Goodell coming to the game too?
It was absolutely a railroading built on the seed of something legit. Decision was made to turn it into a show trial and embellish the story to make it more sinister for PR purposes around head injuries with pending lawsuits. No doubt in my mind.
Punishment and handling for Saints was completely different than other teams. Packers did this and it was handled quietly without broadcast PR campaign. Other teams not pursued:
https://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/03/nfl_investigated_green_bay_pac.html
https://deadspin.com/brett-favres-vikings-had-a-bounty-program-too-1788188711
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...ched-kill-the-head-and-the-body-will-die-too/
Then beyond the big play kitty they tried to extend to generally the Saints are an evil, dirty organization that cheats:
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/...-loomis-eavesdrop-opposing-coaches-home-games
It was a classic, textbook propaganda campaign to provide pretext to drop the hammer. And they did.
Except it was a conspiracy including fake "evidence", lies about "thousands of pages" of documentation and coordinated PR effort to break negative news on the Saints with specific timing and premeditated cadence.We still haven't moved on from our conspiracy mindset post-Bountygate.
It was absolutely a railroading built on the seed of something legit. Decision was made to turn it into a show trial and embellish the story to make it more sinister for PR purposes around head injuries with pending lawsuits. No doubt in my mind.
Punishment and handling for Saints was completely different than other teams. Packers did this and it was handled quietly without broadcast PR campaign. Other teams not pursued:
https://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/03/nfl_investigated_green_bay_pac.html
https://deadspin.com/brett-favres-vikings-had-a-bounty-program-too-1788188711
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...ched-kill-the-head-and-the-body-will-die-too/
Then beyond the big play kitty they tried to extend to generally the Saints are an evil, dirty organization that cheats:
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/...-loomis-eavesdrop-opposing-coaches-home-games
It was a classic, textbook propaganda campaign to provide pretext to drop the hammer. And they did.