Waging War on Pats

[PatriotsReign]

Mr Easterbrook is the first reporter that comes to my mind regarding the proliferation of reporters who have abandoned their responsibility to REPORT THE NEWS and have waged their own personal war against the Patriots organization.

This obviously goes against the golden rule of reporting the facts and makes me wonder how these men & women can justify why they believe they are acting in a morally superior way than those whom they are accusing. It's just so hypocritical, it's making me sick!

Yes, I know scandal sells. But why are we seeing unconfirmed rumors and outright speculation on what the Patriots "may" have done? Why has the media closed their eyes to the FACT that stealing signals & video-taping has been a widespread practice for years? Why hasn't the fact that Jimmy Johnson even admitted to doing it himself gotten much publicity?

Finally, I have to ask the question; Do reporters (& fans) just want to see the Patriots fall (while wearing blinders to the reality of this practice)?

What I truly would LOVE to see happen is to have 1 or 2 reporters accuse their fellow peers of having a personal vendetta against the Pats and call them to the floor to explain themselves. But I'm sure it's a brotherhood and they watch each other's backs...because, who knows, someday they other guy might be able to get them on ESPN!!

Can anyone add any other names to the list of reporter with personal vendetta's against the Patriots organization? I'm bad with names and forget them within a minute of reading an article.

 

[Deus Irae]

... Seriously ...

 

[PatriotsReign]

... Seriously ...

Good pic...says it all right there!

So why do they keep writing the articles over & over again even though the horse is dead?

 

[njpatsfan]

Mr Easterbrook is the first reporter that comes to my mind regarding the proliferation of reporters who have abandoned their responsibility to REPORT THE NEWS and have waged their own personal war against the Patriots organization.

This obviously goes against the golden rule of reporting the facts and makes me wonder how these men & women can justify why they believe they are acting in a morally superior way than those whom they are accusing. It's just so hypocritical, it's making me sick!

Your just figuring out the media is biased now ? It has always been in my adult life.

If you took the words "Patriots organization" and instead substituted the words "the war in Iraq" or "Bush administration" the whole post would be just as true. The same biased, hypocritical Easterbook is commenting on football AND these things. The difference perhaps is that you are now seeing what it's like when you are on the wrong side of that bias.

One important difference today versus 20 years ago is that there are alternate information sources on the internet - you are no longer locked into the carefully filtered views of the 3 letter networks and dead-tree publications. And you can fight back.

R

 

[BigMike]

While PFT.COM exposed the story on Mangini whining to other coaches all last season about BB Video, more information is coming out about Woody Johnsons pathalogical hated/jealosy of Kraft and all things Patriot. So Woody seems bent on taking down Kraft, has the money to do it and might explain the steady NY press based attacks on the pats and BB personal life going back to last year.

 

[thomas144]

Why has the media closed their eyes to the FACT that stealing signals & video-taping has been a widespread practice for years? Why hasn't the fact that Jimmy Johnson even admitted to doing it himself gotten much publicity?

I think you may be making the same mistake that a lot of people in the media and in the general public seem to make, and that is confusing "stealing signals" with what the Patriots were caught doing, which was using a video camera to tape the opposing sideline. I think even the commissioner got a bit confused about this point.

Stealing signals is part of the game. You are SUPPOSED to try to figure out what your opponent is going to do.

But you're not allowed to use video cameras to record their signals. It's not an unreasonable restriction: I think it makes sense to put limits on what technology is allowable (one could not have the players ride motorcycles in the game for example), but where the line is drawn is somewhat arbitrary however. Polaroids yes, videotape no.

 

[PatriotsReign]

I think you may be making the same mistake that a lot of people in the media and in the general public seem to make, and that is confusing "stealing signals" with what the Patriots were caught doing, which was using a video camera to tape the opposing sideline. I think even the commissioner got a bit confused about this point.

Stealing signals is part of the game. You are SUPPOSED to try to figure out what your opponent is going to do.

But you're not allowed to use video cameras to record their signals. It's not an unreasonable restriction: I think it makes sense to put limits on what technology is allowable (one could not have the players ride motorcycles in the game for example), but where the line is drawn is somewhat arbitrary however. Polaroids yes, videotape no.

I guess you failed to read my point, "video-taping has been a widespread practice". Former coach Jimmy Johnson recently admited he did it. And other coaches have said it goes on all the time...that's my point.

And THAT is the point of the whole "witch-hunt" term I used to describe what the media has done. Besides, the Patriots admitted they were wrong, so it's done!

 

[Mainefan]

NJPatsFan, there has never been an objective reporter. Ever. And there never will be one. Reporters are human beings and they have their likes and dislikes, their prejudices and their favorites. They are human beings.

The best of the reporters are aware of their leanings and take some care not to let their personal feelings affect what they write. The best publications are also aware of this and work hard to avoid publishing biased reporting.

Some publications, in fact, are obsessed with objectivity, or as much of it as they can achieve. Reporters who can't deliver it are fired.

Sports reporting, however, is another story. Reporters' biases often show here, and are tolerated, because most of what they write is labeled as opinion anyway.

We get annoyed with those whose opinions differ from our own. And we celebrate those we agree with. We shouldn't be proud of either reaction. We should see the opinion pieces for what they are--the opinions of one person.

If they're wrong or unfair or stuck on something, their publics--and their editors--will let them know soon enough. Their credibility is all they have when when they overstep, they damage it. Enough damage and they disappear.

I happen to think Greg Easterwood has gone way overboard in his recent columns. He's forgotten a little piece of wisdom that Bill Simmons wrote: "Sports are the toy department of life."

Easterwood has made a superficial case for malfeasance and damage to a sport, but he has failed to deal with the central issues: Just what did the Patriots' actions actually mean on the field? How different were they really from what other teams did?

He thinks there's a Nixonian conspiracy here and what's at stake is nothing less than world peace. He's wrong on both cases. And in his acute frustration and high dudgeon, he's gone into JFK-assassination style analysis.

I hope for his sake that his rabies inoculations are current, because he if doesn't stop foaming at the mouth pretty soon, people are going to start laughing at him.

 

[AtivanPatsFan]

I'm no scientist or anything but hear me out:

Easterbrook gets a paycheck from ESPN. I'm sure he has some leniancy on the topics he can choose to write about, however, he still must get some type of "order" from the boss.

ESPN is in the business to make money, and as such, will do whatever it can to exactly that. In this case, they use a Page 2 column ( which is highly opioniated as is) to try and get some hits. They succeed. There was some 3000 comments on that first piece that GE wrote about. I can't imagine how many hits and links to the site it created.

Irregardless, it's his opinion. Let him have it, no matter how shallow it may be.

A good www.despair.com quote comes to mind: Elitism
"It's lonely at the top, but it's comforting to look down upon everyone at the bottom."