BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Herald is apologizing for falsely reporting the New England Patriots videotaped a walkthrough by the St. Louis Rams a day before the 2002 Super Bowl.
     It comes a day after a meeting between NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh produced no major revelations about the team's taping procedures.
     Walsh told Goodell he did not tape the walkthrough and had no knowledge that any other Patriots employees did so.
      The Herald's story cited unidentified sources and was released one day before New England's 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants.
      The Spygate investigation began after the NFL confiscated tapes from a Patriots employee who recorded the New York Jets' defensive signals during the 2007 opener. New England coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, while the team was fined $250,000 and forced to forfeit its 2008 first-round draft choice.

The Boston Herald article states:

     "On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots' video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI.
     While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.
     Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had.
     We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.
     The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots’ owners, players, employees and fans for our error."

And just when you thought it was over:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator Arlen Specter wants an independent investigation of the New England Patriots' taping of opposing coaches' signals similar to baseball's Mitchell Report on performance enhancing drugs.
     Specter continued his criticism of the league's handling of the investigation during a news conference on Capitol Hill, threatening the possibility of revoking the NFL's antitrust exemption.
     The senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee met with former New England video assistant Matt Walsh yesterday.
     That get-together took place just hours after Walsh spoke with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who indicated that he
considered the investigation to be over.

     ABC 6 sports anchor Don Coyne explores the contrast between the Herald's 'My Bad', and the angry Senator from Eagles (and Steelers) Land...