Great Article - In Defense of Robert Kraft

JR4 said:

What is the purpose of going to court? To get Patriots good name back by winning the case?
Won't work. The people reporting it still hate the PATS and you can bet any article reporting the
victory will come out with "PATRIOTS GET AWAY WITH VIOLATING THE RULES" or something
similar.
And if they lose the case ....

This is, unfortunately, a NO WIN situation of us.

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No, it is a win for the fans, knowing that the owner stuck it out and proclaimed innocence and tried everything possible to have the NFL's finding thrown out.

JR4 said:

What is the purpose of going to court? To get Patriots good name back by winning the case?
Won't work. The people reporting it still hate the PATS and you can bet any article reporting the
victory will come out with "PATRIOTS GET AWAY WITH VIOLATING THE RULES" or something
similar.
And if they lose the case ....

This is, unfortunately, a NO WIN situation of us.

Click to expand...

I could care less about perception, because I know they don't believe they're cheaters, it just sells newspapers (so to speak) and it's easier than the underlying truth that the Patriots are the best team the NFL has seen in a long time. That being said I only care about the damn draft picks and the league getting away with this. Could care less if other fans and the media want to call them cheaters.

JR4 said:

What is the purpose of going to court? To get Patriots good name back by winning the case?
Won't work. The people reporting it still hate the PATS and you can bet any article reporting the
victory will come out with "PATRIOTS GET AWAY WITH VIOLATING THE RULES" or something
similar.
And if they lose the case ....

This is, unfortunately, a NO WIN situation for us.

Click to expand...

You won't admit the more likely scenario to yourself.

Kraft is fine with having 'his' team take a beating - because it helps the NFL as a whole - something he benefits a great deal more from than his New England affiliation.

I hope you never raised your children with such a defeatist attitude towards bullying and cowardice,

JR4 said:

Man you need to re-read that or you are deliberately trying to mislead us.
What you have done is taken a phrase out of context which is pretext.
He was trying to make a point about the assertion people make saying "the Pats aren’t innocent".
Re-read.

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I understand his pt of view. Let me re-phrase it then; he's presuming the Pats aren't innocent (in the public's eye) and therefore, justifying Kraft's position (to not battle it out) largely from that perspective.

RI Patriots fan said:

Terrible article. The coward quit on us to save his money and his relationship with his true team...the other owners.

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You sir, are wrong as wrong can be. Why did you read the article? I warned you if you had a closed mind
about this it wouldn't help. Mr Kraft is no coward but you are hiding behind anonymity degrading a man
who has done so much for this organization and not trusting him when the chips are down.

Ok, fine, but now I'd like to see Rich Levine (or anyone) do an article on Roger Goodell. Let's analyze Roger's role in all this....his "good intentions", demonstrated behavior, condoning of a sting, allowing false accusations to shape public opinion, and orchestrating leaks to the media to foment scorn against a single team. Does that look like leadership? Does that demonstrate his loyalty to the 32 teams as a whole? Is that protecting the NFL brand? No. It looks more like an agenda...an agenda driven by an imperative to achieve parity at all costs, to spread the "wealth" around to all the owners, to achieve a "new order" in the NFL. And Roger knows he'll get a free pass while sitting in that ivory tower of his, because he can harness the winds of 31 owners' expectations, and the sentiments of 31 fanbases, in his favor.

Perception is reality, and the reality is that Kraft chose the league over his quarterback, coach and fans.

It is not about what people think. It is about fighting for what is right: a level playing field and due process. The author amazingly equates guilt with the perception of guilt, but these are not the same. The NFL extorted penalties from Kraft that will have the Patriots playing at a competitive disadvantage. Kraft's capitulation is not okay merely because you speculate what some people might think about the team or because the alternative is expensive (nevermind that Kraft is well armed in this regard). And it is not about the price, because once you pay extortion you declare yourself forever vulnerable to escalating costs. In the end, this was about the underlying corruption of the NFL and Kraft's support of and participation in it.

Meh......not impressed. Quite pathetic actually. If Kraft truly believes the Pats are innocent, but capitulated for the reasons Levine states then it just proves what all the naysayers of Kraft have been saying all along. I know it's very cliche, but I believe it really applies here. The truth will set you free. In the long run, the real integrity of the league will be saved if Kraft went forward and made people question the real motives and the process. The other 31 owners may not like what it does to the league, but they could find themselves on the receiving end of a similar witch hunt in the future and they have already been damned.

What if George Washington had listened to a lot of his supporters telling him to retain the power of the presidency beyond 2 terms because the country needed a strong leader, but Washington proved to be the smarter and better man by setting the precedence and giving the young republic a chance to truly stand on it's own two feet? Where would we be as a country if Washington was as spineless as Kraft appears to be?

livinginthe past said:

You won't admit the more likely scenario to yourself.

Kraft is fine with having 'his' team take a beating - because it helps the NFL as a whole - something he benefits a great deal more from than his New England affiliation.

I hope you never raised your children with such a defeatist attitude towards bullying and cowardice,

Click to expand...

I guess you raise your children to fight back even if means hurting people you love so you can
get what you want.
You know, sometimes we have to suffer injustice so that others won't be hurt or achieve a higher purpose.
Jesus like action.

