If you had any doubts we'll be back....Cafardo says Patriots "little" dynasty is over

[MoLewisrocks]

From BSMW:

"Yesterday on ESPN radio Nick Cafardo was strongly asserting that the Patriots "little" dynasty is over, that they're done winning championships and that the league has caught up with them. He also complained about the Patriots "lying" about injuries."

I saw this posted over on KFFL. I was listening to the show for about ten minutes yesterday in the car and I heard this little exchange. It was like plugged in meets disconnect.

Felger had just finished saying that the Pats should be right back in it in 2006 when Nick blurted this out. Felger was taken aback, even considering the source. Mike explained to Nick that this team had a horrible season and still won 10 games (and could have won 11 if BB wanted them to). So they just need to improve 2 games to get HFA and what he feels is the all important bye. Nick couldn't see how we could possibly pick up those two games. (Felger finds it hard to imagine how we couldn't.) Felgie reminded him we had a 28 year old HOF QB on the roster and the rest of the division had lots of issues and a lot farther to go. Nick argued that the division would be much tougher (although even he agreed that the JETS appear hopeless). He insisted that not only will Miami be better (though he didn't say how) but was very insistent that Buffalo still has a great defense (and mumbled about how they should improve without mentioning QB, all new coaching, all new management). He went on to say Denver shouldn't fall off at all (which I believe is a long held belief - Nick often picks them for the SB) and SD and KC and Cincy (I don't think Nick's seen the 2006 schedule yet) were going to be very tough conference teams. The more Felger pushed his argument and asked Nick to explain his rationale the more uncomfortable and mumbling Nicks comments became. It's as if he expects guys like Felger (not to mention listeners) to respect his "opinion" and he gets rattled when they actually challenge him to explain it. I've noted for some time that when on a program where he is treated like an expert, Nick pontificates. When challenged, he begins to stutter and look very uncomfortable and flustered. Felger really seemed to be getting under Nick's skin. I wish I'd heard Nicks assessment of Indy, but I must have missed that. He's a bigtime Manning/Dungy ballwasher.

Then they got into the injury reporting issue. Felger thinks giving the enemy information is a stupid concept to begin with, so he has no problem with BB "lying" about injuries. Nick was positively beside himself. He believes America and Pats fans had a right to know Tom had a sports hernia. I guess being on the injury report with the shoulder wasn't good enough. Felger was about wetting himself over how wound Nick was about this issue, so he really layed it on pretty thick about how little fans care about making sports reporters jobs easy. What they care about is that their team wins championships. And if limiting information helps them do that so be it. At that point Nick started babbling about not knowing how Felger was raised that lying didn't bother him... and then Nick started throwing the journalist card and terms like ethics around. At that point since I was home I just turned off the ignition and went in the house. Ethics in conjunction with a Boston Globe Sports Columnist is an oxymoron. Cafardo and Borges are sports columnists. Equating sports columnists to journalists is the equivalent of equating the kid who assembles your whopper at BK a gormet chef. They both work with food, and that's about where the comparison ends.

I just don't understand how, in a market this big, the Globe can retain two football columnists who not only have a personal agenda where the home teams HOF HC is concerned, but each obviously has no respect for the franchise itself even in the wake of 3 Superbowl Championships in 4 years.

 

[Patriot Missile]

No doubt. Felger abd Borges rarely give the respect the Pat's have so deserved. I'm amazed they still have jobs.

As far as the dynasty being over? I will tell anyone listening that the Pat's will have an excellent shot to win the whole damn thing next season. I feel extremely confident and will justify it later on.

 

[len_mullen]

Globe Dynasty is Over

From BSMW:
"Yesterday on ESPN radio Nick Cafardo was strongly asserting that the Patriots "little" dynasty is over, that they're done winning championships and that the league has caught up with them. He also complained about the Patriots "lying" about injuries."

I saw this interview on TV. Cafardo was wearing a shirt that listed the number of patriots injuris on the front and said "belichick lied" on the back.

Who cares?

 

[DarrylS]

No doubt. Felger abd Borges rarely give the respect the Pat's have so deserved. I'm amazed they still have jobs.

As far as the dynasty being over? I will tell anyone listening that the Pat's will have an excellent shot to win the whole damn thing next season. I feel extremely confident and will justify it later on.

One of the reasons they have jobs, an insider told me, that when the NYT bought out the Globe all existing staff were guaranteed their jobs as a result of this turnover.

 

[sdaniels7114]

BB once mentioned the fact that if you report that a particular player has a bum shoulder or bruised ribs(for example) you're putting a target on that player because the other team reads the injury report too. That's good enough for me. I'd like to know as much as possible, but not at any player's expense.

 

[marty]

Great post Mo! Cafardo's short slide from "respected sports writer" to hack is becoming all too evident!

 

[stevedogc]

I saw this interview on TV. Cafardo was wearing a shirt that listed the number of patriots injuris on the front and said "belichick lied" on the back.

Who cares?

Are you serious? If it's true, then that guy really needs to ben canned by the Globe. It seems pretty obvios that he has a personnal issue with the Pats if he feels he needs act as a human billboard for what most people in the NFL already know. Not to mention that almost every other team does it.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Great post Mo! Cafardo's short slide from "respected sports writer" to hack is becoming all too evident!

