Big surprise from ESPN.com: Team, MVP, Coach of the Decade

[ctpatsfan77]

Patriots sweep all-decade team, coach, MVP - AFC East - ESPN

That must have been fun to write.

 

[JSn]

I loved this part:

Some Patriots critics still scoff at their success because of the Spygate scandal, one of the biggest NFL stories of the decade. Belichick was turned in for illegally videotaping opponents' defensive signals. The NFL fined him and stripped the Patriots of a first-round draft pick.

But ESPN analyst Herm Edwards, the former New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs coach, laughs at the overblown notion.

"If you're naïve to believe that helped him win a Super Bowl, you're kidding yourself. I don't believe that," said Edwards, who on one of the tapes submitted into evidence could be seen waving to the Patriots' cameras.

 

[JaxPats]

Patriots sweep all-decade team, coach, MVP - AFC East - ESPN

That must have been fun to write.

Yeah, no kidding. Let the hateing begin. AGAIN! I love it!:singing:

 

[jmt57]

And I would say it's a safe guess that all the Pats haters are blowing up the comment section as well as their own fan forums with their outrage at the selections, with claims that espn and the media are biased and love the Pats.

 

[efin98]

...on a related note, a mysterious vomit smell has been reported in the area of the ESPN studios...

 

[BSR]

Is anyone else suprised that Belichick actually spoke to an ESPN reporter? He usually doesn't give them the time of day. I wonder if the tensions are cooling between the two sides. It does seem like we are hearing more and more comments from them about how overblown spygate was.

 

[PatsBoy12]

And the accolades just keep coming. Sometimes even I can't believe the ride this had been. Anyone who lived through the misery years (pre-2001) should be soaking this up and basking in this franchise. Those of you who weren't around for the misery years . . . well, I guess I'll allow you to enjoy it just this once. Seriously, we should all be proud of this team. Bill Belichick is the greatest football mind that I've seen in my time of watching football, and he's done a masterful job with this franchise.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Patriots sweep all-decade team, coach, MVP - AFC East - ESPN

That must have been fun to write.

All I can think is that the ESPN website must have been hacked and that this article will be taken down in a couple of hours and that ESPN will announce its real winners, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and a tossup between the Colts and Steelers for best team. It'll happen any minute now. Checking the site as we speak.

:singing:

 

[PatsBoy12]

All I can think is that the ESPN website must have been hacked and that this article will be taken down in a couple of hours and that ESPN will announce its real winners, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and a tossup between the Colts and Steelers for best team. It'll happen any minute now. Checking the site as we speak.

:singing:

 

[jmt57]

All I can think is that the ESPN website must have been hacked and that this article will be taken down in a couple of hours and that ESPN will announce its real winners, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and a tossup between the Colts and Steelers for best team. It'll happen any minute now. Checking the site as we speak.

:singing:

No, it's a lot simpler than that. ESPN is simply a division of a company trying to maximize profits in a nevr ending attempt to appease corporate headquarters. Reality is they don't love or hate any team or player - they love the stories that generate ratings and hate the stories that don't. And as we've seen on television and newspapers throughout our entire lives, "good" stories don't sell, but "bad" stories do.

The public loves the underdog (see SB 36), but win more than once and you're the big bad bully. Outside of New England NFL fans were already saying "I'm sick and tired of the Patriots winning all the time" before SB 38 had taken place. The bad guy has to win his battles to be feared and loathed; who's afraid or despises a 7-9 team? Traditional villains Oakland and Dallas were in need of replacement. ESPN seized on that, along with BB's emotionless press conferences, and they had their new villain.

Now to make the bad guy seem even more despicable, ESPN needed the good guy in the white hat to contrast the image. The logical choice was the second best team in the conference, the Colts. Enter Saint Dungy and "aw, shucks" Peyton Manning and the Colts, with their fan base right out of a Norman Rockwell painting and their middle American values in contrast to the "big market" Boston area and you have all the sterotypes of a pro wrestling match.

After that all they have to do is print a story about the villain - it doesn't matter if it was positive or negative - and fans of the 31 other teams react like the towns folk in Frankenstein, with their pitchforks and torches ready to burn the monster. On one hand it's laughable as to how easily the audience is led, but at the same time it's also sad and scary that the public buys in to these portrayals so quickly and easily.

Bottom line is that ESPN doesn't hate the Pats. They love them because all they have to do is mention the Pats, and they get a ton of hits to their web site, which results in more profits. Just get used to it, because as long as the Pats are competitive, it's not going to change.

 

[PatsBoy12]

No, it's a lot simpler than that. ESPN is simply a division of a company trying to maximize profits in a nevr ending attempt to appease corporate headquarters. Reality is they don't love or hate any team or player - they love the stories that generate ratings and hate the stories that don't. And as we've seen on television and newspapers throughout our entire lives, "good" stories don't sell, but "bad" stories do.

The public loves the underdog (see SB 36), but win more than once and you're the big bad bully. Outside of New England NFL fans were already saying "I'm sick and tired of the Patriots winning all the time" before SB 38 had taken place. The bad guy has to win his battles to be feared and loathed; who's afraid or despises a 7-9 team? Traditional villains Oakland and Dallas were in need of replacement. ESPN seized on that, along with BB's emotionless press conferences, and they had their new villain.

