ALP

what the media did and what we're doing here are two completely different things....

the media went on a witchhunt of the NEP, w/o evidence, w/o proof, w/o looking at any facts

they took very half truch and lie, and even truth and twisted it to make their point, allways against the most respected and most successful club in football of the decade

what we do here is focus on the facts, and analyze things from a pretty open perspective, and then decide wether our much loved team will have to suffer or be unfarely labeled for the future


if u like no part, then by all means

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Tom Brady is back...Go NE Patriots

PatsFanSince74

i have no idea what the reason for it might have been, but this was without a doubt the worst case study in crisis management in modern sports media (Mark McGwire's congressional Steroids testimony and its aftermath would probably be a distant second.) I read the terrific article to which you linked and didn't find a reference to what you said happened, which would help explain how bad it was.

Whatever the reason, the Pats just sat there day after day and week after week as lies became "truth." They had no organized system of credible surrogates hitting the web and ESPN every day telling their side of the story. There was no organized system of mass emails and blast faxes setting the record straight ten minutes after a lie was told on ESPN or elsewhere.

I know that the above wouldn't have completely "changed" the coverage, but the idiots who were making these stories up would have thought twice if they knew some respected voice was going to challenge their credibility ten minutes after they told another lie on national television. That's how crisis management works; you know that you're not going to get rid of the crisis, but you chip away at its foundations day after day.

As a result, the coverage became more and more emboldened and more and more one sided and more and more biased with each passing week, driven by a feeding frenzy of irrational, jealous fan bases in large media markets like New York, Miami, Philadelphia (which took its SB loss very badly) and Texas. Add in all of the smaller media markets like Indy and Buffalo and Jacksonville and St. Louis, where there is no love lost for the Pats, and it didn't take the suits at ESPN too long to figure out that there was ratings and clicks gold in this story.

The only organized effort of which I am aware to address the lies and bias was actually developed on this Board!!!

It's rule number one of crisis management in today's continuous media environment that you never let a bad story, let alone a blatantly inaccurate or intentionally misleading story, go unchallenged for more than a couple of hours. Instead, this stuff went on for weeks and months, took on a life of its own and, outside of New England and this Board, it became the "truth" that the Pats had used cheating to win their Super Bowls.

As for the rest of your point, i hope you're right and i'm wrong, but Spygate occurred in a 24/7 media environment unlike most of the wonderful examples in the piece to which you linked. i'm afraid that it is going to "stick" for a long time as a result.

and, i agree, i often thought that if BB won two more SB's, the trophy might one day be renamed for him. Noll has four rings, BB, Gibbs and Walsh all have three; Shula made six trips to the SB and Landry five, both winning two of them. So, five rings would put Belichick in a class by himself.

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"Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart and expect it to come true. There is, I believe, no other way to live." Joe Montana

ALP

i also agree.....the pats could have easily done "crisis management" and they prob had the capabilities for it....buth CHOOSE not to

the question is why? the things that were being alleged were off the charts, and yet we did not fight it, even though we had the info to fight it.....

why though?

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Tom Brady is back...Go NE Patriots

PatsFanSince74

i don't know. another poster suggested they were told not to say anything, but i have never heard that and have asked him to cite a source. the NFL couldn't reasonably have asked one of its premier and most valuable franchises not to take reasonable steps to defend themselves against lies. these were brand- and value-damaging lies and the Patriots had the right to defend themselves. I believe that Belichick himself was asked to keep quiet, but that didn't apply to the organization.

based on experience in other situations (public crises but not sports related), there are a couple of possible explanations.

(1) the people in the "bubble" (i.e., the Krafts and their management team) didn't realize how bad the storm was outside the confines of their own circle. this happens surprisingly often to high profile people. the **** is swirling around outside their windows and they fail to grasp the damage that is being done, usually because their friends and regular associates are telling them "it will go away" or "nobody will believe that stuff" or "don't stoop to their level." if you read a lot of the posts in this thread, there are still a lot of folks even in the fanbase who don't fully understand the damage that was done to the brand outside New England. this is rationalized by saying, "we'll look better in the long run" (they never do) or "people will forget about it" (they don't) or "we're too good to get down in the mud and fight" (they might well be, but they lose the fight and have to accept the consequences to brand and name damage)

(2) friction among the key players. Some want to fight back while others are against doing so, typically because they are so angry at the situation and at the people in their organization who are responsible for their being in the situation that they are effectively paralyzed long enough to keep the necessary decisions from being made.

(3) incompetence.

From everything I can see, option (3) is out in this case because the Krafts are compellingly competent. So, I think it was some version of (1) and (2).

