And just when you thought Deflategate was reaching a denouement, boom goes the dynamite! Just before a scheduled interview with Roger Goodell, ESPN dropped the hammer on the Patriots, saying the team recorded as many as 40 games from 2000 to 2007 (among other things) in the Spygate scandal.
Mike and Mike asked Goodell about this, and his response was, um, interesting:
“I have not seen this report in any way. I can just tell you that I’m not aware of any connection between, um, the Spygate procedures and the procedures we went through here. But there’s no connection in my mind to the two incidents.”
Sports Illustrated‘s Doug Farrar quickly weighed in with an astute observation:
But. Goodell saying that there was no connection between Spy and Deflate is a lie. They were cited as repeat offenders.
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 8, 2015
It’s very possible Goodell was caught off guard here and wasn’t prepared to answer that question. As Farrar also notes, Goodell doesn’t process things quickly; a result of speaking truths and half-truths for well over a year now. Also, to be fair, the report from Outside the Lines broke minutes before the interview.
Moving on…
Goodell on his relationship with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a man he was once very close with:
“It’s the same as it’s always been. We may disagree on this issue, but Robert and I continue to have a strong relationship. We continue to work on league matters that are important to us. We obviously disagree about this. But there’s a respectful disagreement about that.”
The same as it always was? No different? Really?
We’ve been lied to by Roger Goodell and the Patriots so many times (allegedly) that all parties involved are starting to believe their bullsh*t. What a tangled web.
