The more time that goes on, the more I have trouble rooting for Kraft

tom444 · Feb 9, 2016

EMpats said:
It's time to move on from the Kraft hate. It's obvious that Brady still loves him and respects him, and he knows the situation and reasoning behind it much better than any of us do. What we do know is that if it were not for Bob Kraft, the New England Patriots literally wouldn't exist, let alone have 4 Super Bowls and 15 incredible seasons.

What he said.

Tony2046 · Feb 9, 2016

What could he have done?

How about not making the appeasement speech. He did not have to pull an AL Davis but he never had to say "we accept the punishment".

I don't hate Kraft and am glad he is the owner. Roger n Crew are the bad guys but Kraft's image took a huge hit and is viewed by many as a coward.

Canuck · Feb 9, 2016

Compared to other owners in the NFL, having Kraft as the owner of the Patriots has been pretty darn good.
Am I a little disappointed in Kraft lately? Yes, I am but I am sure there are alot of fans of other teams that are disappointed in their owners.

Kraft was a fan of the Patriots long before he bought the team. I am sure that he is as disappointed as we are in the NFL for backstabbing him and the Patriots when he has been instrumental in getting the league to where it is today. Kraft is no Al Davis and it's not in his personality to fight the NFL in court even though I wish he would sue the NFL to get the draft picks back.

I've watched the evolution of my friends and acquaintances from laughing at the Pats, to admiring them winning their first SB, to see them in 2007 still thinking the Pats were great but taking great delight in rubbing Spygate in my face and now they actively dislike the Patriots. If my friends were in the stand they would have booed Brady too.

I imagine if you were a Red Sox fan, you probably hated the Yankees and booed a few of their players. Now I embrace rooting for the villain. When you stop caring about being liked, it can be quite fun listening to them ***** and complain. When I heard them booing Brady, it actually made me laugh.

Ice_Ice_Brady · Feb 9, 2016

Canuck said:
Compared to other owners in the NFL, having Kraft as the owner of the Patriots has been pretty darn good.
Am I a little disappointed in Kraft lately? Yes, I am but I am sure there are alot of fans of other teams that are disappointed in their owners.

But this wasn't a string of bad personnel moves, raising ticket prices, drafting the wrong QB, etc. This was Kraft's entire fanbase and their pride at stake, and what made it worse is that he knows the pain that everyone felt from Spygate, many years of waiting until that faded away. I don't think the disappointment that other fans have in their owners really compares to this.

tom444 · Feb 9, 2016

Mack Herron said:
Not necessarily. Kraft could have assumed the role of the cowardly lap dog because he thought it would be good for his financial future. He could have made such an assumption even if it were incorrect. Of course we cannot know what he was thinking. What we can say is that he did not act out of any principled sense of right and wrong. He willingly relinquished his ability to think and act for his team and his QB and placed his trust in Goodell. He now admits that was a mistake, but we still see him schmoozing with Goodell while his QB gets booed at a ceremony where he was being honored, and his team is forever regarded as unethical cheaters. In terms of managing the brand, as they say in the business world, Kraft gets an "F". And he is crying all the way to the bank.

If you had told me in 1970 that the Patriots will have 15 straight years of unbridled success, and even than people will complained about the owner who put it all together, I'd have laughed in your face. But here we are.

Armchair Quarterback · Feb 9, 2016

ivanvamp said:
I understand the frustration. But what avenues were available to Kraft? Haven't we been over this? He had no options. So he figured he would sacrifice the picks in the hopes that it would mollify Goodell and keep Goodell from coming down on Brady. He was wrong, and he acknowledged as such.

It's easy to say he was a coward; what was he supposed to do?

Except that line of thinking is beyond idiotic considering Goodell's previous punishment of NE as well as the fact that this clearly was a setup meant to injure the Patriots - and Kraft played along, he is complicit.

cupofjoe1962 · Feb 9, 2016

ivanvamp said:
I understand the frustration. But what avenues were available to Kraft? Haven't we been over this? He had no options. So he figured he would sacrifice the picks in the hopes that it would mollify Goodell and keep Goodell from coming down on Brady. He was wrong, and he acknowledged as such.

It's easy to say he was a coward; what was he supposed to do?

