The Boston Herald has apologized to the New England Patriots for its
false “report” that the 2001 Patriots taped the Rams’ pre-Super
Bowl walkthrough. Says the paper: “While the Boston Herald based
its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be
credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape
of the walkthrough ever existed. Prior to the publication of its
Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Heraldneither possessed
nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI,
nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have
published the allegation in the absence of firmer
verification.”
Uh, yeah.
It’s one thing to rush forward with a story before having the
facts. It’s another thing to do it to the home team. But it’s
Sports Treason to log a false report, about the home team, two
days before a Super Bowl that could have capped a perfect
season. Belichick and the players would never admit it, but the
report had to have caused distractions at the worst possible
time.
While it’s nice that the Herald was at least contrite
in its apologizes on the back end, it would’ve been preferable to
show some of those fabled “journalistic ethics” on the front end.
Maybe have some real information to base stories on. The New
England Patriots are well within their rights to sue, but they and
the NFL probably want this whole SpyGate controversy behind them
already.
Whether the Boston Herald will recover in the court of
public opinion in New England is another matter.