Now to make the bad guy seem even more despicable, ESPN needed the good guy in the white hat to contrast the image. The logical choice was the second best team in the conference, the Colts. Enter Saint Dungy and "aw, shucks" Peyton Manning and the Colts, with their fan base right out of a Norman Rockwell painting and their middle American values in contrast to the "big market" Boston area and you have all the sterotypes of a pro wrestling match.

After that all they have to do is print a story about the villain - it doesn't matter if it was positive or negative - and fans of the 31 other teams react like the towns folk in Frankenstein, with their pitchforks and torches ready to burn the monster. On one hand it's laughable as to how easily the audience is led, but at the same time it's also sad and scary that the public buys in to these portrayals so quickly and easily.

Bottom line is that ESPN doesn't hate the Pats. They love them because all they have to do is mention the Pats, and they get a ton of hits to their web site, which results in more profits. Just get used to it, because as long as the Pats are competitive, it's not going to change.

You should save this and use it as a thesis someday if need be. Seriously, this was very interesting to read; perhaps more so because I lived with a roommate for two years who despised the Patriots and loved whenever ESPN did one of their patented "NE evil vs. Indy good" stories. They painted BB as a characterization of Darth Vader, while making Dungy appear to be the White Knight. It's nuts.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

No, it's a lot simpler than that. ESPN is simply a division of a company trying to maximize profits in a nevr ending attempt to appease corporate headquarters. Reality is they don't love or hate any team or player - they love the stories that generate ratings and hate the stories that don't. And as we've seen on television and newspapers throughout our entire lives, "good" stories don't sell, but "bad" stories do.

The public loves the underdog (see SB 36), but win more than once and you're the big bad bully. Outside of New England NFL fans were already saying "I'm sick and tired of the Patriots winning all the time" before SB 38 had taken place. The bad guy has to win his battles to be feared and loathed; who's afraid or despises a 7-9 team? Traditional villains Oakland and Dallas were in need of replacement. ESPN seized on that, along with BB's emotionless press conferences, and they had their new villain.

Now to make the bad guy seem even more despicable, ESPN needed the good guy in the white hat to contrast the image. The logical choice was the second best team in the conference, the Colts. Enter Saint Dungy and "aw, shucks" Peyton Manning and the Colts, with their fan base right out of a Norman Rockwell painting and their middle American values in contrast to the "big market" Boston area and you have all the sterotypes of a pro wrestling match.

After that all they have to do is print a story about the villain - it doesn't matter if it was positive or negative - and fans of the 31 other teams react like the towns folk in Frankenstein, with their pitchforks and torches ready to burn the monster. On one hand it's laughable as to how easily the audience is led, but at the same time it's also sad and scary that the public buys in to these portrayals so quickly and easily.

Bottom line is that ESPN doesn't hate the Pats. They love them because all they have to do is mention the Pats, and they get a ton of hits to their web site, which results in more profits. Just get used to it, because as long as the Pats are competitive, it's not going to change.

yada yada yada...i like my explanation better...

but, seriously, i do think that ESPN of all the national sports platforms was the most distorted and biased in its treatment of the pats during spygate.

 

[eagle eye]

From the article and this is the reason why its not the usual espn rubbish.

The honors were bestowed with consultation from NFL general managers, coaches, scouts and players

 

[jmt57]

yada yada yada...i like my explanation better...

but, seriously, i do think that ESPN of all the national sports platforms was the most distorted and biased in its treatment of the pats during spygate.

I absolutely agree with your characterization about espn and that story. It was rather disappointing that almost nobody else called them out. The witch hunt mentality grew so large and so quickly that anybody in the media with a dissenting opinion was, ironically, labeled as being biased and untruthful. Others soon saw there was more benefit (i.e., more web traffic and increased ratings) by following their lead with similar stories.

 

[VJCPatriot]

After that all they have to do is print a story about the villain - it doesn't matter if it was positive or negative - and fans of the 31 other teams react like the towns folk in Frankenstein, with their pitchforks and torches ready to burn the monster.

TRUE.

Bottom line is that ESPN doesn't hate the Pats. They love them because all they have to do is mention the Pats, and they get a ton of hits to their web site, which results in more profits. Just get used to it, because as long as the Pats are competitive, it's not going to change.

The reason that people hate them is because they've become so good. When the Pats were the doormats of the AFCE, and yes I remember those painful days, the only time they got into the headlines was the Olsen incident. I'd rather have my team hated for being so DAMN GOOD that they are in the discussion to win it all just about every year.

 

[Dragda]

And the accolades just keep coming. Sometimes even I can't believe the ride this had been. Anyone who lived through the misery years (pre-2001) should be soaking this up and basking in this franchise. Those of you who weren't around for the misery years . . . well, I guess I'll allow you to enjoy it just this once. Seriously, we should all be proud of this team. Bill Belichick is the greatest football mind that I've seen in my time of watching football, and he's done a masterful job with this franchise.

The Patriots were a big joke. It was painful to be stuck with them as a team.

 

[PatsFan24]

After that all they have to do is print a story about the villain - it doesn't matter if it was positive or negative - and fans of the 31 other teams react like the towns folk in Frankenstein, with their pitchforks and torches ready to burn the monster.

hahahaha i just got done watching that movie for the first time a few minutes ago. haha yeah i can see them doing that