Did Denver tape Bolts practices?

[BoltNut]

:paddle:Did Denver tape Bolts practices? :paddle:

By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 25, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS – Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith had no comment yesterday about a report that the Denver Broncos had taped Chargers practices.

The story on Yahoo.com, which did not cite any sources, said the Chargers increased their security “several years ago” during weeks in which they played the Broncos because Denver spies were videotaping Chargers practices.

“Ever since I was hired as general manager I went into procedures,” Smith said, referring to the fact the Chargers have beefed up security around their facility year-round since 2003. “Why'd I go into those procedures? I won't go down those roads.”

The Yahoo report said, “The NFL had been aware of it for several years (at least one NFL official had seen one of the tapes), but didn't step in because it was considered a team issue.”
The Yahoo story was about the larger topic of cheating being a long-standing issue in the NFL, and the reference to the Chargers and Broncos was one paragraph.

“The Denver Broncos will have no comment,” team spokesman Jim Saccomano said yesterday.

.

[Saxman]

It has really panned out for them. Those six points they scored on the Chargers this year are an outrage!

Arlen Specter needs to do something about this!

:lmao:

[studbucket]

Well I am not proud of the Broncos team if they took part in this. If it's a larger league issue and all teams did it it still doesn't make it OK.

Seems very...Raider-like ;)

[Saxman]

Well I am not proud of the Broncos team if they took part in this. If it's a larger league issue and all teams did it it still doesn't make it OK.

Seems very...Raider-like ;)

Honestly, studbucket, I am VERY tired of ALL of these allegations. The NFL needs to police itself, wipe the slate clean and say "from this day forward DON'T DO THIS", then penalize teams heavily for breaking the rules.

I venture to say that you could find EVERY team guilty of some infraction in this regard.

Man, I am really sick of hearing about all this, though. I know this isn't what I am thinking about when I saunter into my favorite sports bar on Sundays to watch the games.

[BoltNut]

Honestly, studbucket, I am VERY tired of ALL of these allegations. The NFL needs to police itself, wipe the slate clean and say "from this day forward DON'T DO THIS", then penalize teams heavily for breaking the rules.

Man, I am really sick of hearing about all this :whyclick: , though. I know this isn't what I am thinking about when I saunter into my favorite sports bar on Sundays to watch the games.

Hey I can't help it if the only things that our fellow AFC Western Division rivals can do to get into the news is to beat up a chick, or get called out for cheating! I wish I could find something else to report but it just isn't there! :confused: LOL

[SonofaBolt]

Seems very...Raider-like ;)Sorry Stud, you're not getting off that easy. Seems very patriot-like :D

[LightsoutSD]

Seems very patriot-like :D

Yes it does!!

[BoltNut]

It has really panned out for them. Those six points they scored on the Chargers this year are an outrage!

Arlen Specter needs to do something about this! :lmao:

I was wondering how they were able to scored those points?

Does anyone know if a divisional opponent has ever been shut out twice by the same team in a single season? In some ways I think it'd be great if we could lay back to back shut-outs on either the Donkeys or the Faiders during our annual division sweeps this coming season, especially if it's never been done! :cool: But then another part of me longs for the days when those divisional contests were something to look forward to because of the rivalry, and competitiveness in the AFC-W ... Perhaps the Chargers should ask the league's competition committee to consider allowing their AFC-W division opponents to tape San Diego's practices in an effort to level the playing field. :headscratch2:

[Saxman]

I was wondering how they were able to scored those points?

Does anyone know if a divisional opponent has ever been shut out twice by the same team in a single season? In some ways I think it'd be great if we could lay back to back shut-outs on either the Donkeys or the Faiders during our annual division sweeps this coming season, especially if it's never been done! :cool: But then another part of me longs for the days when those divisional contests were something to look forward to because of the rivalry, and competitiveness in the AFC-W ... Perhaps the Chargers should ask the league's competition committee to consider allowing their AFC-W division opponents to tape San Diego's practices in an effort to level the playing field. :headscratch2:

7 Bye-Weeks...

...works for me!

[P-Rez25]

It has really panned out for them. Those six points they scored on the Chargers this year are an outrage!

Arlen Specter needs to do something about this!

:lmao:

thats some funny stuff lol

[samurai]

I was wondering how they were able to scored those points?

