[CBFF] 49ers’ tampering story: There’s definitely more damning evidence than just 2 phone calls - Talking Points with Tim Kawakami - San Jose Mercury News sports blog

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49ers' tampering story: There's definitely more damning evidence than just 2
phone calls - Talking Points with Tim Kawakami - San Jose Mercury News
sports blog<http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2008/03/25/49ers-tampering-story-theres-definitely-more-damning-evidence-than-just-2-phone-calls/#more-938>

49ers' tampering story: There's definitely more damning evidence than just 2
phone calls<http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2008/03/25/49ers-tampering-story-theres-definitely-more-damning-evidence-than-just-2-phone-calls/>

By Tim Kawakami
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 3:50 pm in
49ers<http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/category/49ers/>,
NFL <http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/category/nfl/>.

I'm hearing a lot of detail floating around the NFL about what really led to
the 49ers' guilty verdict in the Lance Briggs tampering case.

Surprise: The evidence is more than what the 49ers are admitting and
spinning.

The additional evidence apparently involves NFL investigation of internal
49ers' e-mail between front-office folk during key moments in the Briggs'
timeline.

My understanding is that the e-mail discussions highlight the
significance of the phone calls to agent Drew Rosenhaus (though, as the
49ers point out, there were no actual discussions during the calls).

This is what is confirmed by several sources: There's more evidence than the
49ers are saying. It's definitely more than just 2 stand alone phone calls
to Rosenhaus.

Because the NFL can put those phone calls in context.

Some of the most fascinating, detailed stuff I heard is from just one
source, so it's not totally confirmed–though it's not completely denied by
other reputable sources, either. (Still, I'm leaving most of it out of this
entry.)

And *all *of it makes more sense than the 49ers' spin yesterday, and the
49ers have a habit of attempting spin that is rather easily debunked.

Did the 49ers really think smart people would buy that the *only
*evidence Commissioner
Roger Goodell had was two phone missed calls to Briggs' agent, Drew
Rosenhaus? Without Rosenhaus being at the hearing last week?

*Does that seem plausible in any way*? Just two random phone messages, some
surface circumstantial evidence: GUILTY! Lose draft picks! It's not
plausible.

It feels like a 49ers' spin/exaggeration/mischaracterization… and whether
they mean to or not, the act of doing it basically challenges Goodell's
judgement and his credibility.

Fine, if the 49ers are on the side of angels on this one. But if they're not
correct–if they are guilty of something and trying to cover it up for PR
purposes–firing a shot at Goodell is so wholly stupid it goes well beyond
even the stupidity of getting caught with Briggs.

Are the 49ers arguing that the new commissioner is dumb? Unfair? Vindictive?
Silly?

None of that goes over well on Park Ave., as far as I know. And I pretty
much do know that.

I've talked to people. I've asked the 49ers to clarify their posture–and
yes, the 49ers' stance gets fuzzier and fuzzier the more you focus on the
exact facts and the more you ask about e-mail evidence.

It's very possible that the 49ers and their top supporters are going to have
to retreat to this convenience: There's no literal paper trail.

Well, guys: Of course not, if it's all e-mail evidence.

>From what I hear, NFL investigators collected 49ers' internal e-mails
involving the Main Front Office Folk (you know all or most of their
names) during the Briggs time-frame.

The content of the e-mails and their timing (plus some other circumstantial
evidence) apparently are why the commissioner concluded that those missed
phone calls to Rosenhaus involved a potential Briggs contract during last
season and not, say, an attempt to check up on Taylor Jacobs.

I've heard who it was who made the fateful calls to Rosenhaus and who sent
most of the allegedly damning e-mail, but I won't name him here, since I'm
not 100 percent on it.

See, there's tons of detail. Fascinating detail.

(Again: I don't think tampering is a serious event in the NFL since
everybody does it. The problem for the 49ers: They were dumb enough and did
it clunkily enough to get caught–costing them a 5th round pick and a flop of
3rds with Chicago. And now, possibly the ire of the commissioner's office.)

Oh and there's more:

Some of the internal e-mails from front office people reveal that the top
lieutenants to John and Jed York possibly aren't quite totally all best
friends and totally on the same page.

It's probably never good for power people to see each other's private
intra-office e-mails. But, thanks to the investigation, now they all know
who thinks what about whom. And the commissioner's office knows it, too.

Gee, *that doesn't sound like the 49ers' braintrust I know*!

Now you can say that, even if the 49ers were slightly guilty, this is much
ado about nothing and that the Bears over-played their hand and were silly
to pursue it this far.

I'm not totally disagreeing with that. Again: Tampering is done by every
smart franchise in the NFL.

But it's just like the 49ers to be the ones who get caught… and who get
their dirty laundry aired out before the commissioner.

And it's just like the 49ers to try to spin it, unaware that the gory
details always come out eventually.

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