Taking a vacation

[Bill's Girl]

I may see this situation through Belichick colored glasses, but by no means do I think everything he does is perfect. I think that not re-signing Willie is a mistake. I think letting Adam get to free agency is a mistake.

I just don't understand how percieved inactivity during the first week of free agency, coupled with the loss of some of our players translates into BB losing his fire or BB should be fired or does BB know FA has started.....

I feel like going ballistic because normally fun, level headed members of this group are acting like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers!

I am really looking forward to BB's lecture next month, he is a bit looser at these things and I can't wait to see how he answers questions about all that has transpired in FA so far! HC and I will be posting a transcript. I have a feeling that we will not hear from him publicly until then, unless there is a big FA signing in the interim.

My appologies if I have offended any members of this board. The fact that the board has been so active is a testament to the passion we have for this team. But we only need to look back to the pre=Brady/Belichick days to see how good we really have it!

 

[Ian]

To be honest.....I haven't even read the "Should BB fired" thread.....and quite obviously.....that is absolutely ludicrous in my opinion......However, there are those who apparently must feel that BB has lost his edge, and the team is headed on a downslope.....SO IN THEIR opinion.......he needs to go.......I can't see the rationale AT ALL/in the least..... in that way of thinking.....but everyone is entitled to their opinion.....just like everyone has a "you know what" as the saying goes

You are also correct....that there is FAR too much "turning" on each other here......and nasty, insulting remarks made by people that do not see things EXACTLY as you see them. That is unfortunate..........and people need to simply say "You are entitled to your opinion, but I disagree".....and MOVE ON........everyone is different on here....and has many different views on the same topic. I really enjoy reading views on something that I haven't thought of....when presented intelligently and with good etiquette.......one man's opinion.......

You're right....everyone is entitled to their opinion, but we also have our breaking point

The "Should BB be fired" was mine, and I'm guessing it was Diggers also. It's O.K. to question their authority and the logic in their decisions. But as I've said to over react in March is just ridiculous, and to see everyone turning on eachother with the season nearly six months away is just foolish.

Ian

 

[Joker]

Canty was bad enough...but then the hated Phins drafted Sam Madison in the second round....THAT hurt

Nobody mentions Petersen anywhere...why is that? Would he ask for too much in guarantees? I look at him and see another Rodney Harrison as far as impact goes. And yes they like experienced LB's but they DID take a gamble with a little known Pittsburgh 2nd stringer named Vrabel that turned out OK so who knows...maybe they go after a LB high this year...one thing for sure, you just never know with them because they never hold true to form..i.e. Watson, Wilfork etc

 

[patpatriot]

Reperesenting the Dark Side

Canty was bad enough...but then the hated Phins drafted Sam Madison in the second round....THAT hurt

Nobody mentions Petersen anywhere...why is that? Would he ask for too much in guarantees? I look at him and see another Rodney Harrison as far as impact goes. And yes they like experienced LB's but they DID take a gamble with a little known Pittsburgh 2nd stringer named Vrabel that turned out OK so who knows...maybe they go after a LB high this year...one thing for sure, you just never know with them because they never hold true to form..i.e. Watson, Wilfork etc

You don't hear much about that player because his agent is...drumroll...Carl..no just Kevin Poston. (Apologies to Miguel who appently is the "lost" Poston brother.)

 

[stcjones]

This is a brilliant post.....

I may see this situation through Belichick colored glasses, but by no means do I think everything he does is perfect. I think that not re-signing Willie is a mistake. I think letting Adam get to free agency is a mistake.

I just don't understand how percieved inactivity during the first week of free agency, coupled with the loss of some of our players translates into BB losing his fire or BB should be fired or does BB know FA has started.....

I feel like going ballistic because normally fun, level headed members of this group are acting like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers!

I am really looking forward to BB's lecture next month, he is a bit looser at these things and I can't wait to see how he answers questions about all that has transpired in FA so far! HC and I will be posting a transcript. I have a feeling that we will not hear from him publicly until then, unless there is a big FA signing in the interim.

My appologies if I have offended any members of this board. The fact that the board has been so active is a testament to the passion we have for this team. But we only need to look back to the pre=Brady/Belichick days to see how good we really have it!

Brilliant post IMHO Bill's girl........I agree with your opinion regarding overall with not trying to do something to keep Willie...although I do think the 4 yr contract is a mistake because he is getting older.....I just love the guy as a player.....was one of the heart's and soul's of the team and one of it's best leaders IMHO....and it is sad to see him go.........I also hope they don't let Vinny go......the guy has SEVERAL good years left and is unquestionably STILL one of the "clutchest" kickers ever......hope they can re-sign him....