Does anyone know if a divisional opponent has ever been shut out twice by the same team in a single season? In some ways I think it'd be great if we could lay back to back shut-outs on either the Donkeys or the Faiders during our annual division sweeps this coming season, especially if it's never been done! :cool: But then another part of me longs for the days when those divisional contests were something to look forward to because of the rivalry, and competitiveness in the AFC-W ... Perhaps the Chargers should ask the league's competition committee to consider allowing their AFC-W division opponents to tape San Diego's practices in an effort to level the playing field. :headscratch2:


What's stopping us from shuting out ALL the AFC West teams? The Queefs have no offense, maybe worse han the Faiders and Donkeys!

[DesertBoltFanII]

Well I am not proud of the Broncos team if they took part in this. If it's a larger league issue and all teams did it it still doesn't make it OK.

Seems very...Raider-like ;)


Well don't feel to bad, they still have to play the game on Sunday regardless of information gained. And from what we have seen it wasn't much help.:)

[chilli311]

Tinker, failure, jester, spy.

I am not a spy.

Well, just that once.

However, outrageous assertions by the Raiders prior to the 1977 AFC championship game were blatantly false. I was forcibly removed (by rent-a-cops) from the parking lot at Oakland's headquarters when a team executive claimed I had been "sent by the Broncos to spy on practices."

In early January of 1994, two days before the Broncos played the Raiders — then in Los Angeles — in a playoff game, I did sneak into an apartment complex outside the Raiders' complex and surreptitiously watched a workout — for my own amusement and to get even. (Without my help, the Broncos lost 42-24.)

I did not spy on the San Diego Chargers — even though their 15-acre practice compound in Mission Valley, with two 100-yard grass fields and a 50-yard area covered in artificial turf, is conveniently located near the hotel where I stay and is surrounded by wooded hills where an interloper can hide and seek information.

And I believe, beyond (reasonable) doubt, that Mike Shanahan never spied personally or used minions to spy on the Chargers' practice, as is charged.

Spygate has come to the Broncos.

According to a September Yahoo! Sports dot-com article by sports writer Jason Cole, the Chargers "increased their security several years ago at a hill overlooking the practice field . . . during weeks they played the Denver Broncos. Why? It turns out Broncos coach Mike Shanahan had been hiring spies to videotape the Chargers' practices. The NFL had been aware of it for several years (at least one NFL official had seen one of the tapes), but didn't step in because it was considered a team issue."

No sources were quoted.

When the San Diego Union-Tribune asked Chargers general manager A.J. Smith last week about the issue, he declined a specific response, but said: "Ever since I was hired as general manager (in 2003) I went into (added security) procedures. Why'd I go into those procedures? I won't go down those roads."

The Broncos officially would not comment.

Bill Belichick opened this can of platyhelminthes when he ordered the taping of opponents' defensive hand gestures during games.

But spying has always existed in football and other professional sports. A marvelous book, "The Echoing Green," documents how the 1951 New York Giants utilized a telescope to steal opposing catchers' signs — and relay them to the batters.

Papa Bear George Halas, it has been claimed, paid young men to listen to and film other teams' practices. The old Kansas City Chiefs were accused of being the worst spying offenders — by Al Davis, who was accused of bugging AFL teams' locker rooms. The Broncos purportedly had two spies a long time ago at a San Diego workout, writing plays on the inside of paper cups.

A former NFL coach told me at the recent Super Bowl in Arizona that his team cheated regularly. "We did everything you can imagine to get information on the teams we were playing. The more technology, the easier you can get stuff. It's common in the league," he said.

Belichick was caught.

Now, Congress is involved.

A few days before the Super Bowl, a new accusation — that Belichick and the Patriots taped the Rams' walk-through on the eve of the 2002 Super Bowl — surfaced. Last summer I met a golf club assistant in Maui, and it turns out he was the guy alleged to have done the videotaping. His lawyer is negotiating a deal with the NFL.

Belichick said the videotaping of the Jets last season was "a misinterpretation" of league rules. He has denied the Super Bowl charge.

An NBA player said his team knew the opposing team's plays better than its own players. "We stole all their play numbers. We had a spy at their practice, sweeping out the stands. I saw the coach hold down three fingers, and the forward I was guarding ran to the baseline. I told him he should be out at the 3-point line."

The Rockies had a third-base coach who could steal signals from the other third-base coach.

Shanahan admitted years back that he hired lip-readers to distinguish what coaches said on the sideline.

Belichick's title with the Broncos in 1978 was "director of film." Who knows what he did then? Other teams have disguised employees as photographers and — ye, gads — sportswriters to participate in espionage during games.

