If there were video of a coach in the press box writing, "3rd and 9, from +30, d-coord -- arms crossed, left sleeve pull=Cover-2, zone blitz from dime package" from that same game, would it have been just as OUTRAGEOUS?

Later, as the often grainy, choppy tapes with poor tracking rolled, Eisen wondered if the Patriots' success deserves an asterisk given, "the meticulous nature of this."

It was as if people have all this indignation stored up and they had to unload it or burst. But, the way Goodell presented it, Walsh burst the bubble of every skeptic.

When Walsh had emptied his barrels on the Patriots, Goodell had testimony about two new examples of the diabolical nature of the franchise.

A player on injured reserve practiced with the team. And "a few players" had scalped Super Bowl tickets on two different occasions.

The much-discussed taping of the Super Bowl XXXVI walkthrough by the Rams at the Superdome? Walsh said he didn't tape it, didn't know of a tape, hadn't heard of a tape and hadn't been told to tape it. He told Goodell, in fact, that he was on the floor at the Superdome in his Patriots gear setting up for the next day. How's that for cloak and dagger?

Walsh told Goodell he would keep tapes in his possession for the entire game, dousing the notion the Patriots got any "same day" benefit. He said Bill Belichick was the "man behind the curtain" and that he had no real contact with him.

But there were eyebrow raising moments that will feed skeptics as well. Goodell proclaimed that he had never even heard the name "Matt Walsh" until the Friday before the Super Bowl. How could the NFL's supposedly dogged investigation not unearthed Walsh before then when, by Walsh's account "dozens" of media outlets had visited him in Hawaii?

Also, the fact that Walsh said he was instructed to keep his taping discreet makes Belichick's claim he simply misinterpreted the taping rule that much more dubious. Not that Goodell believed it in the first place.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Dogs on the ski slopes, motorcycles in the harbor and more madness from the sports world. more photos

Toward the end of his session with the media, Goodell was asked if "this" -- meaning the Walsh interview -- was "worth it."

"I think it is because I think this is important," Goodell said, warming to an opportunity. "You're dealing with the integrity of the NFL, you're dealing with the public trust in our game for our fans. Obviously there's been widespread media speculation. I think the general interest of the public was, 'We want to know the facts.' I want to know the facts. That's why we're here to give them to you."

And what people choose to do with the NFL's version of the facts is -- and forever will be -- entirely up to them.

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