Although the league has provided much fodder for raising fair, tough questions about the handling of the bounty case against the Saints, the NFL has not engaged in what would be an obvious effort to prevent fans from scrutinizing more carefully the “give me my money” sideline video from the 2009 NFC title game.
Several of you have mentioned in the comments, via email, and on Twitter that, in the 24 hours or so since we took a close look at the actual content of the video and the NFL’s stubborn insistence that defensive end Anthony Hargrove can be seen and heard saying, “Bobby, give me my money,” the video has been taken down.
It hasn’t been. It’s still available to be seen, heard, scrutinized, and studied as part of an NFL Network Total Access segment featuring Scott Hanson and Steve Wyche.
So while the league isn’t changing its interpretation of the video, the league isn’t trying to keep folks from reaching their own conclusions. In fact, we’ve obtained permission to show the video during Friday’s PFT Live.
And so we will.