Mr Kraft, The Time has Come To Ask: Whose Side Are You On?

The following rant by a long-time journalist in the nation's biggest sport channel is one of the reasons Mr. Kraft. as the owner of a fantastic and popular team (that was smeared by allegations and zero facts a few years back), should, IMO, give a strong statement.

"“The Patriots franchise is on probation as far as I’m concerned, from Spygate,” Wilbon said on Monday’s show, according to Boston.com. “If you’re a cheater, and you’re a multiple time cheater, I would say to the New England Patriots, ‘You know what we’re going to do? If this is found to be true, like today, tomorrow, the next 72 hours, the next three days, you know what? You’re forfeiting your spot in the Super Bowl. We’re vacating it. Get out! You’re a cheater, you’re a lying franchise.'”

Source: http://nesn.com/2015/01/michael-wil...ose-super-bowl-spot-if-guilty-in-deflategate/

The last line above summarizes both the rabid howls of the haters and the suspicion of many non-Pats fans.

Certainly understand if Mr. Kraft wants to wait a day or two to see if the league gets its act together, but beyond that is sheer folly to allow such an open rape of our name and reputation.

AndyJohnson said:

I hate this victim identity where fans think the league is out to get us.

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The league isn't out to get us, but they are run by people who aren't very good at what they do (or anything), and their incompetency & self-interest has affected us. Kraft's mistake in '07 was to defer to the league, but he learned then, the league doesn't care about the Patriots image, only its own.

BradyManny said:

Me, you, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady - we can ignore the accusations and pretend to live in a world where image doesn't matter. That's fine. Like I said yesterday, there are no ****s left in me to give about this situation from that standpoint. If anything, I take pride in watching stupid people make excuses for lesser teams.

It's become fun being the guys everyone wants to hate. I'm finding ball-gate particularly entertaining of all the ludicrous things thrown our way.

But Robert Kraft, as owner of the New England Patriots, can be concerned about a tremendous amount of negative press written about the integrity of his team. He shouldn't be showing respect to people who don't deserve it, and not even saying anything is showing too much respect. Even an "I'm not going to acknowledge it, wait until the facts come out, these articles are stupid and baseless." - he needs to be above it all.

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Why would he publicly go out and say he will wait for the facts of an investigation to come out before he comments on the investigation? He is saying that by not dignifying it with a statement.

Remember, no one in authority has accused the Patriots of anything.
Its lame media and social media making up charges without facts to do so with.
Should he take to Twitter? Create a MyFace? Write and editorial? Or seriously hold a press conference to address that fans of others teams are being mean by calling him a cheater?

NYCPatsFan said:

The following rant by a long-time journalist in the nation's biggest sport channel is one of the reasons Mr. Kraft. as the owner of a fantastic and popular team (that was smeared by allegations and zero facts a few years back), should, IMO, give a strong statement.

"“The Patriots franchise is on probation as far as I’m concerned, from Spygate,” Wilbon said on Monday’s show, according to Boston.com. “If you’re a cheater, and you’re a multiple time cheater, I would say to the New England Patriots, ‘You know what we’re going to do? If this is found to be true, like today, tomorrow, the next 72 hours, the next three days, you know what? You’re forfeiting your spot in the Super Bowl. We’re vacating it. Get out! You’re a cheater, you’re a lying franchise.'”

Source: http://nesn.com/2015/01/michael-wil...ose-super-bowl-spot-if-guilty-in-deflategate/

The last line above summarizes both the rabid howls of the haters and the suspicion of many non-Pats fans.

Certainly understand if Mr. Kraft wants to wait a day or two to see if the league gets its act together, but beyond that is sheer folly to allow such an open rape of our name and reputation.

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What would you suggest he do?

AndyJohnson said:

Why would he publicly go out and say he will wait for the facts of an investigation to come out before he comments on the investigation? He is saying that by not dignifying it with a statement.

Remember, no one in authority has accused the Patriots of anything.
Its lame media and social media making up charges without facts to do so with.
Should he take to Twitter? Create a MyFace? Write and editorial? Or seriously hold a press conference to address that fans of others teams are being mean by calling him a cheater?

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I'm sure it would not be hard for Bob Kraft to get his word out if he wanted to. AJ, unfortunately both you & Rob live in a world where you expect people to be as rational as you are. This is not the world we live in.

Unfortunately, in our society, not dignifying something with a response means to them that you are guilty. Coming out and saying you won't dignify something with a response means you won't dignify something with a response. It's unfortunate that people are this stupid - but this is the world we live in.

Like I said - its not Bill's problem or Tom's problem to try to deal with stupid, irrational people (aka, the world, on average). But Bob Kraft as a businessman and owner DOES have that problem.

