Tomase apologizes to Belichick?

[DarrylS]

Bill to Tomase:

John look, it is what it is, and it was what it was.

Unfortunately John what you said it was and what it really was were different.

John, you had 3 months to clear up what you said it was vs what it is and what it was.

John ... you failed in all 3 areas of the game. You failed in:
What it was
What it is
and
What it will become.

Therefore John it is clear that because it is what it is,
and because it was what it was,
you are what you are, which John is irrelevant to the Patriots orginization.

I am sure there is a need for greater reparations than a 45 second face to face.. not sure he will be all that effective as a pats sports beat writer.. the damage he has done to this franchise is irreparable right now and will take a long time to get better.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

BB probably said the same thing to tomase which he said to tom jackson.

That's what I would have done....

 

[Pats67]

Are you a new fan or do you remember Chuck Fairbanks?

I don't know if this is really the best example to offer, considering that this particular distraction had very little to do with the media at all. The distraction was based on a chaotic scene in the locker room just beforehand, with Erhardt and Bullough as co-head coaches and Fairbanks still in the locker room, and the players wondering what the hell was going on. The Super Bowl was really a completely different situation.

 

[Tunescribe]

I was a newspaper reporter for 17 years, including several years covering sports. It blows my mind that Tomase's still on the Patriots beat -- or even has a job with the Herald -- after his stupendous fiasco. The whole episode challenges my perception of reality on a daily basis.

 

[SVN]

I mean, WTF, the eve of the SB you got this Walsh thing but even more troublesome must have been the threat of congressional hearings and calling your star QB and HC to the stands. I mean , WTF.

i think its even worse when its your hometown paper.i heard the other day that during the 85 SB borges had info about pats players and drugs but he was asked be the coaches to hold off on it and he did. it later hurt him that someone else ran with the story but inspite of being borges he did the right thing.
here we have our own beat writer printing something without evidence and then waiting for 3 months to clear it up.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Was Tomase wearing knee pads?

 

[dhamz]

No one is watching TV or listening to talk radio. They are doing last second game prep and seeing their family off and getting ready to board a bus to be absconded off to some other secluded hotel.

The problem with your account is Jonathan Kraft has already stated publicly that it interfered with the last second game prep you speak of. Coaches and team staff had to meet with NFL officials and address Tomase's made up accusation.

My opinion is it did not cost them the game but it is just an opinion. No one will ever be able to quantify the impact it had.

 

[Seacoast Fan]

No one will ever be able to say with certainlty if it had an impact or not. My own guess is that there must have been some impact, but that it didn't lose the game for us.
But, the related issue is, Tomase and the Herald ran the story expecting it to have an impact, not just on the team but on the assembled media, thereby generating publicity and sales for Tomase and the Herald. And that is unforgiveable in my book.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yeah, the wierd thing is players have been on record as stating that it didn't have an impact while Jonathan Kraft did. I don't know who to believe.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Interesting. Tomass is radioactive in the Patriots Locker Room and has backed himself into a corner elsewhere. If the "NFL beat" is his "thing," then it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, for him to get a job with a major paper or even a second-tier rag like the Herald in another town. Any NFL manager, coach or player is going to wait a long time before they trust him with anything other than answers at Press Conferences, so he wouldn't be able to develop locker room or management sources for a long time. That's how shoddy his reporting was.

I'm amazed that he's still covering the Pats, but I guess the Herald is trying to see if the situation can be fixed, which I imagine it can't. At some point, though, the paper is going to have to decide whether they want to spend premium money on a guy who delivers nothing that couldn't be gotten by an 18 year old intern with a digital recorder at Press Conferences, working for minimum wage. Too bad, huh?

 

[signbabybrady]

a single tear roles down my face....(heavy sarcasim)

Thomase apoligizes to BB face to face and we are supposed to care because???

 

[vyrago]

I don't really chime in on this stuff much, but I was at the players hotel the day before the SB when all that stuff broke, and I'm not sure how much you know about the whole pre-SB prep environment (I know I didn't beforehand) but believe me, it is chaos (and had nothing to do with Tomase's article.)

No one is watching TV or listening to talk radio. They are doing last second game prep and seeing their family off and getting ready to board a bus to be absconded off to some other secluded hotel.

Even the mood in the hotel, with the fans, no one was buzzing about the latest SpyGate rumors. There wasn't a blink about it in the eye of the storm.

I'm confident it had 0.00% to do with the loss.

That doesn't seem to be Jonathan Kraft's opinion.

 

[NEPatriot]

Tomase still has his job at Herald.? Can we have BB's quick reaction.?

 

[shmessy]

I don't really chime in on this stuff much, but I was at the players hotel the day before the SB when all that stuff broke, and I'm not sure how much you know about the whole pre-SB prep environment (I know I didn't beforehand) but believe me, it is chaos (and had nothing to do with Tomase's article.)

