Globe hit job on BB

[SVN]

My letter to McGrory and the Globe:

Brian,

Your column today was a reach, and unfair. I was at Sunday's game and watched the incident you decry from beginning to end through binoculars. Perhaps it hasn't occurred to you that Jim Davis might be suspect of committing the cardinal sin of any journalist: carelessly putting himself in position to become part of the story he's there to cover. (Unfortunately, I've observed Globe reporters do similar things time and again over the years so perhaps you folks feel you're "above it all" just as you accuse Belichick of being.)
Davis was walking backward in the path of Belichick, literally altering the course of the event he was there to cover. Granted, Belichick let his frustration get the better of him and behaved inappropriately in shoving Davis. But under these circumstances -- an intensely personal moment for the coach after a very intense, hard-fought playoff game with much on the line -- his reaction is understandable, if not totally justified.
By calling Belichick "a boor of the highest order," "one cheap - shot artist standing in judgment of another," claiming "he dresses like he's from Appalachia and has the personality of a wet mop" is piling on with undue zeal and totally out of context.
Jim Davis was not beyond reproach in this incident and neither was Belichick, yet the coach did apologize and the apology was accepted. Did Davis apologize for getting in his way?
You are in a position to lend reasoned and balanced perspective to stories like this but succumbed to doing a hatchet job on the coach. You, Brian McGrory, dropped the ball.

i didnt read the article and dont intend to either but calling out BB's dressing sense is totally going out of the way to find faults.

 

[Lansdowne]

exactly...did the same

Yeah. I don't think I'll be buying the Globe any time soon. Though I don't like the Herald either, way too much of a tabloid paper than anything and they are without shame in their bias for the GOP. I'll just stick to the blogs.

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

Dudes, the Globe is brutal, don't ewven bother with them, they are not worth it, I have read their stuff, very very sparingly in my long life as a Pats Fan...

...also in regards to the Bolts trolls, let them them speak their narrow minds...and mudsling....they are after all 14-2, they better win this weekend, all the pressure is on them, we are the underdogs here...no one is giving us a chance....

Let's just wait till sunday night and see where we stand.....

 

[marty]

Since I have to register to reply I'll let this one go as I refuse to have anything to do with this rag. Thank you Fungi, borg, and Hoodie! You've captured my feelings on this perfectly!

 

[420jim]

Quoting my self...

Who wants to bet that there will be an article about BB assulting a Globe reporter after the game. On how BB in some classless way (pick your adjective) physicaly abused a poor defenseless cameraman just trying to do his job.

The Link...

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=47678

The Time... 01-07-2007, 11:45 PM

I had just gotten home from work and went right to this forum looking for a thread about the incident just to post above quote. I knew without a doubt that the Globe would have an article about this, I'm only suprised it took so long. The Globe's long standing hatred for all things Belichick is so blatent it resembles a script from the World Wrestling Federation

 

[DaBruinz]

You guys can defend your hoodie wearing genius all you want, but it was a fairly classless act. There are security and police on the field to handle the throngs of people. Bill should have let them do their job, instead of putting his hands on a photographer.

It was good of Belicheck to apologize and admit he was wrong, but he never should have done it in the first place.

You guys act like BB's not an a-hole. Everyone knows he's an a-hole. He's just such a good coach that nobody cares. I'm sure if he was the Bolts coach and had brought them three rings, I'd feel the same way. But let's not act like he's Miss Congeniality.

1st off, the Photographers throng pushed the security out of the way to begin with.
2ndly, they KNOW they are supposed to leave a gap for the coaches to get through to one another.

3rd, While Belichick shouldn't have touched the photographer, the photographer didn't exactly do anything to get out of the way when Belichick 1st put his left arm on the guy to move him.

4th, Belichick can't stand the media because they tend to be clueless and make things up that aren't there. Which is exactly what the imbecile in the Globe article did. If you watch the youtube video, you clearly see Belichick grab the guys right HAND and shove it. The article says that Belichick grabbed the camera and shoved it.

5th, BB apologized. The Photographer accepted the apology. You should have just kept your mouth shut and not said a word.

 

[DaBruinz]

How exactly did they not let him do his job? By wanting to see if he was going to act like a prick again toward one of his former assistants?

Damn, you have a hard time reading.

1) He said that Belichick did let them try and do their job.
2) He also said that the security personnel DIDN'T do their job. But that is no thanks to the photographers who pushed right past them to begin with.

 

[DaBruinz]

I can understand why the media doesn't like BB. He's not exactly media friendly. I agree that the article was a little harsh, but BB did sort of act like an ass. It's not like he didn't bring it upon himself.

You are clueless. That article was a complete SMEAR piece. BB did not act lik an ASS. He shoved the guy outta the way after the guy closed the circle around Mangini. Something they aren't supposed to do until after the shake.

 

[DaBruinz]

BB assaulted a photographer because he happened to be in his way. If he was an ordinary citizen, he could have been arrested. It's not the same as a game of football.

If the photographer was an ordinary citizen, he'd have been arrested and thrown in jail for being on the field.

 

[mykl]

By calling Belichick "a boor of the highest order," "one cheap - shot artist standing in judgment of another," claiming "he dresses like he's from Appalachia and has the personality of a wet mop" is piling on with undue zeal and totally out of context.

You nailed it there. If he had wanted to write an article describing or even condemning the incident, fine. We might not all agree, but it was an incident involving BB, so fine. Brian revealed his agenda with these completely inflamatory and unneeded comments. Totally uncalled for.

