why does congress want to look into"spygate"?

[SBXVII]

I'm not against the investigations...I'm against who we have doing them. Why are polititions who are voted in waisting not only their time(which they could be doing something else for their state or our country) but our tax dollars that is paying for their time they are waisting?

Also why do we have several polititions investigating? Assaign one politition and let him meet with everyone. I guess they thing if sports is going to buy off a politition to make the investigation look favorably then let them buy off a whole slew of polititions. lol.

I would only suggest that the group of polititions decide on one investigator and then when complete have them report to the group at the end. Then the polititions can look into anti trust/cheating, but allow the investigator to do his job and any breaking of law allow charges to be filed by them.

[Stuck in TX]

if congress doesnt investigate than who? You all have valid points about what is going on with our tax money. America needs healthcare, roadwork and education improvements. The last thing congress needs to be doing is investigating a recreational sport.... Maybe this will be the initiative needed to create some sort of investigation commitee. If there already is one, it should be better. IMO the only reason congress feels the need to intervene is because Spector feels that the investigation that is taking place now is not enough. I applaud him for doing so and hope that Goddell is paying attention. Maybe a more efficient way of dealing with rule breakers will come out of all of this, and our tax dollars will not be used in the future.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by Oakland Red

Sen. Arlen Specter is doing the right thing, and I will be very encouraged if he holds hearings on the issue. The NFL, it seems, has been covering up the misdeeds of the Patriots by refusing to investigate them seriously, and possibly also by the destruction of the evidence in the case.

Good for Sen. Specter in pursuing this matter.

I agree. If the misdeeds were great enough to impose the stiffest penalty in NFL history, then WHY would the NFL destroy the evidence? It smells of a cover up of even greater impropriety, and the NFL and Goodell have lost credibility by destroying the key evidence that they ruled on.

Goodell claims that the Patriots only turned over evidence from the 2005 and 2006 seasons, neither of which were Super Bowl seasons for NE. If Matt Walsh's allegations that the Pats taped the Rams final walkthrough before their first Super Bowl victory, or any other evidence from Super Bowl winning seasons turns up, I want to see much harsher penalties. Perhaps a 1-2 year suspension for Belichick, or stripping of the title won during a season where videotape cheating occurred. Goodell left open his right to revisit this case if NE did not hand over all evidence, and if he's really a man of his word, he will be as harsh with this as he has been with individual players.

[70Chip]

I think it's necesarry because obviously the league did not do due diligence with its own investigation. Everyone likes Robert Kraft so they did a quick and dirty, burned all the tapes and hoped everyone would forget about it. They especially were hoping everyone would forget about it after the Pats started drawing big t.v. numbers on their undefeated run. The fact that they never talked to this Walsh guy is alone reason enough for someone to look into it. If some other industry were committing consumer fraud, no one would think twice about a government investigation. And to me, that's all the Patriots are -a fraud.

[Hijinx]

I see a lot of people claiming that the NFL has anti-trust protection but I didn't think that is true. My understanding is the MLB does but not the NFL. I thought when Al Davis sued the NFL proved this. That was the reason NFL teams move much more often than MLB teams. (they don't need league permission)

[redwagonskins]

Originally Posted by Hijinx

I see a lot of people claiming that the NFL has anti-trust protection but I didn't think that is true. My understanding is the MLB does but not the NFL. I thought when Al Davis sued the NFL proved this. That was the reason NFL teams move much more often than MLB teams. (they don't need league permission)

True, the NFL does not have the same antitrust exemptions as MLB, but the NFL does enjoy antitrust exemptions via the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, especially when it comes to broadcasting.
For discussions of the exemption, take a look at:

Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961
Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ESPN - Senator wants to know why NFL destroyed Patriots spy tapes - NFL

[Dirtbag59]

Maybe someone knows Goodell's mistress, lol. Trust me when I find out who DS's mistress is Vinny will be out the door, then you guys will have to complain about me making all the decisions at Redskin Park. In all seriousness though I think that amorentz explained it best.

Lol, "Mistresses of the NFL" now that would be intresting swimsuit calender.

[Monkeydad]

Arlen Spector hasn't embarrassed himself this year yet.

I'm ashamed he's the Senator for PA. The Philly vote gets him elected every time. The Philly vote screws us every election, in fact.

It should be looked into for legal reasons, but our Congress has better things to do with our money.

[redskinsfanatic]

Arlen Spector hasn't embarrassed himself this year yet.

that single bullett theory he came up with in the jfk murder should have given him enough embarrasment for a thousand years.the reason i asked this question was because with all the other shit we have to deal with here in america,the time he will spend and the money would better be used elsewhere!knowing he's an eagles fan is enough to see why he is such a total and complete dumbass.

[hooskins]

Another point beside the anti-monopoly benefit given to the NFL is simply the fact that Congress is body ultimately responding to the peoples demands. Average voters care about cheating in Major sports and therefore have to follow up on it. I don't see any of you posters who are bitching online complaining to your Senators, organizing groups, protesting, or doing anything constructive to address your concerns.

[Veretax]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

Professional sports are granted monopoly exemptions by Congress. That is, many of their practices are legal only because Congress has given them special permission to do so.

Congress does this with the understanding that it is a necessary evil and that it won't be abused. If cheating is occurring that the NFL is aware of, but the NFL is turning a blind eye in order to protect its monopoly, Congress has an interest in that.

This is correct and also if it seemed that the NFL was "fixing games" somehow or scripting them, then they'd no longer be a sport in my mind, and that would upset millions of voters. IT makes sense to look into it, I doubt they find anything though.

[Oakland Red]

Specter: Belichick Was Taping Since 2000 - The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents' defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots' coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday.



"There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over," Specter said.


Specter said Goodell gave him that information during the 1-hour, 40-minute meeting, which was requested by Specter so the commissioner could explain his reasons for destroying the Spygate tapes and notes.


"There were a great many questions answered by Commissioner Goodell," Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters after the meeting. "I found a lot of questions unanswerable because of the tapes and notes had been destroyed."......



......."Still, Specter wants to know why penalties were imposed on Belichick before the full extent of the wrongdoing was known and the tapes destroyed in a two-week span. Asked if he thinks there was a coverup, Specter demurred.


'There was an enormous amount of haste,' Specter said."

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by redskinsfanatic

Arlen Spector hasn't embarrassed himself this year yet.

that single bullett theory he came up with in the jfk murder should have given him enough embarrasment for a thousand years.the reason i asked this question was because with all the other shit we have to deal with here in america,the time he will spend and the money would better be used elsewhere!knowing he's an eagles fan is enough to see why he is such a total and complete dumbass.

Actually, history has sort of swung Arlen's way on the single bullet. It's probably more accepted now than it was at the time of the Warren Comission.

I like the fact that Congress is investigating sports. If they weren't, they might be doing something that could cause serious damage to the country.

[rypper11]

Lawsuit seeks compensation for Super Bowl loss

This is why it's a big deal.

[Campbell17]

because it happened to be a good reason that they may have won superbowls.