No kidding. This Cafardo topic was 1st discussed yesterday.

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=30582

I never knew Cafardo was respected though.

 

[Pats67]

when was Nick a 'respected sports writer'?

Nick just wants things to go back to the way they were. When people like Bruce Armstrong and Drew would drop everything to promote themselves and pass the blame to their coaches and teammates, and Nick's livin' was easy.

 

[marty]

I never knew Cafardo was respected though.

It was many, many years ago!

 

[SamBam39]

It was many, many years ago!

no, he was NEVER respected.

a can of spam is brighter than that clown.
he's never come across as anything but a boring clown,
with nothing of value to contribute. he has never given
anyone a reason to care about what he thinks.

now he's just trying to mimick shaughnessy, borges and others
by creating interest in his columns through being controversial.
all the weak writers have to revert to that to keep any readers
at all interested, for any reason.

gotta sell papers.
pats will obviously be championship contenders for many years,
and anyone with a clue can see that immediately. this fool's efforts
to suggest otherwise is just pathetic groping for attention.

 

[Pats67]

I really don't think Nick is the kind of guy who wants to be controversial. Nick really believes the things he says, which, it could be argued, is a lot worse.

He's got the greatest sense of entitlement of any sportswriter this side of Dan Shaughnessy. He and his colleagues are the stars and the team should be deferential towards him, as people don't watch football because they like the sport, they watch football to find out what Nick Cafardo thinks about it.

His resentment towards the Patriots is rooted in their decision to dispatch his treasured 'sources close to the team', which happened to be the quarterback and the left tackle. Since then, Nick's had a mighty axe to grind.

No word yet on who he'll hitch his wagon to now that his preferred candidate, Tom Donahoe (who just happens to be amongst the most accomodating NFL execs in history when it comes to the press) ran the Buffalo Bills into the ground after four years of Nick telling everyone what a genuius Donahoe is.

Early bets are on Baltimore, an old favorite of Nick's, probably because he has someone there who always returns his calls (Terry McDonough, maybe?). On the same radio program that he dismissively called the 3 of 4 "a little dynasty" (changed to a "mini-dynasty" when host Michael Felger objected), Nick claimed that Baltimore is among the teams that is "catching up" with the Patriots.

Baltimore, of course, finished the 2005 season at 6-10.

 

[PATSNUTme]

I really don't think Nick is the kind of guy who wants to be controversial. Nick really believes the things he says, which, it could be argued, is a lot worse.

He's got the greatest sense of entitlement of any sportswriter this side of Dan Shaughnessy. He and his colleagues are the stars and the team should be deferential towards him, as people don't watch football because they like the sport, they watch football to find out what Nick Cafardo thinks about it.

His resentment towards the Patriots is rooted in their decision to dispatch his treasured 'sources close to the team', which happened to be the quarterback and the left tackle. Since then, Nick's had a mighty axe to grind.

No word yet on who he'll hitch his wagon to now that his preferred candidate, Tom Donahoe (who just happens to be amongst the most accomodating NFL execs in history when it comes to the press) ran the Buffalo Bills into the ground after four years of Nick telling everyone what a genuius Donahoe is.

Early bets are on Baltimore, an old favorite of Nick's, probably because he has someone there who always returns his calls (Terry McDonough, maybe?). On the same radio program that he dismissively called the 3 of 4 "a little dynasty" (changed to a "mini-dynasty" when host Michael Felger objected), Nick claimed that Baltimore is among the teams that is "catching up" with the Patriots.

Baltimore, of course, finished the 2005 season at 6-10.

He is even more stupid than I thought. Baltimore catching up with the Patriots?

That is a team full of underachieving pro-bowl players. If your roster is full of pro bowl players, it's a good idea to catch up with yourself before thinking about catching up with another team.

 

[Pats67]

Correction: Terry McDonough (son of Will, brother of Sean) has moved on from the Ravens and has been working with the Jags for awhile now. So that's not the connection, at least not anymore.

 

[Bill's Girl]

I really don't think Nick is the kind of guy who wants to be controversial. Nick really believes the things he says, which, it could be argued, is a lot worse.

Early bets are on Baltimore, an old favorite of Nick's, probably because he has someone there who always returns his calls (Terry McDonough, maybe?). On the same radio program that he dismissively called the 3 of 4 "a little dynasty" (changed to a "mini-dynasty" when host Michael Felger objected), Nick claimed that Baltimore is among the teams that is "catching up" with the Patriots.

If he is wearing a shirt that said, "Belichick lied," That is controversial.

Also I am sick of the local media saying this is not a dynasty. The Cowboys were considered the dynasty of the 90's and they did the same thing we did, three rings in four years. We need some new blood at the Globe!

 

[Bella*chick]

I saw this interview on TV. Cafardo was wearing a shirt that listed the number of patriots injuris on the front and said "belichick lied" on the back.

Who cares?

You have got to be kidding! What does Cardofo think this is, Vietnam?

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

when was Nick a 'respected sports writer'?

