Arlen Specter’s Demands On Missing NFL Cheating Tapes Could Mean Trouble For The Gods of Pro Football
Senator Arlen Specter doesn’t liked to be messed with. He’s taking on the NFL, which, I might add. is not a good thing for the NFL.
Any sportscaster will tell you that the NFL runs football as a clear dictatorship, controlling every nuance, every team, and every buck. It even started its own network with, I might add, with a weak broadcast team and semi-average broadcasts. The NFL allows its teams to charge seat licenses after they build stadiums with public funds. That has got to be the biggest ripoff in America. YOU pay for some of the construction costs, and YOU pay for seat licenses to allow you to buy the tickets to sit in the stadium that some of your money paid for. Is that a racket or what?
IN THE MEANTIME, ED SNIDER, NOW OF COMCAST, BUILDS THE SPORTS CENTER FOR THE SIXERS AND FLYERS WITH HIS OWN MONEY AND HIS OWN CREATIVITY. THAT IS THE AMERICAN WAY.
Back to the tapes….
So, now along comes the tough, crusading Senator, demanding that the NFL explain why it apparently destroyed tapes of cheating by the nearly-perfect team and possibly other cheating episodes.
The NFL has anti-trust protection from Congress, which is basically, a license to take advantage of everyone – The fans, the networks, the aging ex players who are hurting badly. The NFL is the same league that is trying to cheat the family of broadcast icon John Facenda out of money owed him for the use of his voice on NFL-sold tapes.
But what about the other tapes, the missing ones?
No one is demanding that the destruction of evidence be explained, except Arlen Specter.
If I were NFL management, I would take this seriously. Specter is no slouch. He’s a prosecutor at heart who has stood up to bullies of all kind in his career – corrupt officials, other kinds of criminals and even his own party who tries every six years to defeat him at the polls.
I love football. And this is the biggest football weekend.
I hope New England sets its record. I could root for the Giants, but that would be treason.
After the big game is over, I hope Senator Specter uses the subpoena power of Congress to find out what happened to the missing tapes, and why they may have been destroyed.
If you think the steroid scandal is bad, the prospect of Arlen Specter taking on the National Football League is ominous.
Comments(12)
Well Larry, It would appear to me municipalities allow themselves to be bullied by the NFL (and for that matter the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball)by threating their host cities with moving to a ‘friendlier’ (read: ‘deeper pockets’)town. The loss of revenue to the old cities was the gun to their heads. You of course remember Leornard Tose’s threat to move the Eagles to Phoenix back in the eighties. Mr. Snider, of course, should be commended.
But back to the prime subject: Like you, I believe Senator Spector should use subpoena power to get to the bottom of this scandal. Unlike Fmr. Senator Mitchell, Spector will have the full weight of the Senate behind him being a sitting member…and he knows how to throw it!
Senator Spector is right to demand the tapes. Lets look at the Super Bowl. Here we have the Patriot organization that has been found to violate the rules of good sportsman ship being in the place of winning the Championship. How many people have I talked to refering to them as cheaters and having shown little excitement for this game. The Patriots did not need to cheat. They WERE a great team. They could beat anyone. They cheated because they were cynical and arogant. They crossed the line. They are frauds. It is like Richard Nixon needing to break into the Dem Party HQ at Watergate. He had his oppoent beat. It brought him down. The sad part of the Patriot’s cheating scandle is not more people have stepped up to complain. Specter is right. If the laws of the land have been broken there should be accountablity.
This falls into the same category as The Congress investigating steriods, only worse. At least with the steriod investigation there are 10s of thousands of young American athletes potentially impacted. This Spy Gate nonsense has already had its 15 minutes of fame. Lete it go, Arlen!
Spy Gate is an issue between the Patriots and the NFL. It has no impact outside the 32 NFL teams. A Congressional investigation is obsurd. Arlen, what do you hope to accomplish? Get a SuperBowl ring retroactively for McNabb, Reid and TO? They didn’t win. They don’t deserve it.
Congress has plenty of important issues on its plate: stimulating the economy, healthcare reform, the war and terror, etc.
Let’s not let Arlen and Congress off the hook with another smoke and mirrors exercise.
The NFL has burned the tapes and shut the door on Spy Gate. Why can’t Arlen and the Press do the samething? Non-story!
Larry,
I could not agree more with your rant, including the SBL’s for stadiums built with our money. As a season ticketholder of the Eagles and the Phils, I hate being made to feel that they are doing me a favor by “allowing” me to buy season tickets, as they fleece me.
Here’s another one for you… isn’t selling tickets a cost of doing business for these teams?
Whey do they now charge a “handling fee” to each “customer”. $10 may not be a lot, but why should 40,000 people pay it to the Eagles, or 10,000 for the Phils.
Oh, and if we are lucky enough to make the playoffs, we have the “right” to pay yet another “handling” fee if we want playoff tickets.
I think Spector is wasting his time on this tape issue, but if it knocks the NFL down a few notches, I guess I don’t care what vehicle he uses to do it.
Forget the NFL. Congress should begin an
investigation into Arlen Specter. Wasn’t he given up for dead several times? Was he just faking it so the republicans would lay off him? Specter now says he wants to stay in the senate as long as WV’s Byrd (who by the way is 100).
Sen. Lott was supposed to be at his last birthday party but declined saying that he had a prearranged “meeting” to attend.
This uncanny ability that Specter displays for staying alive both literally
and politically must be investigated! For the sake of us poor schlubs out here with no direct connection to the almighty, maybe it’s time for Specter to answer a few questions. My first question would be about that “magic bullet”.
Why was Congress investigating the video mess anyway? I’m all in favor of threatening the anti-trust exemption, but this is the first I heard of any interest from Congress.
Facts:
1) Comcast is #1 cable company in US.
2) Comcast based in Philadelphia.
3) Comcast is listed as #2 financial contributor to Senator Specter.
4) Comcast has been in a dispute with the NFL over the NFL Network requiring premium charge on Comcast Cable.
5) This is the #1 weekend for the NFL all year.
Connect the dots, Larry. My esteem for the Senior Senator from PA is diminished. At the very least, this has the appearance of conflict of interest.
Right: Congress has nothing else to do especially the Senate…Voting on the house resolution that passed about giving people their money back..No… more important that the Senator checks up on the NFL.. I guess that the senator has a lot of spare time.
Larry,
I am afraid I do not share your enthusiasm about “Darlin’ Arlen”. I suspect the NFL looks upon him as I do; an overly dramatic blowhard! I really doubt that anyone in America takes Senator Specter as seriously as you propose, least of all the amazingly successful NFL. It is easy for all of us to complain about the exorbitant prices the NFL charges for everything. However, the last time I looked they fill the stadiums and command the outrageous advertising dollars that the other professional leagues can only wish for. This strikes me as a way for “Darlin’ Arlen” to get some free publicity for a popular cause that has no chance of going anywhere. The NFL will not cower in fear of such a political showman.
Beatle Boy
Do you like the giants and the points?
What about the over under?
38-24 Pats, Spidey
Hey larry, since when did you become a classless shill for comcast?
http://willdo.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/comcast/