As the NFL world continues to wait with baited breath to find out what punishment will be handed down to Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the wake of the league's findings that they did, in fact, doctor 11 out of the 12 footballs they used on offense during the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, a startling new revelation has come to the forefront of the nation's collective football conscious.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, Brad Johson, admitted that just prior to Super Bowl XXXVII, he paid an NFL staffer $7500 to have the 100 balls provided by the league altered prior to kickoff.
Johnson revealed the morally questionable transaction years ago, prior to the 10-year reunion of that Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay team, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, but it has again become relevant in light of the league's recent findings of the Pats own football tampering.
"I paid some guys off to get the balls right," Johnson admitted. "I went and got all 100 footballs, and they took care of all of them."
There is a difference in the two cases - the Patriots brought 12 balls of their own that only they would use while their offense was on the field and were tasked with inflating and preparing them to the NFL's specifications. The balls were then inspected by referee Walter Anderson two hours and 15 minutes prior to kickoff and handed off to ball attendants provided by the Pats.
For Super Bowl XXXVII, the NFL provided balls of their own which were to be used by both teams, so Johnson had to go round up each and every last one and then pay someone to scuff and alter them to his liking. The league is considered to have been in custody of them the entire time.
While it remains to be seen what the punishment for the Pats will be, it's interesting, but really not altogether surprising, to find out that other players and teams have been doctoring footballs for years - and prior to a Super Bowl, no less.
