arrellbee

The Herald may well have pushed this whole terrible sequence of reprehensible newspaper actions to the breaking point where the Patriots have been put into a situation where they will feel that they have to sue the Herald.

Tomase's original article could never be realistically challenged with a lawsuit.

The Herald's "apology" edition on Wednesday actually came across, I think many folks appear to feel, as a somewhat hollow pro forma admission without a whole lot of heartfelt sincerity. If you have listened to Jonathon Kraft's appearance on WEEI, you heard him totally avoid any comment about whether the 'apology' was substantial - all he would say is what I would paraphrase as - the Patriots 'appreciated' that the Herald printed the 'apology'.

But certainly the 'apology' didn't make the situation any worse.

So what happens next begins to cause some real problems. On Thursday you get the Herald now jumping with all four feet on the theme that "Not so fast, Pats". However else the Herald is handling their original reprehensible exercise of journalism, this makes it obvious that they are really still intending to jump all over the Patriots however and whenever possible. This has got to start making the Krafts pretty irritated.

And, now to show how much they hate the Patriots, on Thursday the Herald has mouthpiece Tony Massarotti come out with his rant and tirade badmouthing the Patriots in about as nasty a fashion as I can imagine. You could imagine how at this points the Krafts might really be getting angry at the Herald in a pretty personal manner.

Now comes Tomase's Friday article - in which the paper publishes in black and white complete testimony that they were completely irresponsible in publishing Tomase's article before the superbowl. I cannot even begin to fathom the insolent arrogance and ultimate stupidity of publishing what amounts to a complete confession that they acted in a manner for which they can be appropriately sued. Do they think because the Patriots have been very forebearing and not sued them up to this point that they can now just rub their venom in the Patriot's face with impunity ?

One of what seems to me to be the hallmarks of how the Patriots run their business is that they seem to consciously and deliberately try to do everything they can to figure out and act on things that they can do to make the organization better and more successful. They do everything they are supposed to do in running their business.

It seems to me that the Herald has now done so much irresponsible damage in their original article and now seems totally intent on doing as much more as they can to smear and ruin the Patriots image and product, that the Patriots may feel really compelled to address the issue head on and send a message to the Herald that they can't get away with this. There is a huge amount at stake for the Patriots in protecting the franchise.

So the tradeoff probably has to be made between what negative image might accrue from suing a media outlet versus what might be an even more negative image of allowing a newspaper to get away with irresponsible damage to a franchise business. Interestingly enough, the NFL and all of the other franchises might have a stake in standing up to irresponsible journalism. The Patriots may feel that it is actually their responsibility to send a message that media cannot run wild.

The decision probably has to be made very soon - a matter of no more than a few days. Delaying beyond that essentially sends the message to the Herald and consequently all other media that there are no consequences and no requirement for responsibility. That would be a horrible message to allow to stand.

Willie Andrews23

Great post and I think the answer is a big YES.

I also think that is why Tomase isn't really "apologizing" in the true sense of the word, but "explaining himself." If they admit too much, it would only help any future lawsuits.

Sean Pa Patriot

I think the Krafts wanted to see what he had to say, and when they see it, which If I were them , make them even more ticked... I would talk to the Herald, if you want to keep a relationship with us ,then he is not allowed to cover the team.. If they say no deal, then it could get ugly...

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We going to take it one game at a time

DarrylS

I think there has been some backdoor negotiations going on to avoid a lawsuit and the Wednesday BH front page as well as today's Tomase explanation may be part of the whole thing.. do not see why else the Herald would do this except to avoid a law suit.

There will be other things that occur, a token suspension, not allowing any Herald writers in the Pats locker room etc. and then a reassignment as part of the reparations process..

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

RayClay

I think fatso's explanation made it worse.

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Don_the_patfan

No they wont. Reason for that is if they do sue this will stay in the news and the NFL wants this gone. Why draw more attention to this? If they sue this will stay in the news and that is not what this organization needs. Attention needs to go back to football and not this. And that is the exact reason why they wont sue.

BSR

I dont' think either side wan't to go through a lawsuit as it would cause even more dirty laundry to be aired. Do we really want the events of that season replayed over and over again for the next four years while this case takes place? I don't.

That being said, the Herald seemed like it tried to make a concession by issuing an apology. That went a long way in my book until the Mazzarotti piece on Thursday. After that I wouldn't be satisfied until suspensions or terminations have happned. The Herald needs to realize that what they did was 100x worse then anything the Patriots were even rumured of doing. One involved the integrity of a football game. The other involved the integrity of a journalist. Which one is more important? Here is a hint, the basis of journalism rests on the notion of free speech which is protected by the Constitution. This isn't even a columnist failing to be objective in covering a topic. This is violation of the very basics of journalism and the Herald doesn't seem too concerned about it. The fact that they are not even fining Tomase is absolutely shocking to me and essentially means that they condoned his process.

Given the Heralds vote of confidence for Tomase and his process I have no idea why anyone would read the paper when the information inside it can be called into question. The next time you read a scoop in the Herald will you not ask "Do they really have a source or is it all rumor?" or "How much did they really fact check this?". Its absolutely frightening that a major new source would have such a low standard. And from all accounts, Tomase is one of the better reports they have! What does that say about the rest of them?

shmessy

I disagree.

Those Duke Lacrosse players got public vindication by making sure Mike Nilfong was disbarred and bankrupted.

If they merely accepted an "Here's where it went wrong" from Nilfong, the cloud would still be somewhat over their reputations.

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"They (Patriots) may be the greatest team ever" - Chris Mortenson, January 18, 2005 on espn.com

shmessy

That would be true if you were talking about the Seattle Seahawks or the Arizona Cardinals.

However, over the past 8 months, the Patriots organization has been the most investigated and scrutinized sports franchise in the history of sports (Hyperbole? Name me one other organization that has had it's laundry so examined nationally).

There is not much more for the Patriots to worry about exposing. It's like saying Madonna is worried about showing too much shoulder with a strapless gown.

The Herald and its parent corporation has far more to worry about in a discovery process.

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"They (Patriots) may be the greatest team ever" - Chris Mortenson, January 18, 2005 on espn.com

TheGodInAGreyHoodie

Doubtful, what Tomase did was negligent, but not reckless.