Now Bob Ryan is piling on BB...

[PatriotsReign]

Re: Now Bob Ryan is piling on BB..

In his wildest dreams (or delusions) Clemens wishes McNamee were Walsh. If Walsh is to be believed - on any testimony that was factual and not cherry picked and merely his opinion - Clemens would have been exonerated. Walsh had NOTHING beyond what Belichick had already admitted to. The nanny (Daboll) isn't backing McNamee's (Walsh's) recollections up. The syringes he produced didn't have any residual traces of walkthrough mixed with Belichick DNA on 'em. And Walsh testified he never injected BB with anything more than vitamin B and lidocaine (signals on tapes he never turned over during a game).

Walsh stated he believed (as opposed to knew) that BB lied when he said he misinterpreted the rule. That would be the equivalent of McNamee stating he believed Clemens lied when he said he never intentionally threw that bat at Mike Piazza... An interesting and arguably believable assertion, but it has nothing to do with the cases at hand which revolved around the use of steroids or the filming of an opponents walkthrough.

Like Peter King told Tom E. Curran when he helped him get a national gig, you write for your audience (i.e. ethics and intelligence be damned). Which is the same audience local Boston mediots apparently target.

It's a good thing Al Gore invented the internet and message boards and blogs and whatnot so us yahoo half blind homer locals can write for ourselves and still have something worthwhile to read...

That's why I voted for Gore!

 

[BradyManny]

I just wrote Bob Ryan as respectful a reminder I could that Matt Walsh is a compulsive liar.

I kept it more respectful than I wanted out of deference to what Ryan has contributed to sports writing in this town over his career, but the truth is, he is very out of touch with sports these days, and even the sport of his expertise - basketball. In fact, I wrote him a bit more scathing note after his woefully ignorant article about the Celtics bench back at the beginning of the year that all but proved he hasn't been watching basketball in the past 5 years.

But again, I feel we as Pats fans should let Ryan know we're not going to let the local writers spew out complete BS, which is what his article was. The truth and facts really are on Belichick's side here. I encourage any and everyone to write Ryan, and also encourage them to be as respectful as possible given Ryan's stature and the respect he has demanded during his time writing here.

 

[PromisedLand]

Most of what has been said in this thread is true, but I do agree with one thing that Ryan said: Pats fans WILL be on the defensive for the rest of their lives.

Simply witness the number of posts on this site about "the incident" since the story first broke last September. 99% of them are defending the Pats. That's being on the defensive, my friends.

Not to sermonize (on this Sunday morning), but I think the life lesson is that the appearance of impropriety can be as bad as impropriety itself.

 

[bobcalkin]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

Great Email! At this point, however, I think it is time for us to give up trying to get the meadiots to see reason. When you get right down to the base of it this story is all about money. The media discovered a gold mine with the baseball steroids scandal and have been mining it ever since. They know that any story where they can use the word “cheat” is going to have legs and make a lot of money. So when a story involving the marquee franchise in the most popular league in the world appeared it was too good to be true. From day one they aggressively spun the story and manipulated facts so that the story would fit what is most American’s preconceived idea about “cheating”. Note, that what most people perceive as cheating is not necessarily the same as the dictionary definition. To make a card analogy, most people would perceive that a card player who was secretly video taping an opponents hand and having the information relayed to him during the game would obviously be “cheating”. However, in the same situation if it were discovered that the card player was filming the flop cards and then panning to his opponents face so that he could later study the film in hopes of learning the opponents tells would be entirely different. Maybe a technical violation of the rules but it would certainly be looked at much differently than the first scenario. From the beginning the media portrayed Spygate as the first scenario even though it was clearly the second. Since then, as Jim Nance so eloquently explained, layer up layer of “opinion” has been added. The media now reports on the “opinions” not the facts. Unfortunately it now far too late to go back and objectively look at the facts. The irony is that those who are now being portrayed as mindless sycophants blindly supporting their team are the ONLY people who are even attempting to look at the Facts. Honestly, this episode has been a very sad commentary on the media and our society.

 

[PatriotsReign]

Most of what has been said in this thread is true, but I do agree with one thing that Ryan said: Pats fans WILL be on the defensive for the rest of their lives.

Simply witness the number of posts on this site about "the incident" since the story first broke last September. 99% of them are defending the Pats. That's being on the defensive, my friends.

Not to sermonize (on this Sunday morning), but I think the life lesson is that the appearance of impropriety can be as bad as impropriety itself.

I have always defended those I respect with a sense of duty. so defending the Patriots & Belichik aren't difficult for me...i don't mind it

 

[patriotspride]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

Sent to Mr. Ryan this morning ...