BradyManny said:

The league isn't out to get us, but they are run by people who aren't very good at what they do (or anything), and their incompetency & self-interest has affected us. Kraft's mistake in '07 was to defer to the league, but he learned then, the league doesn't care about the Patriots image, only its own.

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The league cares about the Patriots image as much as it does the other 31 and naturally less than it does the league as a whole.
I'm saying 'Goodell is out to get us" is ridiculous.

AndyJohnson said:

The league cares about the Patriots image as much as it does the other 31 and naturally less than it does the league as a whole.
I'm saying 'Goodell is out to get us" is ridiculous.

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Sure. But "Goodell is an idiot and the Patriots have been harmed because of it" is a fact. What difference does it make if the end-result is our idiot commissioner, who was never qualified for the position to begin with and doesn't even have the intellect to handle the role, botches every situation we are involved in.

BradyManny said:

I'm sure it would not be hard for Bob Kraft to get his word out if he wanted to. AJ, unfortunately both you & Rob live in a world where you expect people to be as rational as you are. This is not the world we live in. Unfortunately, in our society, not dignifying something with a response means you are guilty. Saying you won't dignify something with a response means you won't dignify something with a response.

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In whose eyes? Do you really care that a bunch of idiots are jumping the gun and lynching us without facts when the facts will ultimately come out and they will look stupid? I don't.
Who thinks we are guilty that matters to you? My list is vacant.

Like I said - its not Bill's problem or Tom's problem to try to deal with stupid, irrational people (aka, the world, on average). But Bob Kraft as a businessman and owner DOES have that problem.

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And he is dealing with it by not stooping to their level.
Do we need additional articles directed at Kraft being a liar?
Can't you see that Kraft making a statement isn't going to affect anyone who has us guilty until proven innocent, and it will only create a new round of rhetoric and whining about his role in condoning it?

BradyManny said:

Sure. But "Goodell is an idiot and the Patriots have been harmed because of it" is a fact. What difference does it make if the end-result is our idiot commissioner, who was never qualified for the position to begin with and doesn't even have the intellect to handle the role, botches every situation we are involved in.

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It makes a tremendous difference to the point I brought it up in response to, which was the league is biased against us and is out to get us.

AndyJohnson said:

In whose eyes? Do you really care that a bunch of idiots are jumping the gun and lynching us without facts when the facts will ultimately come out and they will look stupid?

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I wouldn't assume they will look stupid - people's first reaction, for better or worse...well, mostly worse, is the one that sticks. Look at Spygate. Any rational person should accept that what the Patriots did was not a factor in their success before they were caught, yet, on average, people do not. Because, on average, people are stupid, and make their minds up without the facts.

There's no mea culpas nowadays, especially not in the media. Being wrong doesn't matter.

I don't.
Who thinks we are guilty that matters to you? My list is vacant.

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Mine is, too.

And he is dealing with it by not stooping to their level.

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I don't think he is - I think its a poor PR plan to at least not explain he's not stooping to their level. I'm telling you, you have to be that literal these days, in a world where communication happens so rapidly - the burden to speak is quicker and faster. Kraft does not operate in a realm where truth & fact even matter. He does have to factor these things into consideration.

Do we need additional articles directed at Kraft being a liar?
Can't you see that Kraft making a statement isn't going to affect anyone who has us guilty until proven innocent, and it will only create a new round of rhetoric and whining about his role in condoning it?

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This is a fair point. I hadn't thought of it that way, and certainly something to consider.

BradyManny said:

The league isn't out to get us, but they are run by people who aren't very good at what they do (or anything), and their incompetency & self-interest has affected us. Kraft's mistake in '07 was to defer to the league, but he learned then, the league doesn't care about the Patriots image, only its own.

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I hope you are right that Bob Kraft learned his lesson, but what evidence do you have to support that claim?

He hasn't responded to the heavy handed treatent the Pats got for Spygate and hasn't said anything about Deflategate.

In fact, his lack of a forceful response is what led to this thread being created.

The Gr8est said:

I hope you are right that Bob Kraft learned his lesson, but what evidence do you have to support that claim?

He hasn't responded to the heavy handed treatent the Pats got for Spygate and hasn't said anything about Deflategate.

In fact, his lack of a forceful response is what led to this thread being created.

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His response to the Hernandez situation was perfect in every way. But, I don't think that response was informed as much by the whole Spygate thing as it was Kraft's principles.

Can you two get a private room, I'm trying to read a thread here.

BradyManny said:

They are laying credence to it by taking it seriously to this point. Again, the only person with the appropriate response was Brady, and that's because we were fortunate enough to hear his unfiltered reaction to the news.

