King: MMQB Tuesday Edition

[patman#1]

King is a wimp!!!! I'm sure he was inundated with emails from Patriot fans tearing him a new one and providing intelligent counter points to some of the ridiculous things he's said over the last week, but he only posts one email from a supposed Pat's fan from MA. What a piece of crap!!!!!!!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/09/17/week.2/index.html

 

[naclone]

I sent this email to King today. Sent one similar last week. The questions remain unanswered, so I figured they were worth asking again...


Peter,

We are now over one week into “CameraGate” and many important questions remain unanswered:

1. What was Belichick using the video for?
2. If he was using it to “steal” signals (which I don’t believe anybody has offered any proof of yet) why/how does use of a camera offer any more of a competitive advantage over any of the more widely accepted means of stealing signals that many others (Mike Shanahan, Jimmy Johnson, Zach Thomas) have admitted to doing?
3. Why exactly did Belichick do this out in the open, against a guy who knew he was doing it?
4. Why did he continue to do it even after being told not to?

So far, after more than a week of breathless coverage and righteous indignation on the subject I don’t believe we’ve gotten anything more substantial than “I don’t know” on any of those questions.

Now, I know you and your colleagues would say it’s up to Belichick to answer those questions, but in this country, we generally don’t expect folks to incriminate themselves. So I think it is up to you guys to offer some support for your assertions.

I’m not saying Belichick didn’t do something wrong or shouldn’t be punished. I’m saying, don’t we need to know the answers to those questions before we pass judgment on somebody who has done so much for this league? Shouldn’t the fans demand more than, “I don’t know, but he must be gaining some advantage, or he wouldn’t have done it”?

Where is the journalism? Where is the reporting? Somebody from the competition committee leaking a video is not journalism worthy of praise. When Jay Glaser answers any of the above questions, go ahead and give him a cookie.

Once more I challenge you and your colleagues to get the real story on this. Spend just a little less time passing judgment and a little more time providing information for your readers/viewers to come to their own conclusion. Isn’t that what journalism is supposed to be? Even sports journalism?

Best,

James

 

[Kdo5]

Yeah a supposed Pats fan. Probably the only "Pats fan" who sent an email bashing the Pats. King is a POS.

 

[Bertil]

He probably wrote that one himself, replete with the reference to the "live-in Girlfriend", probably to infer a lower moral standard!

Then again, I'm cynical.

 

[Rob0729]

I sent an e-mail asking him why he could talk about the backlash about Eric Mangini including what he describes as a profanity filled tirade about Mangini being a rat, but not even illude to nationally. Especially with Brian Billick making allegations, I figured they would jump all over it.

 

[patman#1]

I sent this email to King today. Sent one similar last week. The questions remain unanswered, so I figured they were worth asking again...


Peter,

We are now over one week into “CameraGate” and many important questions remain unanswered:

1. What was Belichick using the video for?
2. If he was using it to “steal” signals (which I don’t believe anybody has offered any proof of yet) why/how does use of a camera offer any more of a competitive advantage over any of the more widely accepted means of stealing signals that many others (Mike Shanahan, Jimmy Johnson, Zach Thomas) have admitted to doing?
3. Why exactly did Belichick do this out in the open, against a guy who knew he was doing it?
4. Why did he continue to do it even after being told not to?

So far, after more than a week of breathless coverage and righteous indignation on the subject I don’t believe we’ve gotten anything more substantial than “I don’t know” on any of those questions.

Now, I know you and your colleagues would say it’s up to Belichick to answer those questions, but in this country, we generally don’t expect folks to incriminate themselves. So I think it is up to you guys to offer some support for your assertions.

I’m not saying Belichick didn’t do something wrong or shouldn’t be punished. I’m saying, don’t we need to know the answers to those questions before we pass judgment on somebody who has done so much for this league? Shouldn’t the fans demand more than, “I don’t know, but he must be gaining some advantage, or he wouldn’t have done it”?

Where is the journalism? Where is the reporting? Somebody from the competition committee leaking a video is not journalism worthy of praise. When Jay Glaser answers any of the above questions, go ahead and give him a cookie.

Once more I challenge you and your colleagues to get the real story on this. Spend just a little less time passing judgment and a little more time providing information for your readers/viewers to come to their own conclusion. Isn’t that what journalism is supposed to be? Even sports journalism?

Best,

James

He doesn't have the stones to respond to your email, nor the journalistic integrity to actually do some hard work on a story and get all the facts.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Yeah a supposed Pats fan. Probably the only "Pats fan" who sent an email bashing the Pats. King is a POS.

