I find the disparity with reporting styles troubling. I mean, I'm old enough to know better, and was close enough to the media for 20 years to understand, but some people are that quick - and younger people seem willing to accept just about anything.

Where there's smoke there's usually a fire, and a 'journalist' should investigate without prejudice. This is American damnit. I am troubled...

From Mike Triplet:

The resignation was first reported by Pro Football Talk, which wrote that speculation could arise regarding a connection between Hummel's departure and the delays in player suspensions in the Saints' case. Aiello quickly shot down that notion, though, saying that Hummel had "accepted a senior security position at a major company but delayed his departure until the Saints matter is completed."

"The company held the position open for him so that he could complete his work on the Saints matter," Aiello said. "It is a big career opportunity for Joe (who is a former FBI agent) and has no bearing whatsoever on the Saints matter."

Aiello said chief security officer Jeff Miller has led the Saints investigation, and that Hummel reports to Miller.

Yeah ok..suuuuuure it is. Master of Puppets at it again!!

I will not stop believing that the NFL is hiding something, and that this has been a witch hunt on the Saints, until we have full disclosure.

But I'm going to stop kidding myself that we'll ever get that info. It either doesn't exist or is vastly different from what we've been told about it. There's always going to be an excuse from these people. I do think eventually Goodell is going to fall hard, but as long as he is employed he won't admit anything.

Lulz at all the conspiracy theorists out there. I'll eat crow if something comes out about a massive NFL cover up, but I just think it's funny how many people think the NFL is "out to get the Saints". Did we get screwed with the penalties? Yes, too harsh. Were there other teams that had bounties? More than likely. Is the rule about bounties and our involvement with them stupid and vague? Sure. But we still broke the rules and did so at a terribly inopportune time with all of the head injury lawsuits.

Besides, what good does the NFL get out of blasting New Orleans? This city and franchise has been the penultimate example of feel-good stories and triumph over difficult circumstances (legitimately difficult, not self-imposed). Kicking our franchise's ass certainly doesn't help business in New Orleans and around the country as many people are turned off by allegations of dirty play. Just looking at the facts, it doesn't make sense for the NFL to launch a vendetta against our boys.

Plus, the wiretapping thing wasn't launched by the NFL, that was ESPN. NFL.com wouldn't even acknowledge the allegations, which to me shows that they know how much worse that would be for business.

I'll probably be skewered for my opinion because there are so many passionate Saints fans who want to see our recent misfortune as an "attack" because it makes it easier to swallow... I see it as a combination of poorly timed severe rule-bending (with the bounties) and shoddy journalism (by ESPN, which is not new).

I for one never said they were "out to get us" but one would have to be VERY naive to think that we are not being used as scape goats for the NFL due to lawsuits. Things have gotten blown way out of proportion to serve an agenda of the NFL. That sir is a fact!

I am not going to blast you, I think you are entitled to your opinion and you seem to be rational -- even though I don't agree with you.

But I feel compelled to point out that it is not just the journalism that has been shoddy. The NFL report, IMO, raises questions about its credibility.

For example, the NFL's slick reference to 50,000 pages of documents was obviously used to leave the unwary reader with the impression that there are 50,000 pages of incriminating evidence. Of course there are not that any pages that have anything to do with the "bounty" program -- that is just how many pages that were reviewed. Nonetheless, the impression of a mountain of evidence is carefully planted in the mind of the average joe.

As far as the extremity of the penalties, well that is no accident and Goodell has not lost his mind. Once he decided that penalties were called for, he decided that deterring and punishing were not enough.

Goodell is out to cripple us -- at least for the year. Goodell wants to ensure that he does not have to suffer the humiliation of handing the Saints a Lombardi in the Superdome the same year this story has dominated the offseason. I sincerely believe that.

I, for one, don't think the NFL was "out to get" the Saints. I don't know anybody who thinks that really. What I DO think is that the NFL is using this to prop itself up as the keeper of fair play and player safety at a time when it is desperate to show itself as such.

The Saints effed up to be sure and broke a rule...a rule that is broken every season at every level. The portrait that the league has painted, and make no mistake the league went to great lengths to paint it in as negative a light as possible, supported by a puppet media desperate to keep its league connections, was deliberate and extremely unjust.

There was NO cheating going on, ala the Patriots, and NO precedent for a year suspension AND what is essentially an EIGHT MILLION dollar fine for Sean. It is the disparity that has angered me and I think most. It's a means to a (hopeful but misguided) legal end for the league and it is as transparent as anything could possibly be...

...which is why the media witch hunt and clear double-standard and willingness to open as many wounds as possible with zero evidence - it's willingness to do all it could do to destroy the careers of good men on one hand while looking the other way when smoke appears on the other side of the hill...THIS is what is uber-maddening to me...

So, I'm not going to bash anybody either. Everybody has a right to his or her opinion, but any Saints fan, and further any fan of football, and still further any one who supports justice and fair play, would be and should be completely angered by this whole thing. It is my opinion that anybody who isn't is simply not willing to look at the whole picture in a very thoughtful way. To say that Saints fans feel like the league is picking on them is woefully short-sighted...but that's just my 2 cents.

You stole my line, ROFL...... that just means you owe me a beer when I go to San Francisco next week! :mrgreen:

:bng:

Of all the teams and all their investigation efforts, that stemmed for years, they only found one team with a bounty program. I find that impossible to to believe. What is easy to believe is that when the NFL goes to court over the players they no longer have to say we did nothing. They had two choices, come down on several teams and open up more lawsuits or, just murder one with a strong fan base. That's not a conspiracy against the Saints, that's damage control and I say this because other former players have already stated this is nothing new or unique just to the Saints.