Nathan Hale would have made a good NFL spy. "I regret I have but one life to lose for my Patriots."

If Shanahan were a master spy instead of a mastermind, he did a pretty nice job of it until lately. From 1995-2005, the Broncos won 16 of 22 games against the Chargers — and five of six after those new security procedures were instituted by Smith. Maybe the Broncos were vastly superior to the Chargers.

The last two seasons, the Broncos lost all four games to San Diego and finished 9-7 and 7-9. Where was Mata Hari when the Broncos needed her — and could she play defensive tackle?

I'd rather the Broncos concentrate on free-agent signings than spying.

By Woody Paige

Link (http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_8423219)

[Boltfan of Oz]

An NBA player said his team knew the opposing team's plays better than its own players. "We stole all their play numbers. We had a spy at their practice, sweeping out the stands. I saw the coach hold down three fingers, and the forward I was guarding ran to the baseline. I told him he should be out at the 3-point line."


Link (http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_8423219)

that's funny...I wonder if Champ ever corrected a receiver

[Saxman]

that's funny...I wonder if Champ ever corrected a receiver

He would have, but he couldn't catch any!

[chilli311]

In the wake of recent "Spygate" charges against the New England Patriots and the controversy surrounding the NFL'S destruction of evidence in the case, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has vigorously denied an Internet report he hired someone to videotape San Diego Chargers practices.

Through his attorney, Shanahan has demanded in recent days a retraction and apology from the Web site that posted the report in September.

A one-paragraph portion of a story posted Sept. 13 on Yahoo Sports - it has been referenced in area media outlets the past two weeks - said the Chargers hired extra security "several years ago" to post on a hill adjacent to the team's practice complex in weeks leading to games against the Broncos.

The story added the security personnel were hired because "Broncos coach Mike Shanahan had been hiring spies to videotape Chargers practices." The story also said the NFL had been aware of the videotaping, that a league official had seen one of the tapes and no action was taken because the NFL had considered the matter "a team issue."

In a letter addressed to Yahoo senior NFL writer Jason Cole and sent to the company's corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale,

Calif., Shanahan's attorney, Harvey Steinberg, of Denver, called the paragraph regarding Shanahan in the original story "completely untrue and without foundation."

Copies of the letter also were sent to Yahoo CEO Jerry Wang, president Susan Decker, co- founder David Filo and executive vice president and general counsel Michael J. Callahan.

The letter goes on to say "Coach Shanahan has never engaged in any such practice, let alone even discussed the possibility of any such activities. As a result, this article is defamatory and libelous."

The letter also asserts Shanahan was not contacted to comment on the story before it was published, which was "in our mind, evidence of either actual malice towards coach Shanahan or reckless disregard for the truth."

The Broncos said Monday that Shanahan would refer to the letter as his public response to the story.

The letter also states the NFL has told Shanahan and his representatives the league never was made aware of any "alleged spying" on Chargers practices or of the existence of any videotape.

The league also is said to have denied any league official has seen the videotape referenced in the story.

Asked Monday about the original Yahoo story, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement: "We were aware of no such thing. The report is bogus and does not cite any sources for the erroneous information."

Cole said Monday he had not seen the letter and referred comment to Yahoo Sports executive editor Dave Morgan. Morgan said he had seen the letter but could not comment at this time.

The reference to Shanahan in the original Yahoo story was in the eighth paragraph of a larger story quoting Hall of Fame Dolphins center Jim Langer about the lengths he believed teams would go to to gain an advantage. The story also included references to Raiders owner Al Davis.

Link (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/04/shanahan-denies-spying-allegation/)

[BoltNut]

And I believe, beyond (reasonable) doubt, that Mike Shanahan never spied personally or used minions to spy on the Chargers' practice, as is charged.

Yeah you're probably right! In fact I'm starting to wonder if Mike reviews any tapes at all. Including college game footage, combine drills, college bowl games, pro day workouts, game footage of the available free agents ... If he were adverse to watching tapes, it would certainly clear up the mystery of how he manages to make so many poor decisions relative to player acquisition! :rolleyes:

[b530]

Well they must've taped our cheerleaders instead, because that would explain getting stomped 64-6 the last two games

[DesertBoltFanII]

Well they must've taped our cheerleaders instead, because that would explain getting stomped 64-6 the last two games

Camera man, .........you're fired!!