With all the excitement from playoff basketball, and the city’s massive crush on Jacoby Ellsbury growing stronger by the day, it’s easy to forget about the Patriots. Sure, we hear about Tom Brady’s European adventures with Gisele Bundchen, but we’re doing our best to put the 18-1 season behind us.

The Patriots organization is also loathe to think about the heartbreaking finish to the 2007 season. The Smoking Gun reports that the team is still trying to trademark the phrase, 19-0.

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Despite last year’s heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl, we still love Tom Brady. He’s become the Bill Clinton of sports—despite his personal issues, we still remember all the prosperity we’ve had during his tenure.

So we’re totally fine if No. 12 wants to wear European-style clothes and jet around the world with his supermodel girlfriend if that’s what he wants to do with his offseason.

The Inside Track is less forgiving of Brady’s new style, though.

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We’re conflicted here. On the one hand, people really gotta let Spygate go. The Pats lost, and the NFL hasn’t ruled on any impropriety. On the other hand, it’s been fun to follow the trail of vitriol the rest of the media spills. Bill Belichick checking out a college student, or the debate over whether or not Tom Brady is whipped by his hot supermodel girlfriend—both fine topics.

But nothing compares to South Park. Clips from an episode rip apart the methods of the Patriots coach. Yeah, it’s cruel, and we’re getting fed up with the jokes, but the treatment is kind of funny, too.

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This afternoon, Patriot owner Bob Kraft made his first public comments about Spygate since the season ended. During the annual NFL meetings in Florida, he addressed the topic, though most of what he had to say wasn’t a surprise: He’s not over the Super Bowl loss; he’s aware of the negative reaction the team has evoked since the video incident; and he’s been storing up some special venom for everyone’s favorite tabloid.

“A newspaper made a damaging allegation about the so-called Matt Walsh affair. I believe it’s something that never happened,” Kraft said. “If so, why wouldn’t — two months later — anything have come out? But we live in a society where people can make any kind of allegations. But then, it has to be substantiated.”

Kraft was speaking about this story that ran two days before the Super Bowl, a story that has yet to be truly substantiated or debunked. And that won’t change until Matt Walsh speaks. (more…)

The woman who requested a restraining order against Patriots wider receiver Randy Moss in January has filed papers requesting that the case be closed.

Moss maintained his innocence at the time of the allegations, which came during the middle of the playoffs. None of the principles were available for comment, according to the AP report.

Remember how it looked like Matt Walsh’s day before the NFL jury was imminent? A lot can change in 24 hours. The NFL put out a release on Sunday indicating its lawyers and Walsh’s lawyers were close to a deal. But late yesterday afternoon, ESPN reported that was premature.

There are obviously a lot of moving parts here. The NFL doesn’t want any further embarrassment. The Patriots certainly don’t want any further embarrassment or anything that could cause Roger Goodell to impose stricter penalties on their franchise. But then, this isn’t really about videotaping signals. (more…)

News broke on Sunday that the NFL and Matt Walsh are close to an agreement that would allow Walsh, a former Patriots employee, to share with the league what he knows about the team’s videotaping procedures. The sticking points are indemnification by the NFL—Walsh wants assurances he won’t be prosecuted for revealing what he has—and his attorney fees paid in full. As late as a week and a half ago, the NFL said “absolutely not” to both requests.

Since then, the details have apparently been ironed out. Soon, the world will know what Walsh claims to have. Whether or not it will matter is another argument. (more…)

That was a lot of hand-wringing for a fair deal, now wasn’t it? Sometime today the Patriots are expected to announce the re-signing of Randy Moss (some have speculated it’s for 3-years and $27 million, but no terms have been announced). Guess he won’t be reuniting with Daunte Culpepper, after all.

Not that the past three days haven’t been fun for talk-radio hosts, but really, where was he going to go? The Cowboys to play second-fiddle to T.O. and compete with Jessica Simpson for the affections of his quarterback? The Packers to freeze his ass off in the hopes that Brett Favre keeps playing forever? The Carolina Panthers???

Um, no. (more…)

The other big sports story this weekend was the continued non-signing of Randy Moss. When the Patriots elected not to slap the franchise tag on Moss, the wise men who cover the NFL decided the Pats must have a long-term deal in place with the record-setting wide receiver. When the first three days of free agency came and went with nary a peep about Moss, the wise men decided something must be up.

In one of the most hilariously contrived agent-pushing “stories” in recent memory, league shill John Clayton said on ESPN that Moss reached out to former quarterback Daunte Culpepper about reuniting.

One problem: Neither guy has a team. One other problem: Culpepper hasn’t exactly been good for a while now. So, what’s up with Moss? (more…)

Now here’s a league that gets free agency right. On the first day of unrestricted free agency, NFL rosters are changing by the minute. The biggest get, so far, is All-Pro corner Asante Samuel, who is heading to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Per Comcast in Philly, and the great Derrick Gunn (trust us, the guy is plugged in with the Birds) the Eagles will announce the signing this afternoon. (more…)