That is similar to the honorific "Honorable" when applied to our beloved Senators and Congress Critters, null value.

 

[Pats67]

If he is wearing a shirt that said, "Belichick lied," That is controversial.

It was a radio interview (on Felger's show). No one saw it on TV. That was a joke, and a well played one, as Nick spent much of the segment telling Felger "I don't like to be LIED to!" (regarding the Patriots policy of releasing only minimal injury information).

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I really don't think Nick is the kind of guy who wants to be controversial. Nick really believes the things he says, which, it could be argued, is a lot worse.

He's got the greatest sense of entitlement of any sportswriter this side of Dan Shaughnessy. He and his colleagues are the stars and the team should be deferential towards him, as people don't watch football because they like the sport, they watch football to find out what Nick Cafardo thinks about it.

His resentment towards the Patriots is rooted in their decision to dispatch his treasured 'sources close to the team', which happened to be the quarterback and the left tackle. Since then, Nick's had a mighty axe to grind.

No word yet on who he'll hitch his wagon to now that his preferred candidate, Tom Donahoe (who just happens to be amongst the most accomodating NFL execs in history when it comes to the press) ran the Buffalo Bills into the ground after four years of Nick telling everyone what a genuius Donahoe is.

Early bets are on Baltimore, an old favorite of Nick's, probably because he has someone there who always returns his calls (Terry McDonough, maybe?). On the same radio program that he dismissively called the 3 of 4 "a little dynasty" (changed to a "mini-dynasty" when host Michael Felger objected), Nick claimed that Baltimore is among the teams that is "catching up" with the Patriots.

Baltimore, of course, finished the 2005 season at 6-10.

Most concise take on Cafardo's warped football psyche I've ever heard!

I think he and Borges simply grew up in the shadow of Will McDonough. They believe that access and information equals influence and even power. In the dark days Will built himself into this mythical sports figure who told the team what to do or how to do it. BB basically looks at the media quizically and closes the door. The day he curries favor with them by tossing them juicy little morsels to feed that belief, yet alone gives a rats ass what they think or opine about what he does or what he should do, hell will freeze over. Felger gets a little full of it at times, but he howled when BB jokingly referred to media football grades a few weeks back in a PC. Because while he relished the opportinuty to take over that much ballyhooed Mannix job at the Herald, he understands it's just fan fodder and reporter grading is nothing a good team should take seriously.

For the Cafardo's and Borges' of the world there is no glory in covering a tough minded and stoic (like their coach) team who just wins. They would rather cover a neverending mess like the JETS or an ego/felon driven failure like Baltimore or a meddlesome aging ownership saga like the Bills where they can tell you what they should be doing or claim they told you so when they do (or unfortunately don't). They love to champion the underappreciated geniuses like Donahoe, Herm, Billick, Shanahan, Marty, Al Davis, their beloved Tuna and a host of insecure others who will feed these guys info and material in an effort to curry favor so they'll spin their failures gently and sympathetically while never ceasing to point to some long ago success.

It's the old school approach, and you can see the frustration in their faces and hear it in their voices whenever they are matched up with a new age peer who will counter or even challenge them factually. They bridle at the accolades some of the relative youngsters like Reiss and Holley and Felger and Curren get for persuing a facts based approach to reporting on this team (not to mention a more objective view of teams in other towns). In their book that's just reporting, and any idiot with a tape recorder and a pencil can do that.

In the final analysis Borges and Cafardo for all their outside contacts and access are just shmucks (which is what they think their peers in this town are). The only difference is they fall for the teams and the sources that feed them slanted information, while accusing their peers of falling for Belichick (who has done nothing to earn that treatment except win championships- duh). The Patriots have done more to elevate football media profiles in this town than any amount of information pandering sources inside (disgruntled agents or former players) or outside this team feed those two old schoolers. They simply don't appreciate what this team does because they want to be judged as Will was, not by the quality of your reporting or the success of the team you cover, but by a perception of your unique insight. Will built that information based perception by instilling fear in his subjects. BB quite simply is a lot smarter and more self confident than Will's subjects were and he will not be intimidated by the media. And he will not tolerate anyone in his organization who will allow themselves to be either.

Winning has certainly helped him to maintain that position. These two are just waiting with baited breath for the time to come when he won't have that winning cache to maintain the stoic fortress at what Borges likes to call the razor blade. They are sure that time will come and that is when they will reestablish their access to the team through the back door and slit BB's throat by uncovering how many players really hate him and how little real genius he ever posessed.

And that is why Cafardo has to truly believe his little dynasty era is over spiel. He and Borges aren't getting any younger and something's gotta break their way. To them the alternative is unfathomable. They'll end up washed up McDonough wannabes because they couldn't acknowledge greatness when it stood right in front of them and hit them over the head repeatedly with it's Lombardi's.

 

[Patti37]

First, why do fans have a right to know specifics about injuries? So they can make more informed bets?

Second, Brady had a sports hernia and the Patriots made the playoffs. The QB was hurt, sucked it up and brought his team to the playoffs. How can you say the "mini" dynasty is over." I think all things considered this team overachieved this year. They will be back bigger and better next year.