Kraft happy with apology

NFL. Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he felt “very good” after seeing the front page apology issued to the team by the Boston Herald yesterday, but later told The Associated Press that he was “very disappointed” the newspaper “wrote a story that was completely false and unsubstantiated.”

The Herald’s apology was in reference to a Feb. 2 story that alleged the Patriots videotaped the Rams walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI. After NFL commissioner Roger Goodell met with former Patriots employee Matt Walsh — who did turn over a handful of tapes to the league — Goodell said Walsh told him he did not tape the walkthrough and had no knowledge that any other Patriots employees did so. The commissioner also indicated he considered the investigation over after meeting with Walsh on Tuesday.

“We now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed,” the paper wrote.

“We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.”

“This story coming out the day before the Super Bowl, the biggest game in our history, going for a perfect season, was very damaging and put a cloud over us for the last three and a half months,” Kraft told CNBC. “I’m glad it’s finally come to an end.”