Specter sound bites

Some additional sound bites from Arlen Specter’s press conference in Washington, in which he called for an independent investigation of the Patriots’ videotaping procedures, saying that the league’s investigation was not objective:

On why he’s investing time into the Patriots videotaping procedures in the NFL:
“The NFL has a very preferred status in our society. They have an anti-trust exemption. Without the anti-trust exemption, they wouldn’t be able to pool their revenues, and control the schedules. They are enormous role models for everybody. If you can cheat in the NFL, you can cheat in college, you cheat in high school, you can cheat on your grade-school math test. There is no limit as to what you can do. I think they owe the public a lot more candor and a lot more credibility.”

On what Specter feels is the key issue:
“The issue I want to get into is what happened [with the taping]? What was done? What happened in all these games? How many were there? There are a lot more games involved in this sequence, from 2000 to 2007, than we know about.”

On if Walsh said anything to him that would possibly implicate other teams:
“He said that once when he was filming a game, the Jets game, the guy next to him seemed to be doing the same thing he was doing. But he didn’t get too high and mighty about it, since he was doing the same thing. He said aside from that he knows of no other, nothing else.”

On if he found Walsh to be credible and why:
“Yeah. I’ve talked to a lot of witnesses in my day. He told a very coherent story. When it came to the big issue on the walkthrough, where he had already been derided in the press for not having disclosed earlier that he didn’t have [a tape], he was very modest about it. He was very modest in his entire approach. I think he’s a very fine young man, a college graduate, worked with the Patriots, and appeared to be very credible.”

On his ties with Comcast and if he has a response as to Comcast’s ongoing squabble with the NFL and NFL Network being a motivation for his involvement:
“I’ve read about it. They have been campaign contributors along with 50,000 other people. Last campaign cost $23 million. I don’t know what they contributed, but I’ve been at this line of work for a long time and no one has ever questioned my integrity.”

On his thoughts regarding the Boston Herald report that the Patriots filmed the St. Louis Rams walkthrough:
“It’s a ticklish issue. There is a lot out there. People say that Matt Walsh told them that he videotaped the walkthrough. Now he says he did not. But he does have some important things to say about the walkthrough. For example, he was there. He was questioned by his coach [assistant Brian Daboll] as to what happened. He commented on Marshall Faulk being a kick returner. …”

On if Walsh had given any indication that he was instructed to watch the Rams walkthrough:
“No, he did not.”

On if Specter feels it is significant that Walsh alleges that he passed along information after the fact:
“I think it’s significant that the coach [Brian Daboll] questioned him about it and pursued it, and was very interested in what Marshall Faulk did.”