 

[DaBruinz]

Since I have to register to reply I'll let this one go as I refuse to have anything to do with this rag. Thank you Fungi, borg, and Hoodie! You've captured my feelings on this perfectly!

You don't have to register to reply to him. You can email him directly as his email is at the bottom of his article.

 

[Gunnails]

I agree this hand shake/hug stuff is a non story that the media has latched onto, but it also occurs to me that BB used bad judgement in giving the guy a shove, BB is generaly very good at containing his emotions.

 

[marty]

You don't have to register to reply to him. You can email him directly as his email is at the bottom of his article.

Thanks! I got in and out so fast, I didn't notice that!

 

[boltssbbound]

Maybe you should worry about the San Diego police blotter a little more. A Who's Who of Charger players.

Only one significant contributor on this year's team has been in any legal trouble. All the other guys are practice squad guys or inactive most sundays. Ryan Krause has not appeared in a game this year. It sucks he got a DUI but he's on the periphery of this team and will be gone next year.

 

[Bargod]

I admit I love the coverage reporters get going into locker rooms and getting reactions but I never understood a reporters "right" to be in these type of situations. It's a football field for football personnel only. You can be there but should be there as a guest.

At least be thankful it was a shove and that he didn't Zeke Mowatt the guy.

 

[Robdude]

Here is what I wrote:


You have written a very biased, over exaggerated, hateful article. Granted, I do not read your articles very often so I am not aware of how often you attack people in your work. You make unfair comparisons while glossing over important information about the situation. You have taken a small situation and tried to turn it into something much bigger so that you can attack someone. Then, you use your slanted view on the incident to insinuate that Belichick is a person of low moral fiber because of this. You give no other examples of his ”boorish” behavior but insist he is a boor. I see no Police reports that show a history of violence nor have I heard of any other violent behavior before.
In no way am I trying to attack the photographer for this (because he has let the situation go) but everyone knows that at the end of the game the head coaches will meet and at least shake hands. With this in mind let me ask you a question. You defined the group that was blocking Belichick’s path as a scrum. How does one get through a scrum? Can a person simply walk through it? Will people move back if they are polity asked to? Should a ‘scrum’ of reporters have the right to block a person’s path or divert them from their intended goal? Why shouldn’t he be able to simply walk up to an opposing coach and shake his hand? In the end, all of those photographers were trying to get the same picture; a picture of the two coaches shaking hands. So maybe next time they should allow the coaches to shake hands without putting obstacles in their path. I think all of us can site examples of a mob of reporters over stepping what is decent or appropriate behavior. Just the fact that a group of reporters is commonly called a mob says something doesn’t it?
You attack Belichick’s fashion choices. That is simply a cheap shot that offers nothing to clarify the situation.
You seem to hint that Belichick is a hypocrite for complaining about a cheap shot on one of his players. Now seriously, regardless of Belichick’s personnel character, shouldn’t a head coach always be looking out for his players? Isn’t that simply a coach doing his job? The sad thing is you compare situations that are incomparable. Could you tell me how many times a cheap shot in a football game causes an injury to a player? I do not have a number for you but I think it is safe to say that in the NFL injuries due to being hit occur very often. Now I would love for you to enlighten me on the dangers of photography. I have to admit I have no idea how many eye injuries occur when trying to take a picture. Is there an organization that takes care of “one-eyed” ex-photographers? Next time you see a photographer put a camera near their face you should say,”Hey, watch what you are doing!! That is going near your eyes!”
Finally when you call Belichick a ‘pampered prince’ it is clear you have no idea what the requirements are for a job as a head coach in the NFL. While I will not pretend to be an expert an all the requirements of a head coaching position I think it is safe to say that Head Coaches do not fall into the pampered category.

 

[upstater1]

You guys can defend your hoodie wearing genius all you want, but it was a fairly classless act. There are security and police on the field to handle the throngs of people. Bill should have let them do their job, instead of putting his hands on a photographer.

It was good of Belicheck to apologize and admit he was wrong, but he never should have done it in the first place.

You guys act like BB's not an a-hole. Everyone knows he's an a-hole. He's just such a good coach that nobody cares. I'm sure if he was the Bolts coach and had brought them three rings, I'd feel the same way. But let's not act like he's Miss Congeniality.

You don't know the first thing about belichick. It's very preumptuous of you to assume you do. The guy does a LOT for other people. And for you to agree with this writer is moronic.

 

[DaBruinz]

Only one significant contributor on this year's team has been in any legal trouble. All the other guys are practice squad guys or inactive most sundays. Ryan Krause has not appeared in a game this year. It sucks he got a DUI but he's on the periphery of this team and will be gone next year.

While Steve Foley wasn't a significant contributor this year, he was expected to be and it was specifically because of his troubles with the law that he wasn't there.

On that same note, hopefully he's getting the help he needs.

 

[boltssbbound]

You don't know the first thing about belichick. It's very preumptuous of you to assume you do. The guy does a LOT for other people. And for you to agree with this writer is moronic.

I'm sure he's a very charitable guy. But that doesn't excuse assaulting cameramen or shunning proteges.

 

[boltssbbound]

While Steve Foley wasn't a significant contributor this year, he was expected to be and it was specifically because of his troubles with the law that he wasn't there.

On that same note, hopefully he's getting the help he needs.

Yes, Foley has a serious alcohol problem, and I hope he gets the help he needs.

My point was that it's not like we're the Bengals, where a bunch of our regular contributors are being arrested/suspended. This is generally a very good character group with a couple of screwballs.