[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 80 (Thursday, May 15, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E931]]
                     KEEPING SPORTS IN PERSPECTIVE

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 15, 2008

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues an 
excellent May 13th article by Steve Politi of The Star Ledger entitled 
``Spygate Shouldn't Concern Congress.'' It emphasizes the importance of 
Congress remaining focused on critical national issues such as the 
economy, healthcare, education and the war.

                  [From the Star-Ledger, May 13, 2008]

                   Spygate Shouldn't Concern Congress

                           (By Steve Politi)

       If Congress really wanted to make a difference in our 
     lives, it could hold hearings on how to make our most 
     annoying sports storylines go away. Start with the endless 
     debate over Joba Chamberlain and his eighth-inning 
     celebrations, then move to Roger Clemens' creepy personal 
     life.
       Then, and only then, should Washington tackle ``Spygate,'' 
     which has dragged on through an entire season and has the 
     legs to make it to training camp. No matter what Roger 
     Goodell declares today after meeting with fired Patriots 
     video assistant Matt Walsh, the NFL commissioner can't get 
     rid of this one himself.
       Arlen Specter will see to that. The Pennsylvania senator 
     plans to meet with Walsh this afternoon, and it's hard to 
     believe he'll emerge from their conversation and tell the 
     world that the matter is settled. Which means, sometime in 
     the near future, Bill Belichick could be packing his hoodie 
     for a trip to Washington and another unnecessary sports-
     related hearing.
       Specter is another politician who has figured out that the 
     quickest path to easy publicity--and to getting noticed by 
     his football-loving constituency--is to take on a sports 
     issue. Why settle for C-SPAN when you can get on ESPN and a 
     few hundred sports radio stations, too?
       Congress can make an impact on a sports issue occasionally, 
     as it did with steroids in baseball. Without those early 
     hearings, Major League Baseball would have continued to take 
     its time cleaning up the sport and Mark McGwire might have a 
     bust in Cooperstown.
       But what, exactly, would society gain from a hearing into 
     the Spygate mess? Is it to set an example for kids who might 
     steal signals at their Pop Warner games? To distract us from 
     rising gas prices, the struggling economy and the million or 
     so more important issues?
       ``Congress has a legitimate reason to conduct hearings on 
     any number of issues in sports,'' said Stephen Ross, director 
     of Penn State's Institute for Sports Law Policy. ``The 
     question is, what are they looking at? Steroids is a 
     legitimate public problem. Whether a mass on Roger Clemens' 
     butt is evidence of steroid use is not.''
       Specter insisted recently that ``we have a right to have 
     honest football games,'' but the Founding Fathers must have 
     forgotten to include that with life, liberty and the pursuit 
     of happiness. NFL games should be fair, of course, but the 
     responsibility for keeping them that way belongs to the NFL.
       Goodell fined Belichick, who was caught taping signals at 
     the season opener against the Jets last fall, $500,000 and 
     docked the team a draft pick. He should have suspended 
     Belichick, too, to send a message that even the league's most 
     successful coach is not above the rules.
       But Goodell is the one who should make that decision. Walsh 
     apparently will arrive at the NFL offices in New York today 
     without a smoking gun--reports from February that Walsh had 
     taped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through before the 2002 Super 
     Bowl were false.
       Walsh did turn over eight tapes made from 2000 to 2002, 
     which further confirms what we already know: Belichick is a 
     cheater. He has been scolded and embarrassed, his legacy as a 
     coach tarnished forever. Do another eight examples make it 
     more tarnished?
       No one can ever say for sure what impact taping signals had 
     on the Patriots dynasty. The answer is probably more than the 
     NFL wants to admit, and less than the posse chasing after 
     Belichick with the torches thinks. Dragging the coach and 
     commissioner to Capitol Hill won't clear up a thing.
       ``If the sole focus of the hearing is, 'What did Belichick 
     do and when did he do it?' I agree it's hard to see the 
     need,'' Ross said. ``Whether it becomes the football 
     equivalent of a discussion of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, 
     well, that remains to be seen.''
       It is hard to believe that Specter's motives are pure. 
     Beyond the usual grandstanding for the cameras. his 
     secondlargest political contributor is Comcast, which is 
     battling the NFL over fees for the NFL Network. Tops on the 
     list? Comcast's Washington lobbying firm.
       Soaring cable bills! Now there's a good topic for a 
     Congressional hearing. We love a good conspiracy, but the 
     only way Spygate resembles Watergate is how long it has 
     dominated the news. Bill Belichick is not Richard Nixon. He 
     shouldn't be heading to Washington.

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