It is IMPOSSIBLE to clear the Patriots name in the eyes of the public. History will be kind to us, but ask anyone on top, people will always try to bring you down, no matter what, *while* you are on top. Just accept it and enjoy being on top.
Just not true. The Goldberg report absolutely changed the dialogue. Mike Greenberg of all people actually said after reading that he thought the Wells report VINDICATED the Patriots.
Its not a matter of the idiot trolls, its a matter of those in the middle. Kraft giving in is widely perceived as an admission of guilt, and even if not, it is assumed we just didn't have evidence to fight with, which is wrong.
No he absolutely did not. In fact he released thorough debunking of the accusations, and the public laughed, pointed, and still called us cheaters. There is NOTHING he can do, literally.
The public accepted a lot of the Goldberg report.
He could have appealed. Goodell said yesterday in talking about Brady that he WANTED TO HEAR FROM BRADY ABOUT ANY MISSING EVIDENCE, ANYTHING THAT WOULD HELP THEM GET IT RIGHT, ANYTHING LEFT OUT OF THE WELLS REPORT.
Kraft had the Goldberg report just to start with to appeal. He chose to not appeal. He could have brought in a slew of scientists to show Exponent failed. He could have brought in McNally for the extra interview that was a major reason for the findings and penalties. If we are being punished because we felt it was too much to ask McNally to be interviewed again, here he is, now our cooperation is 100%.
On top of that, he could have given a statement that supported his team, fans and QB. Instead he gave one that supported Goodell and 31 other owners.
He could have done a lot. He chose not to.
Not by the team but the NFL was accused of cheating for the Patriots because of 2001 and their team name... It used to be an asterisk.
What are you talking about? It was a properly enforced rule. There was no asterisk, you are lying now.
There are people who defend and people who bash. But let's be realistic, Revis is a New York Jet.
That is irrelevant to your claim that Spygate is an afterthought.
A fact of life. Don't be so emotional that you can't understand that matter of a fact statement. No matter how strongly you feel, if 31 other owners feel different and are saying "no", you can't do **** about it. You are a voluntary member of the group, you have 3% say, you can try to appeal to the others if you feel mistreated, but you don't have power to dictate. Raising a public stink does absolutely nothing but hurt everyone, it would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Where do I start?
31 owners cannot tell Kraft to take an unjust punishment and force him to do so.
He is not a voluntary member he owns the team.
How does trying it publicly hurt the Patriots? You are defending the right of the league to take away a first round pick and more for something we didn't do, because it would be painful for the other owners to base punishment on the truth? There is no logic in that.
Lets try something else, you seem to like hypotheticals.
Lets say the Patriots were charged with paying off the refs. The league looks at film and find questionable calls. The league notices that some of the refs of Patriots games are wealthy. They hire Wells. Wells finds that a Patriot employee was alone in a room with a ref. They find text messages from ball boys about 'fixing things' and 'the refs love us' or even one ref is great to us, and Wells concludes that this is evidence that they are paying off refs. He demands Brady turn over all of his financial records for the last 10 years so he can find the payment. Brady refuses. We are found guilty. Kraft says we did nothing, and the owners tell him too bad you can't win.
You would be fine with him not appealing that we paid off a ref and saying he can't because what is good for the 32 matters more than what is good for the Patriots and we are assessed penalties for paying off refs? That is pretty much exactly the same thing.
You desperately need perspective. He didn't screw the fans, maybe you're too wrapped up in your bubble.
I think your head is too far up Krafts *** for you to have perspective, but take a look around. 95% of fans hate Bob Kraft now. Bob Kraft stopped defending the integrity of the team because the other owners would rather he stopped talking about it. He ACCEPTED GUILT. He was given a guilty verdict for cheating and said "I won't appeal". If you don't think that is screwing the fans then I have no idea what you have in the place of where pride is supposed to be.
Personally I'd still much rather be a fan of the Patriots than any other team today. They can accuse the Pats of cheating all they want, deep down everyone knows the Patriots are just better than their team. I don't care, give me the titles.
Every title is considered marred by cheating. That is on Kraft because both times he could have stood up for the team, and chose not to.
You are being overly naive Andy.
Quite ironic.
Please explain to me how the Patriots would be hurt on or off the field if Robert Kraft had said:
"I respect the authority of Roger Goodell. I totally disagree with the conclusion drawn by Ted Wells and accepted by Mr Goodell, and feel that I have a substantial amount of evidence to dispute the evidence and findings. I respect my parternship with my fellow owners, and I repsect the rules we have put in place. One of those rules is my right to appeal and present my side of the debate and my independent evidence. I continue to maintain our innocence and look forward to the opportunity to present our appeal for Mr Goodells consideration".
Please explain to me how the Patriots are damaged by that.
Not even close, unions and business owners have completely different avenues and responsibilities.
Both have the right to appeal the findings of the Wells report. Both have the same report to 'win easily' against.
So you're never going to contribute to the NFL again? Maybe you should start by not investing emotionally into it on a messageboard?
Oh, so people who disagree with you should go away?
That would leave you alone arguing with yourself.
Anyway, a very apt way to end, since there is such a massive misconception about lemmings.
I am very happy that this team has few fans like you.
