Friday, February 01, 2008

PFT Cracks Open Today's New NFL Scandal

Earlier this morning, I mentioned the NY Times breaking a story of Arlen Specter wanting to talk to NFL Commish Roger Goodell about the NFL confiscating any/all evidence of the Pats' cheating from earlier this season. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk hits the critical point in this must-read post. This is so much bigger than just the one instance of spying (or the league's sketchy confiscation of any evidence that might prove it).

Here's the thing: Walsh might not want to talk, but if (or when) Congress asks him to testify, he can't say no. And if he's worried about the NFL pressuring him not to testify, I expect Specter would say something to the effect of: "NFL: You do NOT want to go down the road of intimidating a Congressional witness."

See, now THAT would be even worse than the league's cover-up, which itself was worse than the original spying crime. See how this works? (The league should take a lesson from its many steroid scandals: Fans don't really care, do they? So if I was Goodell I'd say: Happy to clear it all up.)

This is quickly becoming THE sub-plot outside the Super Bowl -- and I'm betting it continues to be a story long after Sunday's result has been determined and a champ has been crowned.

- D.S.

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