Some TIN FOIL HAT Thoughts On The Whole Crazy Bounty/WiretappingThing

Okay. This is my first blog entry -- it’s kind of a long read, but try and stick with me here.

So the latest news is that the guy from the NFL who investigated the “bounties” is quitting. Yeah, I know, I know, he’s resigning kinda mysteriously and without comment – now everyone’s talking conspiracies, about why this guy might have quit, or saying that it looks kinda fishy, "what does this mean," etc.

Well it does look kinda fishy, almost like there may be a problem with the “evidence” in the Bountygate investigation or something. This guy is the guy who sniffed out the scandal, collected the facts and evidence, and reported them to the head honcho, Jeff Miller, the NFL’s chief security officer. But who knows, it might actually be TRUE -- the guy might have just gotten a better job offer in corporate security somewhere.

But, see, that’s actually NOT the REAL thing to look at, in the article. People are missing the boat here. The really interesting thing that leaped out at ME from the latest articles, is that now we know, that Joe Hummel, the principal investigator on the Saints “bountygate” scandal, used to work for the FBI. Hmmm. Now that is kinda interesting.

Because, I mean, you can’t help but notice, there sure seems to be a lot of ex-FBI guys poking around the Saints lately...and now we recently learned from ESPN, that the REAL actual FBI has been "told of the allegations" about the whole "Loomis wiretapping" thing.

Not that they’re actively investigating, mind you – that’s NOT what the FBI spokesperson said. They only said that they have been “told of the allegations.” That’s the quoted official statement of what the FBI said, when asked. Just that yeah, someone has told us about it, we are aware, and we can’t really comment further. That was prior to the ESPN story going to press.

What the FBI said is interesting, because, you know, words DO mean something.

Now "what if" somebody who was an ex-FBI man, and had worked at a high level job doing security for the Saints, “what if” he got terminated by Mickey Loomis and the team? And "what if" that ex-FBI man had a grudge, and decided to sue the Saints in civil court, over some dirt on Payton, Vitt and Loomis that he claimed to have (and naming Mickey Loomis personally by name, nearly FIFTY TIMES in the 13-page lawsuit, in case we missed the point of WHO the lawsuit and the allegations were really aimed at.)

And "what if " that ex-FBI person, was somehow also informally reaching out and talking to the ex-FBI guy who worked at NFL security, up in New York, who suddenly began investigating the “bounties” almost IMMEDIATELY AFTER the unsuccessful civil lawsuit petered out in 2010... And "what if" that same ex-FBI guy was NOW one of the unnamed "sources" recently talking to ESPN, and to the real FBI, trying to get them to probe into Mickey Loomis and his alleged "wiretapping" scheme.... well... that would be a really far-out TIN FOIL HAT conspiracy, that no one could POSSIBLY ever believe, right? ...

I mean, it's not like an ex-FBI guy with a serious grudge against Loomis and the Saints -- serious enough for him to sue in civil court after getting let go by the team --it's not like he could possibly remember the phone number of his former office at the FBI, or be able to know the identity of the actual FBI agent or office who would look into that kind of exotic wiretapping cases, or might maybe know the names of other retired ex-FBI agents out there who were working for NFL security, up in New York. There’s just NO WAY two various ex-FBI guys, who now worked in the same industry of pro football, could actually be talking to each other, at all...do ya think? It's not like ex-FBI and law enforcement guys are known for being fraternal or a network or anything like that... That's just impossible.

But this ex-FBI guy who worked for the Saints, and later sued them, "what if" he wasn’t just any ordinary ex-FBI guy. He was kind of a pretty big name. He was known as the guy who brought down Edwin Edwards. And his area of specialty was…by a complete coincidence…WIRE TAPPING, eavesdropping and secret recording of Edwin Edwards’ conversations. That’s how he got Edwards.By using a device and eavesdropping. Just like someone now says Mickey Loomis did. Yeah, I know. This is "crazee talk," isn't it.

And it's also not very likely that the ex-Chief of Security for the Saints, who had a grudge against the organization, would happen to know the names of any OTHER disgruntled ex-Saints employees out there, from during his tenure, who might ALSO have a beef against Loomis and the Saints, right? Like maybe a certain electrical employee, who got fired by the Saints for allegedly "borrowing' Saints equipment, at the same time while this same ex-FBI guy was CHIEF OF SECURITY for the team....

