Patriot_in_NY

Does anybody find it ironic that Easterbrook is pimping himself as the "champion of fair play and righteousness", when the the institution that he works for and has huge editorial input into (THE NEW REPUBLIC) has routinely been "busted" over the last 10 years for huge infractions that call into questions his journalistic integrity.

Since 1998, there has been THREE major incidents (Steven Glass, Ruth Shalit and Scott Thomas Beauchamp) of repeated plagiarism, out-right fabrications and incompetent and/or inadequate fact-checking. Those are the CARDINAL sins of the journalism, on par with "game-fixing" in the NFL.

1 (or possibly 2) incidents over that span might be considered "isolated", 3 cannot be considered anything but institutionalized journalistic fraud, and Easterbrook is very high in the institution.

How he gets ANY credibility or traction as the morality police is WAAAAAAY beyond me.

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Patroit_in_NY is now Patriot_in_ABQ

Patsfanin Philly

for the record, NJ State Troopers were carrying M16s (or similar weapons) on opening day at the Meadowlands at the press and players entrance. It got the point across quite clearly that if you didn't have the proper credentials, you were not getting in....

Grogan's neck roll

I had been a Gregg Easterbrook fan but over the past couple of years have seen more inconsistencies and contradictions from him that made me less of a fan. His position on this topic reminds me of Pierre Salinger's claims about flight 800 that it was brought down by friendly fire, and despite all evidence to the contrary, he never let it go.

I suspect we can expect the same from GE.

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ClevTrev

Simple question: Why would anyone sound of mind believe anything out of Easterbrook especially while appearing on Felger's show????

No one knows what was on those tapes except for a small contingent in the Patriots' organization, and they're not talking.

Case closed, please!!!

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Denzera

The tragedy of all of this is that Gregg Easterbrook is legitimately one of the best football writers in the business. He actually loves the game of football played between the lines (as opposed to all the personality-driven melodrama off the field), and routinely has insightful commentary on what happened on particular plays. Basically, when he sticks to actual football, I actually learn something from reading his articles, something I can't say about very many writers out there.

Look, the guy's not antisemitic. He phrased something very very poorly in one article 4 years ago, and the alternative meaning was obvious. Basically, he was saying "Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein are both jewish. Given the recent european history of the jewish people, you'd think they would both be more sensitive about a movie that glorifies killing like Kill Bill". But in between those two sentences, he got into "pursuit of money" as a theme, and since he had just brought up the ethnic background of the executives, it sounded real bad.

I'm sympathetic. On another (very different) forum, I once mentioned how you have to be careful trying to meet girls in NYC, because so many of them are jewish (and thus not actually interested in my goy ass). But I phrased it poorly, and got hounded as an antisemite (despite living with two jewish roommates). People are waaaaaaay too quick to pull out the racist / antisemitic cards - and this is true everywhere.

The guy goes to a joint Christian-Jewish congregation. He's not an anti-semite. If you need to hate him, hate him for the anti-Patriots stuff that he's taking way too far. Hate him for his columns being 15,000 words. But there's no need to get on him for racist stuff.

PonyExpress

Welcome aboard Denzera. I think there is alot of wisdom in what you say. The problem with Easterbrook is he has been overzealous to the point of lunacy in pursuing this issue, and in the process is smearing many hundreds of honest people. As far as his offensive comments in the past; I believe he has apologized earnestly for those, and IMO it shows a lack of compassion to brand someone with so heinous a term after sincere contrition. I disagree about his football knowledge and his abilities as a writer.

PatsFan37

Agreed on both points.

JoeSixPat

Seeing as how a scout with digital video recording capable binoculars in the stands can accomplish the same thing that a conspicuous team employee can achieve on the sidelines - though without anyone knowing, it seems clear to me now what BB's motivation was in the so called "spygate" scandal

Quite simply - he wants to intimidate other teams' coaches and coordinators - letting them know he's watching and causing them to second guess calls or go to great lenghts to disguise them

THAT's the competitive advantage Belichick gains - and is the only thing that explains why he would video play calls conspicously when he could easilly do so covertly.

Brady'sButtBoy

1) Easterbrook has not written anti-semitic pieces. Unlike so many posting here, I have read his work consistently for years. What's so ironic about the knee jerk comdemnations ( both unfounded and, even more sadly, unobserved) is many of these same posters regularly complain about politically correct writing/speaking etc. TMQ challenged the status quo, asked hard (read: politically incorrect) questions of a movie industry that so many of these same kind of posters/pundits scorn for their un-American attitudes! Thus these charges of anti-semitism become even more ironic and sad...

2) Easterbrook is not a Patriots hater. This idea is just more junk spread by the uniformed. But hey, why bother finding out what someone really has to say when they can easily be crammed into a conveniently negative pigeonhole?

3) I think the NFL over did on the penalty - a first round draft pick seems an insanely painful penalty even if the Pats did film dozens of games. Losing such a pick could affect a franchise for a decade or more. Goodell obviously is aware of the dire consequences of losing such a pick, thus it's logical to assume he found a crime commensurate with the penalty. Easterbrook (TMQ) wants more details on why the NFL would levy the most severe punishment they ever have - don't you? He proceeded on the basis that the NFL front offices can be trusted, this was based on personal experience as well as reputation. So when the NFL came down so hard on the Pats but wouldn't show the evidence he became suspicious more damaging facts were being hidden. Hardly the thought process of an idiot, or worse, that he's been called here.

4) The dude loves football and is possibly the most widely read football column in the WORLD. He didn't crawl back to ESPN, they called him back and showed him the money. And possibly the most pathetic criticism I've read here of TMQ regards his regular recognition of the NFL (or pro and college football in general) cheerleaders. Why would owners spend a dime on cheer squads unless the response by fans has been positive? Our very own Pats have a cheer squad full of beautiful women (ah, how many knew the TMQ actually takes the time to note the personal and intellectual accomplishments of the cheer babes he mentions) that are so popular the team foots the bill for a yearly photo shoot for a hot selling calendar.

5) Easterbrook is so patently self-effacing that anyone calling him self-important has managed to miss his obvious and constant playful skewering of the bombastic NFL culture including everyone from players, owners, coaches, writers, pundits, and yes, even fans.

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BradyManny

LOL!! Did you seriously pull the equivalent to "I'm not racist, I have plenty of black friends" thing?? Damn man. I'm honestly not calling you an anti-semite, but seriously - you might want to let that 1970s-ish cliche drop if you want to avoid future trouble from more PC crowds.

As for Easterbrook, maybe I don't know enough about the guy. As I said, until a week ago, I had no idea who this clown was. All I know is everything I've read about him since points to him being a lunatic. Things start to add up and you can get a sense of who the guy is.