First Dillon now Sullivan, media really sees things different

[PatsRI]

First we had the Dillon conflicting reports:
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=36892

now I read Felger and hear how Sullivan is a fat tub of goo:
http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=143636

but wait Curran reports:
Conditioning has been an issue for Sullivan but he didn't seem sloppy yesterday. In fact, he carried his 315 pounds rather well.
http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/projo_20060614_14patsjo.17c1268e.html


What's the deal. Is Curran a pie-in-the-sky Pats kool-aid drinker or are the reporters at the Herald just trying to live up to the Boston bashers media image? My guess is, like most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

 

[Pats726]

I think with Corey, the vet reporters may know a bit better..esp when comparing to Maroney...with Sullivan, I think it's a bit different...Look at the BB transcript..and Sullivan is asked about..and he just mentions the month...I think we all know he will have to get in shape or that conditioning run will be a mountain.. Is anyone worried about Corey not passing that?? I'm not at all...Sullivan?? A different story.

 

[bosfan]

Think that is always the case, somewhere in the middle - but that is telling that one guy thinks he is FAT and the other thinks he carries his weight well.

 

[14thDragon]

Well, until BB tells me how he looks I am going to take it witha grain of salt from both these guys. Both have tinted lenses they are looking through. I trust Curran a mite bit more then Fleger given past writing.

But it is June, he has a ways to go before september.

At least both reported he did not need to pull out of drills. So he is not "sucking wind" as it was reported in NO. So we shall see.

 

[PATSNUTme]

From the small segment of film that I saw last night on NEST and Hazel Mea's proram, Corey did not look any heavier thatn he normally is.

Granted those were quick looks. I wasn't there all day watching him.

I did not notice Sullivan. What # is he wearing 96? If he came in at 315 then that would be his normal wieght. But it could be flabby and still be his normal weight.

 

[BelichickFan]

That is weird. I guess you can see what you want to with DL, I mean Wilfork is a big boy with a big tummy too but he's pre-judged in a positive way because we know how good he is. If he weren't playing well I could see someone calling him a tub of goo.

 

[14thDragon]

Think he would have the cohones to call him F-A-T to his face?

Unless I am suffering from memory corruption, I recall that Washington had a pretty good belly on him as well.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Sullivan looks anorexic compared to Wilfork.

 

[patsfan13]

He oculd have beenvery out of shape when he arrived here. He'sonly been here a couple of weeks. I think what BB will care about is his work ethic and effort since his arrival in Foxboro.

 

[patchick]

If Sullivan hadn't been fat and out of shape he wouldn't be here to begin with, no?

Interesting that Curran specifically noted the differing opinions of Dillon's weight (i.e. yesterday's thread). So Tom -- nice article, thanks! Any insights on a couple of 2nd-year mystery men, Ryan Claridge and Wesley Britt?

 

[shmessy]

I don't get Felger's point. If Sullivan is to be a NT or DT here isn't he SUPPOSED to be huge? He remarks that Sully looked way heavier than everyone except Wilfork. So what's your beef, Felgie? Or are you trying to drum up radio show ratings?

 

[BelichickFan]

The thing that bugs me is the junior high level cheesburger jokes. They should be below Felger, he can make his point without stooping to that level.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

I have always considered Curran to be down to earth, and a fan first. He e-mails me when I ask him questions, and seem to be normal. Felger seems way more extreme to me, like he almost has an axe to grind. It seems like if Felger decides not to like a player, he will get personal real quick, hiding behind his press box. Thomase apparently couldn't hack it as a Sox writer, so he has no qualifications I can see. Borges is Satan.

If Sullivan fails the conditioning run, he will have half a foot out the door already. I don't think his weight matters to Bill, its how he uses it. This is a two gap defense, after all.

 

[shmessy]

The kind of stuff that gets Anne Coulter onto the bestseller lists.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Nick Carfado is Satan Jr.

 

[flutie2phelan]

I don't get Felger's point. If Sullivan is to be a NT or DT here isn't he SUPPOSED to be huge? He remarks that Sully looked way heavier than everyone except Wilfork. So what's your beef, Felgie? Or are you trying to drum up radio show ratings?

This is what comes from taking Felger seriously.

If HE doesn't ... why should you? ... or we?

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Patchick:

There has been a Ryan Claridge sighting in mini camp. He took a lot of reps at outside linebacker. Maybe he is faster than Klecko and Roach, and looks more promising as outside depth. Klecko and Roach are bigger, and may be better suited to taking on gaurds. Who knows?

 

[old 55]

Love the Hobbs piece

I loved to hear that Hobbs got in Warfields face for dropping an INT.

The kids got big ones.

 

[PATRIOTS-80]

Wilfork weighs 335. From Felger's own admission, Sullivan looks to be at the same size as Wilfork. And its completely INCONCEIVABLE to Felger that maybe, just be maybe they will both be NT? It is not like we have a ploretha of back-up NT.


Besides, according to Felger's own admission, Sullivan didn't pull out of any drills.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I also saw the segment on NESN and while brief Corey looked like Corey. As Curren indicated his physique is not like Maroney's - he's a barrel chested guy. There is another picture of Corey up with the Pro Jo shots from camp and that one too looks positively svelt.

Belichick is known to have a dog house and I doubt any player who showed up in poor shape or weight (at least for this point in the off season) would be in it pedaling something and not on the field.

And assessments like tub of goo didn't used to be in Felger's vocabulary when he was one of the best beat reporters in town. But that was then and this is now, and his vocabulary has expanded exponentially in relation to the emergence of his on air media persona. At this point he's next to useless because you can't rely on his judgement any longer. Most of what he spews is geared towards creating some sort of controversy to generate callers for his radio show. A tub of goo is what the Herald replaced him with on the Patriots beat.

Tomase was a cub reporter covering his first love, baseball, for the Lawrence Eagle Tribune when he got tapped to replace Felger. He was available because he went off on an almost mind numbing and embarrassing tirade against a player who routinely puts up HOF numbers but whom the team had been toying with parting with for a couple of seasons. I guess he figured he was fair game. And there is little opportunity for advancement at the Trib as his editor is Bill Burt, the guy who writes columns about games he didn't know he was watching in replay and the guy who went off on Drew Bledsoe a few years ago in a hotel lobby after popping a few apparently. These guys see Corey's overly sensitive attitude towards them as an invitation to go for the jugular.

The teams position on Corey last season was that effort and attitude were not a problem. He certainly had an attitude towards the media which appears to remain. Most including Felger have said they believe he was injured last season as oposed to done. But Felger will make it his and Tomase's life's work to bait Corey so they can write about his attitude and hopefully benefit from some sort of eruption ala Carl Everett. There have been no villains on this team, and for the media that is BORING. Corey's temperment has set him up to be a guy they can finally spin into one. Felger will focus on Sullivan so it does'nt appear the Herald is piling on Dillon alone.

This is basically taking a page out of the Shaughnessy manuel. Personal insults and mocks are what guys write about when they don't have much access or can't be bothered waiting and working to build or maintain a reliable network of sources and they want to be noticed apart from their peers. Maybe today they will trigger a tub of goo weiner whiner line segment on EEI where the callers either bash the players or mock the writers. Either way, as they say, their is no such thing as bad PR. It got Felger his own radio show and Tomase a gig with a major market rag.