No, we can reasonably conclude that it is totally impossible, that the Saints ex-Chief of Security would have been the one who investigated that electrician guy, in 2007, or that he would know the guy's identity, or know that he was still out there, and that he might also want to see Mickey Loomis get taken down almost as much....

And if I was an ESPN reporter who went looking for more dirt on the Saints, the LAST THING on earth that I would do to write my story, is to start by Googling the name of the ex-FBI, ex Chief of Security guy who publicly sued the Saints in civil court, or call him up and ask him for more names of people I could talk to, off the record, with no names.... that just couldn't happen. Too “TIN FOIL HAT” for me to believe.

It's also totally IMPOSSIBLE, that the ex-Saints director of security would also know the name of the ex-radio journalist, who at one time got banned from the Saints facility; who according to Lee Zurik, this certain ex-radio journalist was also the same guy who gave the ESPN reporter a list of names and phone numbers for sources for his ESPN “dirt” story he was “digging” for? And this ex-radio journalist was also one of the two people that Lee Zurik was able to confirm that the FBI had actually interviewed and talked to so far in their investigation? Oh really? And the other name was the ex-FBI guy? What an extreme coincidence.

I mean the Chief of Security is absolutely NOT gonna know the name of a dude from the media who was banned from the teams sidelines and locker room, when it was his job as Chief of Security to enforce it....he is not gonna remember that guy he had to ban from the locker room and sidelines, right?

I mean, this is ALL totally impossible, tin foil hat stuff, right? Right?

It's completely crazy, to think that there might be an ex-FBI guy fired by the Saints, same guy who famously used wiretapping to "get" Edwin Edwards when nobody else could. Same guy who then used secret audio recording and video surveillance of conversations while he was Chief of Security for the Saints, who secretly wore a wire AS A CIVILIAN, while talking to Mickey Loomis, trying to entrap him. And then, he sues them, and when that doesn't work, the Saints “bounty” investigation suddenly falls out of the sky and into the lap of the league's ex-FBI investigator up in New York. And when that doesn’t work, this wild unprovable story comes out of left field, about Mickey Loomis "wiretapping" on opposing teams? WIRE TAPPING? Really?

The question we all need to ask here, is WHO GIVES A **** ABOUT WIRE TAPPING? No really, I mean that. Obviously it is illegal, it’s cheating, it’s messed up, and we would feel really bad if other teams listened to our signals and used it to beat us. Not cool. But is this something that ANY OF US were really thinking about, before this came out? Was wiretapping on YOUR radar? Did you lay awake at night, worrying that other teams might be listening in to OUR signals? Is this something normal people talk or think about?

So yeah, I’m asking, who really GIVES A **** about WIRE TAPPING? Who? The FBI, and people who used to work for the FBI, that’s who! Nothing perks up their ears quite like it. It gets their attention. They live for this stuff, they think like that, we don't. It's what they do.

A crazy thing is emerging about ALL these crazy allegations against the Saints, ALL of them – it’s nebulous, I can’t quite put my finger on it, it’s starting to add up and snowball and gain steam, but it hasn’t reached critical mass yet. It’s not at the point where we can safely take off the TIN FOIL HAT, and say I TOLD YOU SO. Not yet. But something is really getting weird about this stuff.

We have the whole Bounty thing, okay, we're busted, we got that; we have evil Mickey Loomis, supposedly wiretapping on other teams, with secret communications equipment being installed and uninstalled; there’s all these ex-FBI people floating around the periphery of all these scandals, or doing the actual investigating from up in New York; and we have an ex-FBI, ex-security guy who actually did WEAR A WIRE inside the Saints building, while talking to Mickey Loomis, recording what he said, and who actually DID install secret video surveillance cameras etc, all while he was Chief of Security, and who later sued the Saints, and basically tried to blackmail them for a cash settlement, and sorta lost in his shakedown efforts.

So there’s sorta this weird recurring theme or idea emerging -- once you dig into it, this theme of ex-FBI, this idea of secret evidence or NO evidence, this creepy idea of people listening in to something they shouldn't. This stuff keeps coming up again and again in EVERY supposed Saints "scandal" and lawsuit since 2009, ALL of them.....And somehow the league also knows exactly what Saints players like Jonathan Vilma said about the bounties, in various team meetings at specific times before the NFC Championship Game. But won't disclose how they know it.

Total coincidence, I know. Tin foil hat.