When Sean Pamphilon dropped the audio of Gregg Williams turning the New Orleans' Saints team hotel into the Cobra Kai dojo, the ensuing sweep of the leg sent shock waves across the NFL.
Pamphilon -- a filmmaker perhaps best known for his ESPN documentary, "Run Ricky Run" -- had obtained the recording fortuitously while working with Steve Gleason, the former Saints special teamer afflicted with ALS.
Of course, the timing of the audio release led to skepticism about what Pamphilon's motives really were. On April 5 (the morning the audio leaked), Sean Payton, Joe Vitt and Mickey Loomis were at the league office in New York to appeal the league's "bounty"-related discipline.
In an interview with Fox Sports this week, Pamphilon explained that personal conflicts with Gleason and others kept him from releasing the audio sooner.
"Professionally, why would I give it to the NFL?" he said. "They destroyed the "Spygate" tapes."
Pamphilon hasn't spoken with Gleason since the audio was released.
"Clearly, it has strained our friendship," he said. "I still love him and feel he is extraordinary, artistic and truly blessed with a unique world view. We tried to connect last week at the airport in Seattle, but our schedules conflicted and we missed each other by 20 minutes, as he was leaving.
"Ultimately, Steve felt he should have had the final call on releasing that audio. I believed I had a moral imperative once the story had already broken."
