why he felt compelled to destroy the evidence of the Pats' repeated NFL bylaws transgressions, the story can begin to move its way to some sort of conclusion, however flawed.

Until then, Spygate will continue. Primarily because Hoodie doesn't feel he needs to answer to his fellow coaches, opposing teams' players, the media or the millions of NFL fans throughout the country and the world.

For a commissioner who has been so dedicated to giving the league a public image 'makeover,' it is baffling why Goodell allows the Belichick black eye to remain untouched.


In other Pats news:


* The Cleveland Browns' Eric Steinbach had this to say about the Pats' Mike Vrabel, after Vrabel took what Steinback felt was a cheap shot at rookie left tackle Joe Thomas with just 11 seconds remaining and the game long since decided:

http://www.chroniclet.com/2007/10/09/browns-steinbach-calls-out-classless-vrabel/


Classless. And you can quote me. To dive for a guy’s knees like that? And almost take out the quarterback? When the game is already over with?. It was too blatant for everyone to see. I don’t know if the refs were kind of lackadaisical because it was the end of the game, but regardless of where it’s at in the game, if you’re going to allow stuff like that to go on…I thought we’re trying to clean the game up. I wasn’t too fond of that. If that’s the rep that that guy wants, so be it. It’s kind of unacceptable. You’ve got to get fined for that. Maybe he doesn’t care about a $5,000 fine. But I wouldn’t want that reputation. That’s what kind of got me. Everyone is trying to emulate the New England Patriots and everyone looks up to them in the NFL like they’re the team that does everything right. That just doesn’t show professionalism. I wasn’t too happy...It was uncalled for. It was just one guy.

As for Vrabel's response to Steinbach's statements, it would appear the Pats linebacker is using his head coach's attitude towards the media as his example:

A Patriots spokesman was contacted Monday, but Vrabel, a team captain, didn’t comment.


* Rodney Human Hormone Harrison returned to his weekly radio spot on Fox Sports Radio's "The Drive with Chris Myers."

During his 4-game suspension for apparently using the PED human growth hormone (HGH), the Pats' safety had ceased his interactions with the radio network, seemingly of his own volition.

I did not hear the spot, but Myers said prior to Harrison's appearance that he would ask the safety about his supposed PED usage.

As far as I know, it is still not clear if Harrison was using HGH during the Pats 2004 Super Bowl against the Carolina Panthers.

That conclusion, however, seems almost inescapable based on the information gathered by the Albany Times Union in their article published on September 17, 2007:

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=622561

Later that month, about two weeks prior to the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Carolina Panthers, a package containing human growth hormone in preloaded syringes arrived at Harrison's New England residence.


Unless Harrison was getting started early on his offseason nutritional "training regimen," one could easily conclude that the safety was 'juiced' for the title game against the Panthers, a contest not decided until the final seconds and which could have, therefore, turned on a single play by any illegally-enhanced athlete.

According to the article, Harrison repeatedly ordered HGH over a three year period, beginning with his first purchase made in January 2004 not long before the Super Bowl against the Panthers.
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The Pats juggernaut rolls into Dallas this week with its gaudy 5-0 record.

Unfortunately for the team, its fans, and the NFL, the Pats are accompanied not only by the lingering Spygate, but also by continuing revelations and accusations which persist in both eroding the public's confidence in the team's achievements over the past handful of years and which call into question the integrity of the league itself.

I concur with Peter King -- we are still owed an explanation of what the league office found in the tapes and related materials which Belichick and the Pats turned over in the wake of Spygate.

Until the full extent of the Pats' transgressions are known, the wound done to the league's reputation cannot begin to scab over and heal. And so NFL Nation needlessly bleeds on, thanks to one Bill Belichick.

 

Re: Patriots latest: P. King on Spygate; Mike Vrabel 'classless'?; Harrison on

What a bold statement.
I'm sure Peter King goes to bed hoping you agree with him.

 

Peter King masturbates to the thought of rok agreeing with him. foof!

 

The Panthers -- aren't they the ones who have had several confirmed as steroid users during that Super Bowl season?

 

Re: Patriots latest: P. King on Spygate; Mike Vrabel 'classless'?; Harrison on

Sigh ... he lost me after 'nugget.'

 

Re: Patriots latest: P. King on Spygate; Mike Vrabel 'classless'?; Harrison on

Oh thank you for THAT mental picture.

 

Re: Patriots latest: P. King on Spygate; Mike Vrabel 'classless'?; Harrison on

He lost me after RokSki

 

Peter King's reporting gets slowed down because Brett Favre's nutsack lies on PK's chin.

 

Okay.

 

TSP did what reporters are supposed to do. TSP went straight to the source and asked a question. The source denied the allegation to TSP. Oh, snap!

 

Stop inciting riot, John. And please read this:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/48034/