What does it hurt for Kraft to similarly dismiss this as BS?

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Because what made Brady's response perfect was that he was totally dismissive of it. You can't hold a press conference or issue a statement on something and then be dismissive. It just doesn't work. These people are being silly about this.

BradyManny said:

I wouldn't assume they will look stupid - people's first reaction, for better or worse...well, mostly worse, is the one that sticks. Look at Spygate. Any rational person should accept that what the Patriots did was not a factor in their success before they were caught, yet, on average, people do not. Because, on average, people are stupid, and make their minds up without the facts.

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I think you need to consider people who matter and people who don't and people who have an agenda.
No matter what happened with Spygate, 95% of Patriots fans would have worked hard to understand the facts and look deeper than the rhetoric. Those with an agenda to sensationalize and sell papers (or clicks) report to the public and don't care about the details, just the story that will sell.
A lot of people are complaining that 'Spygate wont die". To whom? Anyone talking about spygate now would be talking about it no matter what happened. And they do not matter. Krafts business is not adversly affected if Steeler fans think he is scum. Patriot fans have come to terms with it, and I don't think it cost Kraft a nickel. I seriously doubt Kraft worries what people in Detroit say on twitter about his team.

Mine is, too.

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Then who is Kraft going to speak to? Who's opinion do we care he tries to influence?

I don't think he is - I think its a poor PR level to at least not explain he's not stooping to their level. I'm telling you, you have to be that literal these days, in a world where communication happens so rapidly - the burden to speak is quicker and faster. Kraft does not operate in a realm where truth & fact even matter. He does have to factor these things into consideration.

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So he should say "For everyone out there accusing us of things before any facts are known, I wanted to get up here before any facts are known and say I'm not stooping to your level. Thanks I just wanted to go public that I think your public comments are premature". Kinda silly huh?

This is a fair point. I hadn't thought of it that way, and certainly something to consider.

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Thats the crux of it. The morons are circling like sharks. Why would Kraft chum the water?

BSR said:

Because what made Brady's response perfect was that he was totally dismissive of it. You can't hold a press conference or issue a statement on something and then be dismissive. It just doesn't work. These people are being silly about this.

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Kraft could release a statement on patriots.com to the effect, or grab the ear of a beat guy to filter that statement. It's not silly, he could get the message out there any which way. Sitting on his hands isn't helping his brand.

I can see @AndyJohnson's point that there may be no practical way to help the brand in this situation - without the facts simply coming out. Granted, I think its debatable.

I hope the patriots turn the superbowl into a statement game. absolutely destroy the seahawks and run the score up, so that after the game BB can say "I'm excited to see what sort of cheating scandal you guys are going to make up, probably something about using cheat codes"

AndyJohnson said:

I seriously doubt Kraft worries what people in Detroit say on twitter about his team.

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Ideally, shouldn't he though? Those are people who could be buying Patriots uniforms, supporting the New England Patriots. Very few fan bases in the country have loyal fans and/or teams worth rooting for. Isn't Kraft in the market for any football fans looking for a team bandwagon to hop on? Isn't that good business?

Thats the crux of it. The morons are circling like sharks. Why would Kraft chum the water?

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Because I'm not sure he can afford not to. It's part of his job, unfortunately. But, you might be right that he can only do more harm than good. I'm not sure if I agree, yet, but I do think it's a valid point that it might be pissing in the wind either way.

BradyManny said:

Kraft could release a statement on patriots.com to the effect, or grab the ear of a beat guy to filter that statement. It's not silly, he could get the message out there any which way. Sitting on his hands isn't helping his brand.

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What would that accomplish?
Do you really think a statement by Bob Kraft is going to affect anyone's opinion on this at all?
If you think the Pats are scum, you will dismiss it.
If you think the Pats did not wrong, you will not be moved.
If you are in the middle and waiting for facts, you will dismiss it as non-factual.

Other than fans wanting to feel their big brother threatened the bully, what is the point?

Krafty Bob should go to one of his stooges in the national media, whoever that may be - and get them to write a piece discrediting "deflategate". They've done it before when they were receiving bad press - aftermath of Mankins & Seymour trades, aftermath of letting Welker go, etc.
My worry is the silence from Belichick and the organization. I don't doubt that Belichick would "****" around with the air in the footballs, coach communication, etc., to give his team an advantage. But where he fails is the pr department. His answers after "deflategate" were not good, especially from a fan's point of view. Why not say, "that is absolutely ridiculous" or simply flat out deny it? I actually think they're going to get nailed here - why else would he make such neutral comments?
It really sucks that just about EVERY time this team wins a big game there's some sort of controversy after it.