The Krafts are both very close to the Business School. I hope that they one day allow a Prof and case writers from there to prepare a case on what happened and how they handled it. It would be incredibly valuable for corporations and other organizations facing media crises.

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"Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart and expect it to come true. There is, I believe, no other way to live." Joe Montana

JoeSixPat

I felt at the time, and still do today, that Bob Kraft decided that to have Belichick or anyone in the organization detail the extent to which "cheating" is routine in the NFL and has been since its inception, that would undermine the public's confidence in the game and hurt Kraft and all the owners.

In many ways it was a miscalculation, with Kraft and Belichick taking it on the chin for the rest of the NFL. Perhaps they thought more would come to their defense - like Jimmy Johnson did...

But they underestimated the ignorance of some fans and players like Joey Porter who are as stupid as a rock, and were aghast at the notion that signals are stolen PERIOD and would rather not know that the dozens of cameras in the stadiums are capturing every play call for analysis later

The Patriots sin of course was that their cameras were not in the stands, but most "fans" would prefer to believe their sin was taping signals - which to this day remains legal.

The point of the Groscup article is that Lamar Hunt, of the AFC Champion Lamar Hunt Trophy, was acknowledged as among the biggest cheaters in the game along with George Halas. They perfected the art of syping and have taken their place among the most respected football minds of their age.

The vast majority of fans don't even pick a hunt of the irony there.

Joker

The vast majority of fans don't even pick a hunt of the irony there.

which is EXACTLY what Goodell was banking on when he opened this can of worms. Nobody wants to hear that Mangini had TWO cameras filming the Patriots at field level...the SAME "violation"...nobody wants to hear he (Mangini) LIED about removing them when asked by Patriots officials and BB, a point EMPHATICALLY DENIED by BB and the organization...no one wants to hear that Mangini met with Goodell in the NY NFL offices a week before the opener with the Pats....after which Goodell dropped this bomb on our team...what was said at THAT meeting???...nobody wants to take seriously the FACT that Goodell got his START in the NFL as an EMPLOYEE OF THE NEW YORK JETS!!!! This is always poo poo-ed as "so what?". SO WHAT????? THe owner of the New York Jets RECOMMENDED his employee, Goodell, to the NFL offices, where he was subsequently hired. THIS carries no STINK as far as being beholden in some way to the New York Jets organization???? The FACT that Goodell could have and SHOULD HAVE recused himself from sitting in judgement on this particular matter, instead appointing an independent arbitrator to handle the proceedings...THIS means nothing????

Time will tell...as it always does...and the stink and rotting stench of Goodell's illegal actions will come home to roost like an open sewer pipe...eventually.

JoeSixPat

I'm not saying this in an accusatory way, but Kraft's continued high income is dependent on the public ignorance of "cheating" in the NFL.

Although there's been some light shed, even with Groscup's article in 1968, it's never really altered public perception of the game.

Neither Kraft nor Goodell want to see that change for reasons of continued profit.

Belichick understands this, however once he's finished his career, I'm not so sure he won't go into great detail about what other teams and the state of the NFL is.

Joker

Yes, I have always seen this point from the start....and I think you're right about underestimating the effects by the Patriots organization...yet I can't help but think ,unilaterally, Goodell had ulterior motives,ILLEGAL MOTIVES, when he entered into this whole mess, separate from acting as "impartial arbiter" as the whole sordid ordeal progressed. You mean to say that he says NOTHING today and let's this keep festering because he's looking out for the league??? I'm not buying it and I'll tell you something else...I may not be some multimillionaire sports figure but I HAVE been all over the world in my 58 years. I KNOW people and I KNOW a lying scumbag when he's talking his bull in front of me...and this Goodell is a LIAR and he's hiding more than "something" from us and the media.

I hope I live long enough to read what BB and Brady have to say about all this 10 or 15 years from now...and I sincerely pray there is no statute of limitations on the crimes committed behind all this spygate garbage.

PatsWickedPissah

As someone who has studied those cases I agree. However, it would not be a success themed case study. Not from the 'brand's' perspective. More of a "Strategies that failed" view.

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Kraft 2010: "It's definitely not a doomsday scenario, it might have to happen to get things right. I hope it's the vehicle to get us a deal. I hope it's the ultimate hammer.''

PatsWickedPissah

You needed to add that 'somehow' the so-called spy tapes made their way from the Comissioner's office to Fox Sports News. Never been explained how this leak happened to find its way to TV. The fact that the Comissioner's wife works for FOX is simply a coincidence.

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Kraft 2010: "It's definitely not a doomsday scenario, it might have to happen to get things right. I hope it's the vehicle to get us a deal. I hope it's the ultimate hammer.''