Yeah, by doing a lot of legwork researching articles and by asking intelligent questions at press conferences, he has developed contacts within the organization. What a bonehead. He should be out there trying to spin situations into controversial stuff, trying to say anything negative he can like the rest of the so-called Boston media, then whine when no one in the organization will talk to him.
Reiss' "contacts" within the organization are the Pats' media + public relations reps. Their job is to control the flow of information to the press -- they don't talk to Reiss because of his "legwork" or "intelligent questions," they talk to him because a) he's the beat writer for the biggest paper in town and b) because he writes what they want, and doesn't try to dig around for information the Pats' FO doesn't want released.
When was the last time that Reiss used any source other than official word from the team's FO? When was the last time Reiss broke any news that he didn't read off a press release? Accepting the word at face value of the subject you're covering, all the time, isn't journalism.
I'll take Reiss and Curran any day of the week ahaed of the other jokers. There is no unjust praise from them, only unjust and ignorant whining.
Reiss was fantastic at MetroWest, Curran equally so at ProJo. Reiss's Peices is the best sports blog going.
Stop carping and give credit where it is due, instead of your Tomase-Felger-Gresh-Borges lovefest.
I agree with your about Curran. He was great -- I'm happy for him that he's gone national, but I miss him in the local market. Reiss? I think his blog provides Pats fans with an invaluable service, and I appreciate his dedication and hard work -- I just think it would be more honest if he worked for the Pats' official website, and Kraft signed his checks.
As for your comments about my supposed lovefest with Tomase, Felger, Gresh and Borges -- what a sleazy, cheap rhetorical ploy on your part. Is there any truth to the notion that if I don't like Reiss, I obviously must love muckracking hacks like Felger and a bitter, angry troll like Borges whose spent the last five years of his career writing one big hatchet job against the greatest coach the Pats have ever had... right?
Wrong. Sorry to spoil your attempt at "guild by association" but, unlike some, I don't see it in simple, zero-sum terms where anyone who says only good things is "good" and anyone who dares to report bad things is "bad." There have been plenty of Pats beat writers who managed to maintain editorial independence -- Curran and Michael Smith spring to mind.
You are condemning Reiss for having information that Tomase did not have. Tomase said he had no idea how this would affect the season and you call this terrific investigatinve reporting. Reiss says it will not affect the season and you complain that he should have asked them why don't they tell him if Maroney will be able to play when that is what they just told him? It is not asking stupid questions like this that makes the FO think he has a brain. Sure, Tomase (or Felger) would have asked exactly this questions.
Investigative reporting? Hah. Reiss wouldn't have heard about Maroney's surgery if Tomase hadn't broken the story, and he didn't "investigate" anything. He called up the FO, was told "yeah, he had surgery, but everything's fine" and he accepted it at face value. A real reporter would have asked what informs the Pats' expectations about Maroney's 2007 season. What king of injury was it? What kind of surgery? This would provide actual information. The reporter could then put it in perspective with other players who've suffered similar injuries, and talk to doctors about the prognosis. Tomase would have asked these questions -- Reiss just printed the team's empty, informationless reassurance.
You don't like Reiss. Fine. Tomase saw Moroney in a sling before Reiss did. Cool. But that don't make Tomase great. The Patriots give out almost no information about injuries. They didn't have to give out anything at all except to say Maroney is day-to-day.
We finally have a reporter with enough cache to get some tidbits out of them. Stop your friggin' whining and say thanks.
I know the Pats don't like to give out information about injuries... but between Tomase + Reiss, who do you think forces them to tell us the little they do? You do realize that if someone besides Reiss hadn't broken the stories, we'd have no idea about Chad Jackson's ACL or Maroney's shoulder? You think it's Reiss' "cache" that made the Pats cop to either of these things?
That's a laugh. Tomase got the story, ran with it to put it out there, forcing the Pats' to 'fess up and put out their own spin. The only Reiss gets a "tidbit" like this is because Tomase forced the Pats hand in the first place.
