Speak up, Matt Walsh. The Patriots owner is listening.
During a break from the NFL's Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, Monday, Robert Kraft told reporters he's eager to hear what Walsh, a former Pats employee, has to say about the Spygate controversy.
"I’m looking forward to him speaking, and hopefully cleaning this up and completely exonerating us. It's kind of strange that six or seven years after ... I know ourselves and the N.F.L. have done everything we can do to help his lawyers have him speak."
"We live in a society where people can make any kind of allegations," Kraft added in a New York Times feature. "But then, it has to be substantiated."
Head coach Bill Belichick also broke his offseason silence to address the matter.
"In my career I have never seen a tape of another practice, authorized one, or anything else," Belichick said Monday in a Boston Globe story. There have been allegations that a member of the Patriots video staff improperly videotaped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI.
"So I don't know [why the issue still lingers]. Allegations have been out there, but there has really been nothing to substantiate it. Nobody has come forward with anything else that there is really to address."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is also anxious to hear from Walsh, but he appears to be growing tired of the process, as noted in today's Boston Herald.
"Do you know lawyers?" Goodell said yesterday at the owners meetings. "We are making progress, I think. I’m a little frustrated, as you can see. Matt Walsh is free to speak to anybody, but he has asked for some considerations. We have met with over 50 people and he's the only one that had indicated that he has conditions. We are trying to respect that."
Meanwhile, back here in New England, Pats kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who used to pitch for his college baseball team, is taking part in a promotional event for a local minor league baseball team.
Gostkowski will kick autographed footballs into the crowd during a Lowell Spinners game in late June, as he did last summer for the club. Fans will even have a chance to hold the ball for Gostkowski's placekicks.
