Coach tells them he thinks Favre’s leg might be broke. They all process the comment, and Smith (back to camera) wants confirmation, looks at Hargrove and asks Hargrove if it is ‘true’ (the last word out of his mouth).

Hargrove answers him. He doesn’t say ‘Bobby’ but he says ‘Might be’. His comment ends.

Ayodele then throws in his money request. (Note Smith is looking directly at who is speaking)

Still not turning out well for the Saints, but Hargrove is not the one who says it.

In a court of law a murder suspect will at least try provide an alibi. So let these guys take on Goodell in court. Eventually they will have to provide more than the statement “You have no evidence I did it!”

There lawyers are taking them to the bank.

It was clear the Saints were playing hard and trying to get hits on the opposing quarterback. They won the game and they won the Super Bowl. However, does this bounty evidence change that? Absolutely not. They paid players for big hits. While I personally find that unnecessary and foolish, the bigger question in the long run is: who cares? They would have hit Favre regardless of bounties. It was part od their gameplan. Let’s just move on and start the season.

And has it occurred to you that Ayodele (or whoever it actually was) may remember saying it but doesn’t own up because he *knows* the above (his agent probably figured it out). And he correctly keeps quiet and claims no recollection knowing that the NFL will likely have to drop the issue in the face of lack of evidence?

Everyone commenting on this story (even Florio in the original story) is just taking everything they see at face value and not thinking it through. Every official press release and carefully crafted comment that you lap up is just smoke and mirrors. What is really happening right now is anybody’s guess, but the above makes much more sense than the commonly touted lines that the NFL is ‘stupid’ and Ayodele is a coward.

Well said. Perfectly captured what most are thinking.

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Oh wow, we are going to beat this one until we get the equipment in to prove what is already evident. But sure, fine, lets be through, lets do this! We have the technology.

We now have Saints players admitting to a bounty program along with the owner, GM and coaches. And Hargrove lied to the league about said program.

Suspension upheld.

Dom Capers cares

…At least Saints fans see this sham for what it is…

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Really?! I’m a huge Patriots fan, and I never had this level of denial! Yes, I accepted the fact they did what they are accused of, I just nitpick about how bad a crime they committed, and whether it was fair to punish them what the league did – and whether all the BS about an asterisk was warranted. I can always rest on the fact that what they did wasn’t criminal or blatantly and obviously immoral. Saints’ fans don’t have that luxury. I feel for you as an avid fan of a team that used to suck then became really good. But be honest, the evidence is overwhelming that your team’s defense was more focused upon injuring other players than they were about making plays (and those aren’t always the same thing!), and that the expected to be paid for that fact. Nevermind avoiding taxes on undeclared income (a federal crime), the team was paying money to players to injure others. Take that off the field, we are talking about an obvious criminal violation. Some will say so what, but perhaps that indicates a broader problem in society?

For the video to PROVE a bounty on Farve or a larger bounty system there needs to be corroborating evidence. Such as a bank statement showing a payment amount withdrawn or deposited, a voice analysis done, eye-witness testimony…the league has none.

So bottom line is that the statement in no way PROVES that Hargrove new about a bounty PROGRAM. And he’s the one Goodell charged with lying about knowledge of a PROGRAM, not a single instance, PFP, etc. It appears this is the only proof that the league has that Hargrove lied. So in this case it seems the evidence shows Goodell wildly exaggerated (AKA lied).