JR4 said:

You sir, are wrong as wrong can be. Why did you read the article? I warned you if you had a closed mind
about this it wouldn't help. Mr Kraft is no coward but you are hiding behind anonymity degrading a man
who has done so much for this organization and not trusting him when the chips are down.

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I'd say it right to his face. But I call them like I see them. I see a man who said that he wanted to stand behind his team and QB. A man who said he wanted an apology after no hard evidence was found. That same man got up on that podium looking like a beaten dog and sold out the fans and his QB by accepting that unjust punishment for the "good of the league".

If you want to be a Kraft sycophant...go right ahead. But I know what I saw and I'd gladly tell him to his face.

JR4 said:

I guess you raise your children to fight back even if means hurting people you love so you can
get what you want.
You know, sometimes we have to suffer injustice so that others won't be hurt or achieve a higher purpose.
Jesus like action.

Click to expand...

Didn't Neville Chamberlain try that with Germany? Look how that worked out for him. There are some fights worth fighting and some that aren't. I believe Kraft needed to fight this one.

RI Patriots fan said:

I'd say it right to his face. But I call them like I see them. I see a man who said that he wanted to stand behind his team and QB. A man who said he wanted an apology after no hard evidence was found. That same man got up on that podium looking like a beaten dog and sold out the fans and his QB by accepting that unjust punishment for the "good of the league".

If you want to be a Kraft sycophant...go right ahead. But I know what I saw and I'd gladly tell him to his face.

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"That same man got up on that podium looking like ..."
Like a downheart man after coming to the unbearable realization that He, his Patriots and Patriots Fans are in a no Win situation. This could also be what his demeanor displayed.
You want to think negative then that's what you get .... even if you are wrong.

JR4 said:

If you have a closed mind about Kraft's actions and still deeply hurt
then this article will probably not help you. But if you're open to consider what motivated
Mr. Kraft this article may help you understand the dilemma Mr Kraft faced and why
facing the potential outcomes he took the action that has hurt us all deeply.
By the way if you think Mr Kraft is not hurting , you're dead wrong. He probably hurts
more than any of us.

Rich Levine has done a great job with helping us to understand the situation.
http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/in-defense-of-robert-kraft-and-the-new-england-patriots

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Your still a troll and maybe worse. In my mind your narrative closely follows a CIA psyops narrative. So go back to your masters and take your punishment for failing.

JR4 said:

"That same man got up on that podium looking like ..."
Like a downheart man after coming to the unbearable realization that He, his Patriots and Patriots Fans are in a no Win situation. This could also be what his demeanor displayed.
You want to think negative then that's what you get .... even if you are wrong.

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"Winners" don't quit in the face of long odds especially when it involves a fight against injustice. That's something you don't seem to understand.
Do you honestly think he didn't understand his chances of "winning" before he went to the owner's meeting? Don't you think he has lawyers that advise him? Before the meeting, he was calling out for an apology and setting up websites in defense of his team.
He gets to the meeting and that all changes....180 degrees. He chose the league over the defense of the integrity of his team and his QB. That's the reality.

The article presumes that the Patriots are guilty. If that presumption were true it would make sense. So then the question has to be - what did Goodell tell Kraft during the birthday party to convince him to flip 180 degrees. Did he convince Kraft that the Patriots were guilty after all and his best way out was to just accept the punishment?

I find that hard to believe. Kraft is an idiot if he thinks saying 'I reluctantly accept the fines' means people will believe that he still thinks the Patriots are innocent but 'doing the best thing for the league'. If anything it affirms to the public at large - we done it, we'll take the penalties, NFL. Or maybe Kraft has actually lost faith in Brady and/or just plain chickened out at the thought of opposing Goodell and the other 31 owners. To me the latter is the more convincing narrative.

It reads like 10 pounds of **** in a 5 pound bag to me.

A no win situation, except that we would go down in flames protecting our honor. Our owner would have acted consistently. Robert Kraft basically made an admission of guilt and a public declaration of his spinelessness. Even if the other 31 owners would not be 'pleased' by a Patriots appeal of the punishment, what the hell could they have done to him, not invite him to their VIP parties? He cared more about his popularity with the other owners than the honor of his own franchise!

And who knows things get crazy once you get into court, what if we win the appeal and get draft picks back? If we didn't draft Wilfork with that 1st rounder in 2001, do we go on to win the superbowls in 2004 and 2014? Robert Kraft lay down and he deserves all the contempt and fallout he will get for his cowardly actions.

JR4 said:

What is the purpose of going to court? To get Patriots good name back by winning the case?
Won't work. The people reporting it still hate the PATS and you can bet any article reporting the
victory will come out with "PATRIOTS GET AWAY WITH VIOLATING THE RULES" or something
similar.
And if they lose the case ....

This is, unfortunately, a NO WIN situation for us.

Click to expand...

Good press is what the coward wanted after spending 4 months crying. and biting his pillow cause media didnt like him and his F*****g crappy wanna be sneakers.

Hey, OP
How much does Gillette stadium pay you to troll online forums?