This means WAR.....or it should

September 8th is a day that will live in INFAMY, when BSPN at the behest of their league office overlords carried out a devastating sneak attack with the goal of destroying what was left of the franchise's reputation. They did it with the usual bombardment of half truths, misinformation, outright lies, and all kinds of speculative innuendo. The raid was done with the old carpet bombing technique of throwing so many lies at the Pats that the hope was some of them would stick in the public eye, even as they were debunked.

If Bob Kraft doesn't realize that he's in a fight for the right of his franchise to exist, then he doesn't deserve to own the team and he SHOULD be saddled with the financial losses that are coming. The timing of these "exposes" couldn't make it more clear where the real attack is coming from. BSPN has carried Goodell's water for 8 months now, embarrassing itself time after time, and that STILL didn't stop them.

The league office with the aid of the 31 owners are in the process of destroying what the Patriots have built over the last 20. This is unprecedented in any professional sport EVER, and it deserves an unprecedented response. Bob Kraft and Bill Bellichick created the most successful sports franchise in the history of sport. They did it by being smarter, working harder, and paying attention to the details better and more consistently than their counter parts. They created a system where hard working players were able to get the most out of their abilities, by being coached better, and playing as a team. No other team in professional sports history better optimized the concept where the sum was always greater than the individual parts.

Right now I feel horrible for all the players who have come in here and worked their butts off and sacrificed their individual stats, in order to create that 20 year legacy. Roger Goodell and his loser cronies have taken what they EARNED away today.....with malice of forethought, and malicious intentions. I cannot interpret what has occurred today ANY other way. It's WAR, and should be fought as one.

This or something like this should be published immediately. (its from another thread, but it needs to be said.

"The Patriots organization does not believe its a coincidence that ESPN suddenly came up with a program highlighting unsubstantiated inaccurate, and libelous allegations within days of Judge Berman's scathing rebuke of the League office policies and procedures. Quite frankly we are tired of this constant barrage of lies, misinformation and libel that has been spewed against our organization. As the season is about to begin we are going to concentrate our full effort in defending our title, so until it ends we will say nothing further.

However understand THIS. There will be a time, and it will happen soon, where those who have slandered and libeled this proud franchise, WILL be called to defend their statements in a court of law/ And be on call,. that we will watching very carefully to make sure the obvious bias that the league administration holds against the Patriots does NOT affect the product on the field or puts the Patriots at an unfair competitive advantage"

After that Jonathan needs to be the bull dog. He needs to set the wheels in motion for the libel/defamation suit against ESPN, etc. that he will file after the season. He needs to Al Davis the league and sue their asses off for Defamation that should be easy to win given the evidence so far. Their franchise HAS been Damaged financially. The perpetrators were malicious and knew before hand their evidence was either misleading or out right lies and half truths. Discovery would surely connect all the dots quite nicely. I mean WTF not. If someone is threatening your legacy you have the right to threaten a nuclear option. I think today's events have proven that no one in that ownership group has his back.

In the meantime he needs to organize the alumni and make them understand that its THEIR legacies that are being dragged in the mud with this slander. They need to speak out and debunk this crap whenever possible. That's right, That's you Rodney. That's you Tedy. That's YOU Willie, etc It's time you guys started to earn those red jackets

There is one thing we know for a certainty, if the team does not stand up and fight for themselves they will be mowed down like so much hay before the media onslaught that the NFL league office has shown it can muster. And, quite frankly, if they choose NOT to fight this and fight hard and stand up for themselves, I'll be hard pressed to figure out why the F**K I should care.

As pissed off as I am, I personally wouldn't feed into it with additional comments.

This is nothing more than an article containing unsubstantiated rumors about alleged cheating. We should be quite used to them by now. After all, we tend to see them about 2-3 times a year.

Continuing to address it in the press will do nothing but add fuel to the fire. All they did was rehash old information that's been going around for years.

I was mad but now just don't care. The season starts in less than 48 hours. We are witnessing true greatness and the hate and envy which come with it. It won't last forever so enjoy.

I'd rather Jonathan went on someone's show (Colin Cowherd maybe? Jay Mohr?) and just laughed it off with a "yeah, sure thing guys...keep crying" and then went along with the interview. They don't deserve a huge media push.

Honestly, this morning I was pissed. But this has got to be the death rattle of this story, E!SPN's last dying gasp at the 8 month "Patriots are bad!" ratings grab. They are literally rehashing speculation from almost a decade ago. How can this get any legs in the media? Deflategate I get, it was new and sexy. This OTL report? Jeez, even Ross Tucker and Bruce Murray didn't bite.

supafly said:

As pissed off as I am, I personally wouldn't feed into it with additional comments.

This is nothing more than an article containing unsubstantiated rumors about alleged cheating. We should be quite used to them by now. After all, we tend to see them about 2-3 times a year.