Bob,

You state that the cover-up is the problem. Well, what exactly is it that is being covered up? No one from the league has suggested that the Patriots were anything but forthcoming in the investigation that followed the Estrella incident at the Meadowlands. Indeed, Roger Goodell himself indicated that Matt Walsh revealed exactly nothing that the commissioner did not know already. There is not a single shred of evidence to support (much less prove) any of the wild accusations that have circulated since last September, accusations that many media outlets have been all to happy to promote and sensationalize at every opportunity.

What Belichick did was wrong. He has taken responsibility and apologized. He paid his fine without appeal or public complaint. I'm not sure what else he is supposed to do.

Belichick clearly explained the rationale for his actions. He cited a passage in the constitution and bylaws to support his reasoning. Now you and others (including the commissioner) may not agree with his position, but to suggest that Belichick's explanation is a lie requires that one person truly knows what another was thinking. I doubt that you could make that claim with a straight face and neither could Roger Goddell. (That anti-Semitic kook Gregg Easterbrook is another story).

Or else you have to actually believe Matt Walsh. The willingness of the press to embrace the ramblings of Walsh as gospel says a lot more about the objectivity of the media than anything else. I guess it makes a better story if Walsh is right.

The mention of Belichick's personal life is gratuitous and you know it. Comparing Belichick to Nixon is not only tired (see Easterbrook), it's lazy, sensationalist, and absurd. Tormented? Paranoid? Please. Just how much time have you spent with the man? Press conferences? Is this the sole basis for your profound personal insights?

From a distance, I would say this. Bill Belichick is driven and ultracompetitive. Why did he tape? He did it because he sought an edge (no matter how small) and because it was a more efficient way to scout a football game. He just simply could not let it be, because the same traits that make him successful also lead him to make mistakes (such as this one). That makes him just like the rest of us - you have to take the whole package. .

His love of football and coaching is palpable. He does not suffer fools gladly and my sense is that he has to deal with plenty. I would also guess that he is not at all at ease with people he does not know well; this might manifest itself as "arrogance" but could be that he is just really introverted. But why bother trying to understand someone when you can attach labels ("arrogant, tormented, ...") and make harsh judgments? What kind of a story would that make?

Maybe someone can answer this question for me. If Bill Belichick is as untrustworty and duplicitous as you say, why didn't this team bail on him? Why did they rally around him and work even harder to do what he asked? Because if that team didn't trust him and believe in him, they'd have cut his throat in a heart beat.

excellent letter. i hope he reads it.

 

[Jackson 2]

I just wrote Bob Ryan as respectful a reminder I could that Matt Walsh is a compulsive liar.

I kept it more respectful than I wanted out of deference to what Ryan has contributed to sports writing in this town over his career, but the truth is, he is very out of touch with sports these days, and even the sport of his expertise - basketball. In fact, I wrote him a bit more scathing note after his woefully ignorant article about the Celtics bench back at the beginning of the year that all but proved he hasn't been watching basketball in the past 5 years.

But again, I feel we as Pats fans should let Ryan know we're not going to let the local writers spew out complete BS, which is what his article was. The truth and facts really are on Belichick's side here. I encourage any and everyone to write Ryan, and also encourage them to be as respectful as possible given Ryan's stature and the respect he has demanded during his time writing here.

I just wrote him a note expressing my disappointment in him. I always considered him a really fair guy. Most of the time I agreed with his viewpoints and when I didn't, I still respected him because I thought he was fair. This is the first "hatchet job" that has really gotten to me. If this guy has joined the other jackals in the lynch mob, there's little or no hope that BB will get a fair shake anywhere.

 

[RayClay]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

This is the Bob Ryan that followed Red Auerbach's Celtics right???

BB is mother Theresa compared to Red.

 

[BradyManny]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

Well done, I hope he reads and responds. I wrote him a similar note. And as I said in another thread - let's be as respectful as possible, especially with Ryan. He's earned it, no matter how off base he is here and how off base he's been about the Celtics for quite some time.

 

[nelly57]

but I do agree with one thing that Ryan said: Pats fans WILL be on the defensive for the rest of their lives.

Thats a given, about nine months agos, I have accepted that. What I would argue with is that Kraft is dissapointed with BB. IMO, as stated already, Kraft may be dissapointed with Goodell and the witch hunt that he had ignited.

 

[PittPatriot]

Will McDonough, where art thou?

