Arlen Specter, the Senior Senator from Pennsylvania, has decided to pick today, 48 hours before the Super Bowl to call out Roger Goodell for his handling of the Patriots' cheating. In particular, he wants to know why the NFL just destroyed the tapes without actually addressing them, and wants an investigation to possible cheating by the Patriots in Super Bowl LX, which was the one the Philadelphia Eagles lost to said cheaters.
Before I go anywhere, I want to say that I believe this is an NFL matter that Congress shouldn't be involved in. In fact, if Arlen wants to investigate any tapes being destroyed, he should be calling the CIA out on to the carpet for their destroying of torture tapes. This isn't where Congress should be spending its time.
With that said, the blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of Roger Goodell. Contrary to his spin, he was not open about the investigation, was not forthcoming, and did not conduct a full investigation. Destroying the tapes was a colossal mistake. It left uncertainty and doubt in the heads of everyone who follows the NFL, except, of course, Patriots fans, who are now on par with Raiders fans. The only difference here is that someone with authority as finally called him out on this.
Sorry, Roger. You made your bed here. You didn't suspend Bill Belichick. You didn't take away both of the Patriot's first round draft picks. You dished out a rather week penalty. And, to top it all off, after touting your plan to obtain all materials from the Patriots, you simply swept it under the carpet, hoping it would all go away. This is what you asked for. Good work.
Somewhere, Pete Rozelle is rolling in his grave.
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