Continuing to address it in the press will do nothing but add fuel to the fire. All they did was rehash old information that's been going around for years.

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I was going to rename my patsfans fantasy team because I thought the whole playbook thing I named it after from last years offseason was outdated. Now I can keep it. What's old is new again. Expect to see similar articles and player interviews and claims made by coaches and administrators over the course of this season and the next and the one after that. Nothing that is actually new, just old wine in a new bottle. I refuse to work myself into a frenzy over this. That very reaction has been as lucrative for ESPN and Co. as those that believe the stories.

I want Kraft to just give Bill permission to hold a 30 minute press conference where he addresses and calls out every single allegation, point by point, and then leave without taking questions. It would be professional but stern.

It's time for Kraft and Belichick to start leaking dirt they have on the rest of the league. As Curran said when talking with Florio tonight, the NFL emptied the bag. Time to get even. Each BB post-game presser this season should be filled with allusions to nuggets of dirt about the team and ownership just demolished.

Sorry guys, but I couldn't disagree more, though I certainly understand where you are coming from. We all have been fighting these kinds of scurrilous attacks for 8 years now, always using logic and the facts, and hoping for open minds. Now the time has passed for those polite and logical strategies. Remember we aren't trying to defend an attack from Ray Ray, or his Jet fan ilk; we are being attacked by the league itself, led by Roger Goodell. This is NOT the time to be polite and logical

The defamation suit is one thing that would do something the league would fear and that's opening them up to discovery. If I had the resources the Krafts had, I would also have 24 hour surveillance on Goodell, Kensil, Giardi, Pash, and my 31 fellow owners ready to sell to TMZ what prurient info I could find on the likes of Irsay, Jones etc. Or at least use the information as leverage on the real enemy Roger Goodell If that sounds like dirty tricks, but that is what you do when you are in a war for your very survival

So again, I would hope you would see that being passive and letting the "noise" just pass above you like a wave at the beach is not a wise strategy. If left unopposed do you really think that these attacks will stop. NO WAY. the only way to stop these attacks is to give them a REASON to stop them.

The only way that I would be for the "passive approach would be if Kraft decides to go belly up again. At which point, I'd just say F**K it, and stop following the team.

"You should know that I don't have a Twitter account," Belichick said. "I don't have InstantFace. I don't have any of that."

InstantFace? lmao.

The best defense to all these allegations is just to win and keep on winning. Spygate, 18-1 and a helmet catch from being the undisputed best team in NFL History. Deflategate and the Patriots respond by winning the SB. Going by the past, it's looking good for the Patriots to be repeat SB champions

I propose(d) a similar but slightly different approach.

1. Detailed rebuttal of everything, as you would suggest, but ...
2. ... calm, which is not what I think you have in mind.
3. Say that there won't be any legal action until after the season, as you would suggest, ...
4. ... making it clear that legal action could come then, also as you would suggest, ...
5. ... but, again, doing it in a calm way.
6. No lawsuit by the Pats against the league, because the rules say that can't work. Instead, file a bunch of grievances, because that's what the rules say to do.
7. I'm not sure whether this should be publicly disclosed. It actually would be interesting to just file the suits quietly, let the news leak out whenever it does, and answer questions straightforwardly when they come in. E.g. "We'd prefer retractions and apologies, but those don't seem to be forthcoming, so we'll accept money instead."

None of Brady, Belichick or Robert Kraft has the personality for the high-emotion options. Jonathan Kraft does, but I think he needs to defer to the others in that respect. Wait until the season ends, send a flurry of lawyer's letters (ideally coordinated with flurries from Brady and the ballboys), and then actually file suit about 48 hours later.

The point of the "about 48 hours" figure is long enough to give the recipients a nominal chance to respond amicably, but not long enough for them to get their PR machines into high gear.

Also, the Patriots should decree that, starting immediately,

• Team personnel of any kind are only permitted to communicate with ESPN if they record their side of the conversations and furnish that to team management.
  
• There are no other restrictions whatsoever on dealings with ESPN, beyond those that have always been in place for all media organizations.

Dear all,

Let this latest BS playout for a couple of days. According to the report Deflategate was a "make up" punishment to appease owners who were still fuming over the Spygate saga. They felt that Roger had not done enough to the Patriots at the time.

That looks bad on many levels.

1. Does this imply Roger was motivated or pushed to punish the Patriots for something because he didn't punish them enough 8 years ago? Not the type of thing the NFL needs out in the public right now especially while it tries to appeal Berman's "NFL didn't play fair" decision.

2. Did Roger called Martz and beg him to release a statement to prevent Spector from bringing spygate before a congressional hearing? Yeah that doesn't look good on Roger or the league.

