Kremer, Walsh and Specter, OH MY!!

Tonight on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumble (worst name for a sports show in the HISTORY of sports shows for the record) Andrea Kremer will be interviewing Matt Walsh and he will say just horrible things about the Patriots...SHOCKING. What former employee has anything nice to say about their FORMER employer? Not many I know. He has an axe to grind, plain and simple. If he thought video taping was so wrong then WHY DID HE CONTINUE TO DO IT FOR 7 YEARS!?!?!?

Matt Walsh is not the only one with an axe to grind either, how about Arlen Specter. As this article points out, PA's esteemed Senator has close ties to Comcast and why does that matter? Read on my friends, read on.


USA TODAY
May 16, 2008 Friday FIRST EDITION
SPORTS; Pg. 3C

The politics of TV has played a key role in driving the NFL's "Spygate" scandal. The controversy rolls on tonight as HBO airs Andrea Kremer's exclusive interview with former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (8 ET).

The NFL's biggest problem now is a call from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for an independent investigation and his threat to yank its antitrust exemption.

This can be partly traced to the league's ongoing dispute with Comcast, the Philadelphia-based cable operator, ESPN's Sal Paolantonio said this week.

The NFL and Comcast were buddy-buddy when NFL Network launched. But the league's decision to award a regular season TV package of eight games to NFL Network, rather than Comcast, soured the relationship. Last year, Comcast moved NFL Network to a sports tier that cost subscribers about $5 extra per month.

Specter has "close ties" to Comcast, noted Paolantonio on NFL Live Wednesday, and the league will have to "tread lightly" with Specter as it pursues a complaint against Comcast with the Federal Communications Commission.

Kremer's interview with Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, will add more fuel to the fire. Among the highlights:

*Walsh says videotaping opponents' defensive signals gave the Patriots a competitive advantage: "If you know what defense a particular team's gonna run, if you're essentially in their huddle ... that's quite an advantage to have on offense."

*On Bill Belichick's assertion that taping had little or no impact on games: "If it was of little or no importance, I imagine they wouldn't have continued to do it, and probably not taken the chances of going down onto the field in Pittsburgh."

*On whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's punishment ($750,000 in fines and loss of a 2008 first-round pick) fit the crime: "If they (the Patriots) had to do it again, I imagine they'd pay a $750,000 fine for three Super Bowls."

- Adam

Labels: Andrea Kremer, Arlen Specter, Federal Communications Commission, HBO, Matt Walsh, New England Patriots, Real Sports with Bryant Gumble