After reading Bob Ryan's article this morning, I found myself wishing Will McDonough were still alive. If I recall, he was a reputable, highly respected statesman of the media. I'd really like to know what he'd say about CameraGate and the 'credibility' of the Patriots and BB.

 

[patsgo]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

hes a hypocrite he trashes jason kidds wife, gets suspended for it, and he comes back to write, belicheck makes a mistake and need to be fired??? looks like a double standard here, hes tainted forever as a sucky reporter in my books, he should go have another drink so his red nose can get redder the big drunk

 

[Rob0729]

Bob Ryan is just an old crumudgeon and one of the last links to the old "angry old man" crowd of Boston Sports writing that included Kevin Mannix and Ron Borges. Ryan has always had a burr in his saddle when it came to the Patriots since the early 90s. He hated that the Patriots bumped the Celtics off the front of the sports pages in winter (Ryan made his career off of writing about the Celtics in the 80s). I don't see him as much of a football fan all together..

 

[patriotfan32]

Could the media please stop comparing McNamee, a person who was compelled to tell the truth or face prosecution to Walsh, a person who wasn't.

 

[PittPatriot]

Bob Ryan is just an old crumudgeon and one of the last links to the old "angry old man" crowd of Boston Sports writing that included Kevin Mannix and Ron Borges. Ryan has always had a burr in his saddle when it came to the Patriots since the early 90s. He hated that the Patriots bumped the Celtics off the front of the sports pages in winter (Ryan made his career off of writing about the Celtics in the 80s). I don't see him as much of a football fan all together..

Regardless, at some time you have to wonder how many senior level sportswriters are going to bash the Pats.
It seems the only guy who 'defends us' consistently is Reiss...but he is unknown nationally and is very green on the sports scene. That is why I wish someone like a Will McDonough were alive to maybe lend some support to us in the National media.

 

[OtisCampbell]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

Well done, I hope he reads and responds. I wrote him a similar note. And as I said in another thread - let's be as respectful as possible, especially with Ryan. He's earned it, no matter how off base he is here and how off base he's been about the Celtics for quite some time.

I'm not suggesting anyone write anything hateful, but once he mentioned "tangled personal life" he has lost what he earned.

 

[nelly57]

...(Ryan made his career off of writing about the Celtics in the 80s). I don't see him as much of a football fan all together..

Not to stir any feathers, if someone can list an insightful Pats story please list it b/c I don't recall any from the guy. That's why I think it was rather elitist and out of touch when he writes about the opinion of an owner of a sport that he doesn't cover. That said, I'm still respectful of the amount time he had covering basketball. Ryan's goes back to the Russell era (when he was player/coach), he told stories about how Russell would play mind games with him when he was a young beat writer. IMO, he was an excellent beat writer.

 

[p8ryts]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

I sent him the following email.


I know you will dismiss this as the ramblings of one of Massaroti's repressed Pats fans (I'm wearing my gray hoodie with BB ironed on the front), however I would like to give my semi literate perspective. I have had this postion from the very beginning of this issue and retain it today, not just because I'm a Patriot fan but because I am a football fan.

My perspective is that stealing signals is a time honored tradition in sports. It happens in baseball today and it happens in football today. Football has a tradition of spying. I'm certain you are familiar with stories about security personnel chasing people from upper reaches of practice stadiums or from adjacent trees and surprise, surprise, that's why they have closed practices. That's why coaches hold paper in front of their mouths when calling signals so people can't read their lips. That's why they have personnel stand beside them to shield them when calling plays.

Yes, Belichick was arrogant by continuing do it when warned (not surprisingly, I thought he had a legitimate perspective of the rule) but he and the team have paid the price.

I believe Belichick uses these films for developing tendencies by teams and coaches during certain situations and it just proves that he is better at it than anyone else as he is in many aspects of coaching and managing a football team.

When people like Senator Spect(re) equate stealing signals in sports to stealing cars he just shows his ignorance.

Your column on Belichick would have been great in San Diego, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but in New England it was arrogance on your part to write such disparaging drivel.

I have complimented you in the past but this was ridiculous. What is going on here? Are you one of the writers that think by attacking Belichick and New England fans that you are defending Thomase and the Herald indirectly. Think what you will but the New England fan has had it with Spygate. The New England fan respects Belichicks accomplishments and he has our support. Please stop boring us with this drivel.

 

[PatsWSB47]

Re: E-mail to Bob Ryan

Here's my email I just sent to him:

Et tu Brute?

 

[flasox27]

Just realize that Ryan is just a ESPN employee spouting the party line and his motivation for the article is very clear. The days of him being a Boston sportswriter are long gone.