No one is watching TV or listening to talk radio. They are doing last second game prep and seeing their family off and getting ready to board a bus to be absconded off to some other secluded hotel.

Even the mood in the hotel, with the fans, no one was buzzing about the latest SpyGate rumors. There wasn't a blink about it in the eye of the storm.

I'm confident it had 0.00% to do with the loss.

You were in the hotel? Great!
You weren't with the Players however. You weren't in the rooms, meetings, etc. Most importantly, for the last evening before the game, you weren't at the "secluded hotel".

Perhaps they weren't watching TV or listening to the radio, but Jonathan Kraft is on record as stating that management/lawyers had to hold several meetings with BB, Stacey James, Jimmy Dee, Scott Pioli, etc. at the secluded hotel within the last 24 hours to the game regarding this.

And don't try to tell me that Tom Brady did not hear a word about Specter on radio calling for him to go to Washington DC later that week to "answer questions". Brady has family, friends, peeps who text message him, etc. He knew what the Senator had said the morning of the SB.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

You were in the hotel? Great!
You weren't with the Players however. You weren't in the rooms, meetings, etc. Most importantly, for the last evening before the game, you weren't at the "secluded hotel".

Perhaps they weren't watching TV or listening to the radio, but Jonathan Kraft is on record as stating that management/lawyers had to hold several meetings with BB, Stacey James, Jimmy Dee, Scott Pioli, etc. at the secluded hotel within the last 24 hours to the game regarding this.

And don't try to tell me that Tom Brady did not hear a word about Specter on radio calling for him to go to Washington DC later that week to "answer questions". Brady has family, friends, peeps who text message him, etc. He knew what the Senator had said the morning of the SB.

Come on, give tombonneau a break. Tmbonneau is giving an insight into how the scene was at the players hotel on the eve of SB. I have never been to one before and was surprised to read his observation, which is quite different compared to how I pictured the mood to be given the circumstances.

Tombonneau could have concluded by prefacing "IN MY OPINION".

Looks like most of us disagree with tombonneau's confident opinion. Let's leave it at that.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Very true

I would also call attention to the "America's Game" episode concerning SB IV and the KC Chiefs. Len Dawson was mentioned in a gambling probe and grand jury before SB IV. Talk about chaos.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

The Patriots didn't not lose the SB, b/c of Tomasse article. The SB lose was b/c of the god damn ******* RED hoodie.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

The Patriots didn't not lose the SB, b/c of Tomasse article. The SB lose was b/c of the god damn ******* RED hoodie.

"Juju" :
lol that fateful red thing is right on page 1 http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/gallery/02_06_08_powerful_juju/

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Come on, give tombonneau a break. Tmbonneau is giving an insight into how the scene was at the players hotel on the eve of SB. I have never been to one before and was surprised to read his observation, which is quite different compared to how I pictured the mood to be given the circumstances.

Tombonneau could have concluded by prefacing "IN MY OPINION".

Looks like most of us disagree with tombonneau's confident opinion. Let's leave it at that.

I always believed it had something to do with the SB loss in terms of being the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. But that opinion assumes that the team knew too,and tombo does make a point. They really are busy and it's hard to believe BB would tell them, or that any of their friends would be so stupid as to text them about it, but I think the reality is that they somehow, by whatever means, knew about it or at least got wind of it. Kraft definitely seemed to know-he's alluded to it at least twice recently.
I don't think it's the sole reason they lost, but I think it probably contributed to some degree.But, even without the story breaking when it did, the pressures of the 07 season had to have been draining for all of them.
I can't think of another team that could have accomplished everything they accomplished, given all the same circumstances. Even before that duplicitious pond scum and his rag of a publication decided to grab some limelight for themselves.
I've changed my mind completely now I'll never again empower Tomase and his editors with the ability to influence the New England Patriots' chance of a lifetime. They probably knew, talked about it,and said * THAT noise:rocker:

 

[tombonneau]

sorry didn't think I would stir up such a hornets nest with my opinion. I certainly didn't mean to infer players had no knowledge of the story; that would be ridiculous. I merely meant to convey that the chaotic atmosphere didn't lend itself to brooding about spygate 2 to the point it would be a distraction.

I'm sure bb briefly addressed the troops on it and told them it was total bs and to ignore it.

As far as jon krafts comments while he met with the coaches my guess is his public statement regarding the meeting had more to do with establishing a trail of evidence for a potential defamation suit more than anything else.

Were all entited to our opinions and mine is that tomases story had no impact on the pats lose. It had nothing to do with the ol getting abused. It had nothing to do with colvin nog wrapping up eli. It had nothing to do with rodney being too slow to break up that pass.

The players lost that game and the giants won it.

Or at least that's my opinion.