No blockbuster here


Given the hype and hysteria on the NFL Network and ESPN earlier today, you'd have thought NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was reviewing the Zapruder film with the expectation of finding indisputable evidence of a second gunman.

The TV talking heads postulated on what, if any, competitive advantage the Patriots could have gained from illegally videotaping an opponent's walkthrough and what else Matt Walsh could possibly have left to show and tell the commish.

So after three months of waiting, wondering and anticipating, Goodell emerged from a meeting Tuesday with a relieved look on his face and a posture that conveyed the following message about Spygate:

Show's over. Nothing to see here. Move along, people.

Basically, Goodell said that the Patriots and their head coach, Bill Belichick, have been punished enough already for their covert camerawork and that there were no blockbuster films hidden in their screening room.

Walsh claims that he didn't film the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl and didn't have knowledge of anyone who did. At the same time, however, ESPN's Sal Paolantonio reported that Walsh told the coaching staff about some of what he personally observed at what was supposed to have been a closed walkthrough.

Goodell penalized the Patriots for illegal videotapes made during the end of the 2006 season and the early portion of the 2007 season, but you have to wonder whether the league wanted to start rummaging through New England's DVD collection. Supposedly, the Patriots' secretive video taping has been going on since 2000.

With that in mind, do you think the NFL really wanted to find more dirt on its most successful franchise?