WASHINGTON — Early in 2008, I had a casual hallway conversation in the Capitol with Senator Arlen Specter, about his pick to win the Super Bowl, that ended up touching off a furor right before the kickoff between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.
Unprompted, Mr. Specter, at the time a Republican from Pennsylvania, professed deep skepticism about the credibility of the National Football League’s investigation into accusations that the Patriots spied on their opponents. The subsequent article in The New York Times and the ensuing storm underscored again that Congress, an institution full of die-hard fans and former and wannabe athletes, has long had an outsize interest in big-time sports.