That having been said.....I also agree that it is not time to start jumping off the bridges yet because we haven't done anything in free agency......WE RARELY do!!!

We also MAY have to prepare for the fact that this may be a team on the re-build.....and we may go through a few losing seasons (as every DYNASTY team has done after winning a few SB's) during that re-building phase....hard to say that it will be this year or next.....but let's be realistic.....a downslope is going to come eventually.....NO team can keep winning SB's year after year after year....

But....I will be forever THANKFUL to the Pats for bringing me so much happiness over the past 5-6 years.......absolutely INCREDIBLE ride.....and let's hope it ain't over yet!!! One man's opinion

 

[smg93]

Chill out people! It's just football. Debate is great. Name calling however is more a reflection of the poster than the target. How about we let that sentence sink in for a second. Ahhhh, ok. Sit back, relax, it's March. Willie was a great part of this team and best of luck to him. But honestly, I still root for the Patriots. So many panicky people here on both sides seem to forget that we are on one of the most successful runs in NFL history. Can't we all just enjoy that? Players come and go but it's the team that's most important.

 

[IcyPatriot]

"Most of these posters would have had cardiac arrests if they lived through the Booby Grier "29 out of 31 draft picks fall flat" years. They really have no clue how fortunate we are that Bob Kraft has the sagacity to hire Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli."

Good points here Joker.......I remember those days.....and yes, in my opinion, we are VERY fortunate to have the great ownership of Robert Kraft, and overall.....the leadership of BB and Pioli. Their record in player personnel overall is very positive........

Cardiac Arrests under Bobby Grier? They'd be pushing mushrooms then if they suffered through **** "Rah-Rah" McPherson

 

[Alk]

Wow, I can't remember seeing a bigger bunch of crybabies in my life. "I don't approve of what you are typing so I'm going to take my keyboard and go home." If I let half of what was said around here that I don't agree with get to me, I would probably be looking for a new team.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

We'll wake you up when the roster purge/overhaul is completed.

 

[RayClay]

Everybody needs to chill out.

The chicken littles are providing some needed comedy relief while we wait for the real teams, (N.E., Pitt Philly etc.) to start doing business.

Of course when I see 4 or 5 different "posters" with <10 posts and the same panicky M.O., I figure it might be the same guy.

Maybe I'm just the suspicious type.

 

[smg93]

Everybody needs to chill out.

Of course when I see 4 or 5 different "posters" with <10 posts and the same panicky M.O., I figure it might be the same guy.

I'm sure they're different posters who are all just shocked at Givens and Willie leaving. Sometimes people just need to vent their frustrations. I think the "older posters" can ease up a bit on these guys. Many posters in this board were first intrigued by joining this community because of a similar need to either a) find like minded people or b) to be heard. After the initial blasts of :enranged: , people tend to calm down and then posts become more analytical rather than just emotional. Usually the purely irrational posters lose steam very quickly until the next big issue comes along and were left with many new posters who have a lot to add to our discussion.

 

[Pats67]

To debate, you need two people to honestly and sincerely engage in a conversation.

When those debates are happening, you very rarely see anything approaching an 'insult'.

Its only when one poster is intent on pissing off as many people as possible so that he can be the center of attention, THAT'S when you get the insults.

Its discouraging to me that - reading through these posts - there seems to be at least a few people who just don't understand that. They give the 'I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke' speech about harmony and tolerance. In defense of an obvious troll.

So they put the onus not on the provocateur, but on the posters who can't tolerate a troll. They decry 'personal attacks' and throw the 'Kool Aid' strawman again and again, and claim its a case of veteran posters being intolerant.

Man, I can't tell you how off-base I think that is. I also can't tell you how much I think it hurts the board in the long run.

 

[smg93]

Hey 67, just in case your post was a response to mine, I didn't mean to offend any of the older posters here. It's not the point at all of my post. I just think there's a lot of frustration out there and some people have difficulty expressing themselves when they're extremely upset. I'm not saying that the onus is on just the older posters. You're right, responsibility has to be on all sides and that would happen in a perfect world.

The problem is, most of the "trolls" on this board are probably just here for a little while. The older posters have been here for years and treasure this place. It's the older posters who have more to lose if this board ends up being one of those where it's flaming post after flaming post. If the older posters continue to fight, the trolls have more food to feed themselves on.

 

[cdillon28]

Count me in, as well. This is just pathetic. I feel bad for Ian, I'm not sure what he can do about it. Hopefully, the children will scatter soon enough. Happy vacation, Digger.

