Dear Mr. Walsh,
Enough is enough. It was fun for a while, but now it's just getting ridiculous.
It's time to put up or shut up.
Your insistence to draw out this Spygate drama as long as possible is beginning to effect my ability to enjoy the greatest sport on Earth.
I just recently witnessed one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets in NFL history. Yet, I can't enjoy it because of this dark cloud you've cast over my team. Your insinuations and accusations have almost completely destroyed the NFL for me.
Right now, I'm having a hard time being a fan. And it's because of you.
The sad part is, I personally don't believe you have anything of substance.
I mean, if you did, wouldn't you have come forward already?
You claim this has been a strain on your family. If I were in that position, I would want this to go away as soon as possible. As soon as the NFL offered me legal protection, I would have hopped on the next NFL funded plane ride to the NFL Network studio with every piece of evidence I had.
Yet you claim scheduling conflicts and continue to delay coming forward.
I've been a Patriots fan since the day I was born. I grew up, not watching them on TV, but listening to them on the radio (because there were a lot of blackouts back in the '80s).
I've suffered through 2-14 seasons. I've suffered through 1-15 seasons. I've suffered through Tony Eason and Dick Macpherson (luckily, not at the same time ... that would have been way too much to handle).
Heck, we even had a guy who might have been legally dead coach the team for a season (Rod Rust).
But this is the first time I've ever considered walking away. I'm just not enjoying it anymore. I'd take 10 straight 2-14 seasons over this offseason anyday.
And it's not because I'm disgusted with the Patriots. I'm disappointed in what they did, but they broke a rule and paid a steep penalty (a first round draft pick, especially a late first round pick, is GOLD for teams like the Patriots).
The penalty should have been enough.
Not on the message boards and the comments sections of these articles (this will always be fair game for opposing fans), but on ESPN or the NFL Network this should have already become a footnote of an interesting and exciting season.
The Patriots made it to the Super Bowl undefeated, and lost. Everyone should be happy. Everyone got what they wanted. Lots of excitement and a great upset. It was a fantastic season, thanks in part to the Patriots and what they inevitably failed to accomplish.
But there's you, Matt Walsh.
There's a ridiculous Senator from Philadelphia who still hasn't gotten over the 2004 Super Bowl. There's the constant presence of Patriot haters on ESPN that just love to bring up Spygate.
I should be ridiculed because my team lost a game they should have won and failed to make history. They choked, were beaten up, and failed miserably.
Yet the Super Bowl loss is an afterthought because of you, Mr. Walsh.
Should Patriot fans be treated any differently than the Bronco fans who rooted for their team as they won a Super Bowl while cheating on the salary cap?
Heck, I'm not sure most Broncos fans even know they cheated on the cap during Elway's Super Bowls. Why? Because the infraction was found, they were punished, and everyone moved on.
Your ridiculous play for 15 minutes of fame is preventing everyone from moving on. It's allowing moron Senators to waste taxpayer money grandstanding and threatening the NFL in the slim hopes that he'll find out that the Patriots' videotaping practices cost his team the Super Bowl and not their franchise quarterback's inability to stop puking on himself in a huge situation.
It's time to end this crap. It's time to put up or shut up.
If you have something, come forward and I'll take my beating as a Patriots fan like a man.
But if you have nothing, then just go the hell away.
Put up or shut up.
Regards,
SeanMC
Patriots fan since 1979
SeanMC is a senior writer for Bleacher Report and writes a column for Sports Central every other Thursday. You can read more articles by SeanMC on his blog.
April 3, 2008
Chris Munro:
Too right Sean, this entire spygate thing is a serious waste of newspaper print and is just a way of the patriot haters tarnishing the fantastic record that the patriots have under Bellichick.
As for Matt Walsh well if he had anything he wouldve done a big money deal with a major news outlet months ago. Im so depressed by the fact that a modern country supposedly an educated country such as the US cannot see when twisted and selfserving individuals like Matt Walsh and Arlon specter are trying to pull the wool over its eyes, one for money the other for political gain. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty, yes there was the NY jets tape but that was investigated and punishments were metted out to those at blame but as yet Mr Walsh and Mr Specter are just blowing hot air up your asses so until the present the proof I think ESPN should stop speculating, isnt there a law to cover liable in the US?
April 6, 2008
Angelo:
Sean…
While Matt Walsh may or may not have evidence, you’re completey uninformed when it comes to Sen. Specter. His grandstanding has NOTHING to do with the Eagles loss in the Super Bowl (I am a Giants fan, for the record). His granstanding has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that he sits on the board of Comcast Cable. You may have heard that the NFL and several cable carriers (including Comcast) are in a vicious battle regarding the broadcasting of the NFL Network. Sen. Specter has an axe to gring with the NFL, Sean, NOT the Patriots. The Patriots, through their own arrogance, have made themselves an easy vehicle for which Mr. Specter can take the NFL to the mat. It has nothing to do with being an Eagle fan. You should get all of your facts next time!
April 6, 2008
SeanMC:
Specter was on WEEI in Boston, the Dennis and Callahan show, and he was asked if the Eagles had beaten the Patriots in the Super Bowl if he would have gotten involved in Spygate and his answer was, “Probably not.”
He is a weekly caller of a sports radio who in Philly and a die hard Eagles fan. While I don’t argue that the Comcast thing is a nice bonus for him, he has said on at least two occasions that he’s interested in knowing if the Patriots cheated against the Eagles.
As for the arrogance comment, you are a Giants fan. Belichick learned everything he knows while coaching in your organization. There have been rumors floating about the Parcells coaching tree ever since Belichick was caught. And Parcells strongly defended Belichick.
Do you REALLY think the Giants two Super Bowls under Parcells are clean? Probably not….
Glass houses and stones…
The reason why Patriots fans are going crazy over this is because we’re being singled out…we KNOW the Jets were caught video taping during the playoff game in Foxboro last year. We know Jimmy Johnson used to do it with the Cowboys. I’m SURE nobody else does…….
April 7, 2008
Ellis Hobbs:
I’m Ellis Hobbs. I like to taunt other teams after games. I also got my arse toasted in the clutch during the SB!