We have a small percentage of Patriots fans here that think Goodell has handled it fine and have stated that they wouldn't object to a Bb suspension or even firing.

I won't say who they are but look at the "Goodell resign" poll, eliminate the trolls and they are there amongts the remaining no voters. Not all the remaining but a few.

 

[patsox23]

I sent this email to King today. Sent one similar last week. The questions remain unanswered, so I figured they were worth asking again...


Peter,

We are now over one week into “CameraGate” and many important questions remain unanswered:

1. What was Belichick using the video for?
2. If he was using it to “steal” signals (which I don’t believe anybody has offered any proof of yet) why/how does use of a camera offer any more of a competitive advantage over any of the more widely accepted means of stealing signals that many others (Mike Shanahan, Jimmy Johnson, Zach Thomas) have admitted to doing?
3. Why exactly did Belichick do this out in the open, against a guy who knew he was doing it?
4. Why did he continue to do it even after being told not to?

So far, after more than a week of breathless coverage and righteous indignation on the subject I don’t believe we’ve gotten anything more substantial than “I don’t know” on any of those questions.

Now, I know you and your colleagues would say it’s up to Belichick to answer those questions, but in this country, we generally don’t expect folks to incriminate themselves. So I think it is up to you guys to offer some support for your assertions.

I’m not saying Belichick didn’t do something wrong or shouldn’t be punished. I’m saying, don’t we need to know the answers to those questions before we pass judgment on somebody who has done so much for this league? Shouldn’t the fans demand more than, “I don’t know, but he must be gaining some advantage, or he wouldn’t have done it”?

Where is the journalism? Where is the reporting? Somebody from the competition committee leaking a video is not journalism worthy of praise. When Jay Glaser answers any of the above questions, go ahead and give him a cookie.

Once more I challenge you and your colleagues to get the real story on this. Spend just a little less time passing judgment and a little more time providing information for your readers/viewers to come to their own conclusion. Isn’t that what journalism is supposed to be? Even sports journalism?

Best,

James

FANTASTIC. Really thoroughly WELL DONE. Post here constantly from now on. Please.

 

[everlong]

I sent King an email as well bring up all the points from the Fins to the media bias and his questioning Long saying it was people waiting in the tall grass for just this chance at BB.

I told him I thought he was better than that and that I would never read him again because he was no better than an ESPN hack.

 

[MassPats38]

I e-mailed Peter King as well, largely asking the same question: what is the overall effect of this taping incident in light of all the permissible pictures and video actually pointed out by Madden during the game along with the non-taped spectators watching the exact same picture being illegally videotaped.

I will say I generally like Peter King (and I suspect he is or was a Pats fan), but I am baffled by all those critics of Goodell's punishment saying it was too light. Nobody has satisfactorily explained the leniency statements (Lenient in contrast to what? Denver's punishment for the salary cap violation, by which it conceivably could have put better players on the field and was fined one-third as much?).

Belichick was arrogant and flouted a league rule and was punished for doing so. I read that as a declaration that when rules are made and clear, they will be followed. If what Belichick did was the equivalent of point shaving or biased refereeing that actually produced wins and losses, I would say ban him from the sport as to allow otherwise changes competive games to staged theater like professional wrestling. I cannot accept that is the case here, and not one of the media pundits can so much as offer a theory as to how what Belichick did reflects more than a personal preference he continued after a rule dictated he stop.

Add to this what I perceive to be a negative slant on the order to turn over tapes (in the law, if you are in possession of something illegally obtained, you are ordered to turn it in regardless of fines imposed - I see that as the substance of the order, not further investigation into prior stealing which would run contrary to Goodell's statement during the Patriots game that he wants the violations to stop from this point on). The media would love to see Belichick fall given his poor relationship with that group, and will paint him as a demon and everyone else in the league as a saint. The use of the term cheater rather than violator is telling, the former term not applying until an identifiable gain is established.

In the end, prior coaches (Madden and Johnson) have indicated the violation was no big deal in the scope of the game, and those are the statements I trust. I actually believe Howie Long was right in saying the snakes are taking their shots by amplifying the significance of this since they have had little to criticize the organization for in the past. The Internet has taking the brute force away from the media, so journalists cannot compel people to talk. As such, Bellichick drives the local media and national media up the wall with his iron curtain silence and patented, monotone statements that give few sound bites.