Well to start, he shouldn't say he supports Goodell after being robbed.

I also cannot get that image of him hugging Goodell out of my head.

Mack Herron · Feb 9, 2016

tom444 said:
If you had told me in 1970 that the Patriots will have 15 straight years of unbridled success, and even than people will complained about the owner who put it all together, I'd have laughed in your face. But here we are.

Welcome to life where people are both good and bad. Does doing something good absolve one in your mind from making any mistakes? Kraft blew it by deferring in deflategate. He said so himself.

tom444 · Feb 9, 2016

Mack Herron said:
Welcome to life where people are both good and bad. Does doing something good absolve one in your mind from making any mistakes? Kraft blew it by deferring in deflategate. He said so himself.

Lets see. 15 years of success. One, maybe, mistake. Doesn't balance out.

AzorianPats · Feb 9, 2016

I was disappointed Kraft didn't put up more of a fight, but the guy has done way more good than bad. What other owner would you want?

Armchair Quarterback · Feb 9, 2016

AzorianPats said:
I was disappointed Kraft didn't put up more of a fight, but the guy has done way more good than bad. What other owner would you want?

One with the balls to fight back.

AzorianPats · Feb 9, 2016

Armchair Quarterback said:
One with the balls to fight back.

OK, name me a billionaire that is ready to fight against other billionaires?

everlong · Feb 9, 2016

Bob's problem is he wants to be everything to everybody. He's more concerned with his own legacy than anything else. He didn't get mad until the fans did. He caved because the owners disagreed. He got mad again because the fans were pissed that he laid down.

I never thought he would or should go Al Davis. However if he took a stance and never wavered leading the NFL Offices and the other 31 to believe enough was enough the penalty never would have been this great. Instead he tipped his hand and was weak. He got what he deserved and unfortunately everybody else got punished.

Also when they announced Brady and there were boos it was only a smattering. I also found it funny that John Riggins, Fred Biletnikoff and a few of the other old-timers greeted Brady when he came out with smiles and laughter like he was one of them. I think they get what a joke this has been. Especially two rebels like Riggins and Biletnikoff. They barely acknowledged Rogers and it seemed like some of them outright hated Flacco. I bet Brady approached all the old timers with respect and a guy like Flacco was like who are you?

Armchair Quarterback · Feb 9, 2016

AzorianPats said:
OK, name me a billionaire that is ready to fight against other billionaires?

Ok, I'll take a hypothetical poll and get back to you.

Billionaires generally didn't get that way by lying down and being conciliatory.

JarOfMayo51 · Feb 9, 2016

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
Maybe it isn't always about how do we win this thing? Maybe he should have just filed an appeal to the league and potentially sued the league, merely because it's about public opinion, and fighting tooth and nail, shedding more light on the injustice, just looks better than rolling over. He didn't even appeal the decision...didn't even appeal it! He would not even be able to sue the league because he opted not to even appeal the decision.

Many said that Brady was also crazy to appeal this decision, or at the very least, that he has very little chance to win.

Had Kraft appealed and then sued the league, even had the suit been thrown out, it would have continued to be a big deal, that an owner was willing to go to court against his business partners with scientific experts backing that his team was unjustly punished and that he was personally fined $1M.

AT THE VERY LEAST, he should have done what any owner with balls would have done, which is threaten to sue, threaten to do everything imaginable to make their lives difficult, unless the league was willing to at least agree to reconsider the penalty after the PSI recordings came back from this year...it could have been done privately. He clearly didn't consider this option either.

I don't think that most people realize just how F'd up this entire ordeal was. We are talking about one of the largest fines and penalties in sports history over a rules violation that did not exist, with data that did not exist, with a consequence that did not exist, based on purposely flawed science. Maybe Kraft could not have won had he sued the league; I'm willing to bet there are some judges out there who would be willing to give serious consideration to vacating the penalties based on fundamental unfairness. And yes, I realize he is part of the league, but Al Davis sued the NFL and won. It is possible.