3. Revealed that Belichick filmed more than 40 teams? Filming team signals is still not illegal. Belichick was penalized for ignoring a memo to stop filming from a location.

BTW, If Bill was taped buying a steak at the meat market they'd accuse him of being involved in a "process" that butchered thousands of animals to satisfy his inhumane hunger. What an evil bastard he is. Right?

Funny side note: . As a matter of fact, the spying is completely legal as pointed out above. It's merely where you spy from. If the Patriots had taped signals from the press box, a fine would have never been imposed. As Jimmy Johnson said though "it's not possible to tape signals from the press box when the team is on the wrong side." In other words, you can't tape their signals but they can tape yours, and it's 100% legal.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/8347748/8348419


This is just another poor PR campaign that will flop. This signals to me that the NFL is grasping at their last straws.

Is there a Defamation suit in the future? Who Knows but it seems the NFL and ESPN keep loading up the shopping cart with ammunition. We'll see I guess. The discovery process alone would probably birth another Dan Brown novel: " The Goodinci code" or " Goodells and Demons"

You and I know what kind of team we have. We know that they have won because they are that good. Other fans know this as well. If BB or TB were released from their contracts today there would be 31 one teams and fan bases begging to sign them at all costs. The worst team in the league would become a top 15 team overnight and within two years they'd be a playoff caliber team.

Let this latest desperate PR stunt play itself out. It's all old BS anyways.

patfanken said:

Sorry guys, but I couldn't disagree more, though I certainly understand where you are coming from. We all have been fighting these kinds of scurrilous attacks for 8 years now, always using logic and the facts, and hoping for open minds. Now the time has passed for those polite and logical strategies. Remember we aren't trying to defend an attack from Ray Ray, or his Jet fan ilk; we are being attacked by the league itself, led by Roger Goodell. This is NOT the time to be polite and logical

The defamation suit is one thing that would do something the league would fear and that's opening them up to discovery. If I had the resources the Krafts had, I would also have 24 hour surveillance on Goodell, Kensil, Giardi, Pash, and my 31 fellow owners ready to sell to TMZ what prurient info I could find on the likes of Irsay, Jones etc. Or at least use the information as leverage on the real enemy Roger Goodell If that sounds like dirty tricks, but that is what you do when you are in a war for your very survival

So again, I would hope you would see that being passive and letting the "noise" just pass above you like a wave at the beach is not a wise strategy. If left unopposed do you really think that these attacks will stop. NO WAY. the only way to stop these attacks is to give them a REASON to stop them.

The only way that I would be for the "passive approach would be if Kraft decides to go belly up again. At which point, I'd just say F**K it, and stop following the team.

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PF, here is a little tidbit from Reiss:

When you're at the top, everyone likes to bring you down. A longtime sportscaster with a deep history in Boston relayed this thought to me that resonated: "They used to say same the stuff about Red Auerbach."

Does anyone remember the stuff said about Red? No.

Does anyone remember who Red is? Yes

End of lesson.

Just keep winning. And Repeat.

That will speak much louder than anything else.

So I wake up to CBSnews this morning to the headline. "Spy gate bigger than originally thought." Guess the national news is running with it. How lovely.

"Bob Kraft and Bill Bellichick created the most successful sports franchise in the history of sport."

They created the Yankees and Canadiens?

PP2 said:

PF, here is a little tidbit from Reiss:

When you're at the top, everyone likes to bring you down. A longtime sportscaster with a deep history in Boston relayed this thought to me that resonated: "They used to say same the stuff about Red Auerbach."

Does anyone remember the stuff said about Red? No.

Does anyone remember who Red is? Yes

End of lesson.

Click to expand...

I like what you have to say, but people these days are more mentally geared towards pointing out the problems of others rather than owning their own situation. This may be a social aspect that Robert doesn't understand (and i could be wrong). the only way the message softens is if the truth comes out about other team shenanigans as well, but we know that message won't be delivered by those neck deep into the NFL's pockets.

Kraft can fight this, but he does have to come at it sideways and not appear to be the man behind the message (i.e. WellsReportContext type of reply won't do it.) You have the beat the NFL with their own game and just play a little bit dirtier. I'm sure the Krafts hear and know things. all he has to do is fight like his back is against the wall.

HeadHunter said:

So I wake up to CBSnews this morning to the headline. "Spy gate bigger than originally thought." Guess the national news is running with it. How lovely.

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I watched the same thing... the worst part was that they claimed the report contained "new allegations of cheating." Yup, new alright

HeadHunter said:

So I wake up to CBSnews this morning to the headline. "Spy gate bigger than originally thought." Guess the national news is running with it. How lovely.

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We have a conservative QB who is rumored to be a a Trump supporter. Of course the national liberal media is going to run the Pats organization through the mud.