As I have stated in another Thread I have been with Patsfans.com since it was with rivals. I use to go by the name "Pimpdaddy". When it changed to this format in 2004 I went to the name of "cdillion" I was unable to do any posting the last year plus do to my commitment to this country as I served proudly in Iraq.

-Everyone in buisness knows that in order to run a successful company you not only need to keep your current clients, but you must bring in new clients in order to grow. That' how I run my buisness. It's no different for this website. We must all learn to understand or at least tolerate each other. There should be no insults or taking it to a personal level. For the love of all that's good this is about sports. I can put all this in perspective, because I have seen things that would make grown men cry (I was one of them) over in Iraq. That my friend is real life! You are ready for a "vacation" because someone disagrees with your opinon on BB and the Pats? Man that's weak.
I hope you change your mind about the vacation, because I enjoy corresponding with you as well as all the other potsers, including azpatsfan.
But if not I'll speak to one when your "Vacation" is over.

In bill I trust sometime

 

[Boston Boxer]

This board has offically become ******ed. All the work Ian has done to keep it a quality board has been smashed by pure idiocy. End of the world, firing BB, whining about lost players, and temper tantrums are totally ******ed. Thanks for taking a well thought out board with logical conversation and rivalry and changing it to Idiots-R-Us. Going on vacation form here for a while.

look, this is just the usual dead time and people are board. Look back at all the other off season time on this bored and you will see the same comment each year. It not only this board and this team, there are all kinds of other forums from teams that are doing the same this. If you don't like the dialog lately, then leave. People should be able to make comments, even when you don't agree, without being *****ed at. Make sure you use sun screen on your vacation.

 

[minvardar]

I doubt that new posters bother people much. What bothers some of the old timers and me is the fact that everyone is panicing and calling for firing etc. BB does this every year. He waits for teams to overspend and then gets other guys later on in the free agency process. But many of these posters either have short term memories or are bandwagon fans who have joined the Patriots cause within the last year or two.

Willie is one of my all time favorites. Is he worth 4 million a year? No. If we had no leaders on the team he would be worth 4 million per for a few years maybe. Cleveland is in desperate need of leaders so Romeo is overpaying for him. Givens is a good #2 receiver and not worth 5 million. I like him as well and am happy he got a big payday. Plus if you pay Givens 5 million what do you have to pay Branch.. 7 or 8 million per year?

The patriots have alot of cap room now. I am hoping they are going to extend Branch and Seymour. I bet Seymour will give a little hometown discount, but he will still want to be paid as one of the top defensive lineman in the league (as he should be). Branch will also be wanting a nice raise (and he should be getting it as well).

So instead of being negative try to be positive as this is the way the Patriots have been doing things recently. They have a system and they stick to it. They have not really let us down in the last few years.

 

[patpatriot]

Fire BB?

The "Fire BB?" post by GomezCat was supposed to be a satire I think poking fun at the people who would actually entertain such a crazy thought.

 

[CTPatsFan]

The "Fire BB?" post by GomezCat was supposed to be a satire I think poking fun at the people who would actually entertain such a crazy thought.

It was and he said so in subsequent posts. Those saying that thread was the one that pushed them over the edge obviously didn't read anything other than the title.

 

[marty]

If you feel you must, I'd advise a short one, as most of the "panic posters" attention span will probably be short-lived.

 

[gomezcat]

It was and he said so in subsequent posts. Those saying that thread was the one that pushed them over the edge obviously didn't read anything other than the title.

That's exactly right, with nil sarcasm added. Had anyone read the poll's answers, they could not for one minute have thought that I was serious. One answer was, "yes, fire BB because he will lead us to 0-16 until the end of time". OK, I accept that sarcasm can be obscure at times (and we Brits use it a lot more than Americans) but I was trying to give credit to people's intelligence.
Who ACTUALLY thought that I believed the Pats would go 0-16? IT WAS A JOKE, SATIRE, HUMOUR, following the panic of all the "we haven't signed anyone threads. If you think that was bad, I was torn a new one (quite rightly) for my 2004 preseason concerns about the running game.
Come on, people. Lighten up a little. I was having some fun. Do I want us to sign some sexy names? Yeah, I wouldn't mind but I don't want to overpay for an old, injury prone Archuleta, Milloy, Law or whoever. How about a "me first" Ray Lewis? No thanks. Oh, and I'm happy to be judged by my record. Have a look at my previous posts for my views on BB.

Have some fun back at my expense (I'm English for goodness' sake- how much material do you need? Ask PWP or Box if you need tips) and chill out, those of you who want to leave the forum.