ESPN apologizes to Patriots on air in middle of night for sharing false Spygate story....
Nearly eight years later and ESPN still didn’t understand what Spygate was really about.
During an early-morning edition of SportsCenter Thursday, at a time when many people were sleeping, anchor Steve Levy issued an on-air apology for the show’s citing of a false Boston Herald report from February 2008 that claimed the Patriots filmed the Rams’ walkthrough practice a day before the teams met in the Super Bowl in 2002. The paper admitted three months later the report was inaccurate and apologized for publishing it. The paper ran a front-page headline which said “Sorry, Pats.”
Spygate has been brought up in recent weeks as part of discussions about DeflateGate.
“On two occasions in recent weeks, SportsCenter incorrectly cited a 2002 report regarding the New England Patriots and Super Bowl XXXVI,” Levy said. “That story was found to be false, and should not have been part of our reporting. We apologize to the Patriots organization.”
Though an apology was issued to the team, one wasn’t issued to its viewers for misinformation. The Patriots shared video of the apology on their official Twitter account.
The term Spygate spawned from the Patriots filming the Jets’ defensive signals from the sideline during the first game of the 2007 NFL season. Sidelines are not designated areas for filming. Head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots were fined $250,000 and docked their 2008 first-round draft pick.
Last week, ESPN anchor Hannah Storm referenced the false report while discussing Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension — for his alleged role in deflating footballs for the AFC Championship Game — with Mike Ditka, who defended Brady and the organization and said it had never cheated before.
Want to clarify: Pats were penalized for filming Jets during a game, not for filming teams practices, as I said yesterday.
— Hannah Storm (@HannahStormESPN) August 14, 2015
“Some would say that the filming of the practices earlier, that that does qualify as cheating, which is certainly something that’s part of the Patriots’ history.”
Storm later tried to clear up her comments on Twitter. “Want to clarify: Pats were penalized for filming Jets during a game, not for filming teams practices, as I said yesterday,” she wrote.
The report was also referenced during a segment involving Bill Polian. Discussing the Patriots’ controversies over the years, ESPN had an on-screen graphic which said “Patriots filmed Rams final walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI.”
ESPN apologizes to Patriots in middle of night for report
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