Jamais plus to “I spy with my little eye”… or zoom lens or mobile phone or teeny, tiny, yellow polka-dotted digital camcorder.
Siphoned from NFL.com:
Goodell seeks more inspections, harsher penalties for spying
Associated Press
NEW YORK — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants to crack down on spying next season with more inspections and harsher penalties, steps that follow the disciplining of the New England Patriots for taping opponents’ signals.
Goodell is urging tougher action on teams and employees that would include unannounced inspections of locker rooms and coaches’ areas in press boxes and a lower standard of proof for imposing discipline on those who violate rules. Loss of draft choices would be a possible punishment.
The changes, first disclosed in The Washington Post on Friday, are contained in a memo obtained by The Associated Press. It was sent to the league’s rule-making competition committee, which will make recommendations to the owners at the league meeting starting March 30 in Palm Beach, Fla.
“I think there are a number of steps that should be taken in advance of the start of the 2008 season to improve and strengthen the enforcement procedures designed to preserve the competitive integrity of the game,” Goodell wrote in the memo.
It is a direct outgrowth from Spygate, which resulted in severe fines against coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, and the forfeiture of New England’s first-round draft choice after the confiscation of tapes during the opening game of the season against the New York Jets.
The tapes and other evidence were subsequently destroyed, leading to further outcry, including a meeting between Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who expressed his displeasure at disclosures that the Patriots’ spying may have gone back to 2000.
Read the rest of the article here.
