Adam Reilly talks to Herald editor Kevin Convey about why the specific editors that worked with John Tomase on the story have not been named.
In answer, Conveys says to Reilly:
The issue of the editors’ involvement was on the front page and back page of the Boston Herald, and in my editor’s note. I think that’s the answer I would give to that question. I just don’t see it in the best interest of the paper and the staff to go more deeply than that.
Reilly goes on to speculate some more on the reasons why Convey may feel this way.
Seth Mnookin offers a defense of John Tomase
As you might imagine, this whole story has been a huge topic of conversation on the BSMW message board. One poster went back through the archives of the board and found a post from October 7, 2007, in which a poster stated the following:
Felger mentioned on his show a few weeks ago that there was “talk” that the Pats had videotaped the Rams walk-thru the day before SB 36.
Leaving out whether Felger did in fact make that statement or not, it was a public topic of conversation at least as far back at October.
In Tomase’s explanation today, he said:
Late in the 2006 season, I was having a casual conversation about the Patriots [team stats] when someone I trust threw out the following tidbit.
“I heard the Patriots filmed the Rams’ final walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI,” he said.
It was just a rumor, and certainly not actionable intelligence, as they say. He had heard it from a friend of a friend. I filed it away, and then forgot about it. Reporters hear stuff like that all the time.
Little did I know that comment would resurface from a much stronger source in the days after the Patriots had been caught filming the Jets’ defensive signals in September 2007.
The rumor was certainly making the rounds during that time. Whether or not Tomase and Felger had talked about it, (It seems natural that they would.) it’s interesting that Felger is apparently one of the ones who was circulating the rumor as well.
In recent days Felger has said that Tomase’s only error was using the wrong verb. He says “monitored” should be used rather than “filmed.” This also has seemingly been proven false, as the statements from Brian Daboll and the NFL would seem to indicate.