Thank about it like this: what if Roger Goodell told Kraft he was fined $500M because his players were tying their shoes the wrong way? Absurd? Do you think he would sue in that case? Do you think he would go to court and refuse to pay the money, which is a huge chunk of his fortune? Of course he would, because the NFL cannot just make up violations and fine him...yes, my example is extreme, but at some point, it illustrates there is a line and a principle.

Great post and is spot on... people use the fact that Kraft caved in as a sign of Brady's guilt to this day.. he totally railroaded Brady, the team with loss of picks and the fans for having to deal with the PR fallout..

maybe he didn't have a choice in the matter, but he could have at least acted like it and defended the team a bit more while they moved things along in the background... but it just felt like he caved too quickly and just accepted Goodell's front office running the legal train on Brady for over a year now

Jackson 2 · Feb 9, 2016

Bob Kraft may be the reason why Patriots fans dislike Bob Kraft. But, the main reason why Brady got booed and other fans' boards are full of NE hatred isn't Bob Kraft. It's Bill Belichick. End of story.

RecoveringCowboy · Feb 9, 2016

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
...I hope Kraft steps down and turns the team over to his son. It is so hard to root for an organization owned by a man of such weak character.

Devil's Advocate mode here: He's not perfect, but if you could swap Kraft for one of the other 31 owners, who would it be? Six or so of those other owners are simply toxic - the one in Denver I'll take out of the discussion since he's got Alzheimer's.

I'd venture to say if Tagliabue was the commissioner, Kraft would not be in this position.

Not making excuses for Kraft - but it could be worse...I know of another owner wondering why his team has not been close to being in a SB the past 20 years, he's made 1000+ more mistakes than Kraft.

TomPatriot · Feb 9, 2016

Kraft is an owner. His players are workers, no matter what they are paid, no matter how much he likes them. They are obedient workers and really nothing more. To him the punishment was pocket change and the picks, well, not such a big deal in the end. That's what he pays BB and Caserio and others to figure out. To expect Kraft to side with a player against his fellow owners and their lap dog commissioner is to expect the impossible.

So, yeah, Deflategate was ******** all the way around and back again and Kraft's handling of it was disappointing. That said, the guy kept the team here when it looked like it was leaving , hired BB, a pretty damn good coach, built his stadium without ripping off the taxpayers, and has produced one of the best teams in the NFL, year in and year out, for a decade and a half. He's a lot better than most owners.

TheRazorsEdge · Feb 9, 2016

Robert Kraft? Blame Kraft? I am still trying to get over what Marcus Cannon and Cameron Flemming did to Brady and this fanbase to care enough about a billionaire traveling the world with some 23 year old hot blonde girlfriend . We beat Denver , those howls never happen!!! You know what DOES happens... Fans get even more bitter and the Brady hate gets worse. Haters gonna hate. Brady will never be universally liked, and because he's so gosh darn perfect in almost every facet of life ...even the SLIGHTEST dark mark is going to be amplified and shoved down our throats. Hater Gon' Hate.

The NFL popularity is an at an all time high and when a guy like Brady comes around and kicks your teams ass for 15+ years STRAIGHT the hate becomes Incredibly real. I've witnessed raider fans walk by a Brady picture in a local gym and stop to spit on it. True story. No matter what Kraft does in the spot he was in, the haters already had the fuel needed.

JarOfMayo51 · Feb 9, 2016

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
Robert Kraft says Patriots ‘won’t appeal’ Deflategate punishment - The Boston Globe

Patriots owner Robert Kraft, citing a desire to end “the rhetoric that’s gone on for the last four months,’’ said Tuesday that he will not appeal the penalties the team received as a result of the investigation into the use of underinflated footballs in the AFC Championship game.

Kraft and the Patriots had until Thursday to appeal the penalties handed down by the league last week: the loss of a 2016 first-round draft pick, loss of a 2017 fourth-round pick, and a $1 million fine.

Disgusting.... anything for his buddy Roger and his billionaire club... who just laughed and still went hard at Brady with a 4 game suspension and then UPHELD it in the rigged appeal

Its not even healthy how upset I get about all of this lol... Brady just deserves better and I hope that he writes a tell-all book or something.. or maybe after the appeal he can make a statement, but im sure his legal team has said to say absolutely nothing while this is still in the courts

The more time that goes on, the more I have trouble rooting for Kraft

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