Bedard's site starts its free trial today

[borg]

The site has 1 reporter for each local team plus Bedard. Other media outlets (TV/newspaper/digital) have 1 or more reporters parked with each local team. So I ask.......why should anyone pay for local sports "news" that is likely to be on par with their competition?

PS....Does Sean McAdam have a pulse?

PSS....I'd pay for Reiss

 

[sportnik]

I'm signing up. iMHO, Bedard was the most insightful reporter that has covered the Pats. I used to love his breakdowns of one on ones in mini camp. His ability to breakdown tape and provide analysis is superior to any other football writer I've seen (not that this is saying much).

Check out his Super Bowl 51 recap (Super Bowl player grades: QBs shine, LTs stumble) and show me another writer, other than Reiss, who could have even attempted to write a similar article.

 

[Deus Irae]

The site has 1 reporter for each local team plus Bedard. Other media outlets (TV/newspaper/digital) have 1 or more reporters parked with each local team. So I ask.......why should anyone pay for local sports "news" that is likely to be on par with their competition?

PS....Does Sean McAdam have a pulse?

PSS....I'd pay for Reiss

It's a startup. If it does well, it will grow. Some people will want to be a part of that idea.

 

[goheels22002]

It's a startup. If it does well, it will grow. Some people will want to be a part of that idea.

I wish Bedard success with this venture. $3/month is a minimal amount for subscribers to pay to get insights from astute observers like Bedard and Sean McAdam who never had the chops for TV or radio. If Bedard can get a wicked smaht hockey guy to cover the Bruins, he could build a major following.

There are several good writers out there getting displaced by the ESPN/SI shakeouts. Ed Werter and John Clayton come to mind for me - both good writers with excellent relationships inside NFL front offices. Clayton overextended his expertise by blathering about teams with whom he no insider info (a.k.a. The Patriots), but he knew the Seahawks inside out and had great NFC West connections.

Anyway, I'm a huge Bedard fan. He knows how to look at an All-22 and he asked the right questions during Deflategate without batting an eye. I hope this works out.

 

[patfanken]

Well I finally got a chance to check out the BSJ site after I gave them five bucks. For the first day it looked pretty good, but here's the think that I think will separate them from the pack and make this a success.

When I checked some of the comments on the articles, both Price and Bedard were full participants in the discussion. THAT's something different and interesting to read. I don't know how long their participation will last but so far so good.

BTW- from what I understand content will get denser as they hire more people. From what I understand it will take a while to add staff for the local teams and bring in their connections from around the rest of the country.

Quite frankly between this addition to our media offerings and patriots.com adding Don Banks who has an excellent podcast and does a couple of features a week over there, Pats fans will have an improved level of professionalism, information and view points this season. These additions plus Reiss, and who needs the likes of Volin, Borges, and Felger, etc.

 

[AtomicDawg]

Meh, feel like there's plenty of free content available. What did Bedard do anyways? Can't recall. Something douchey about deflategate?

Actually yes.



Goodell already said 2015 "random check" balls never had PSI numbers recorded. No numbers to release.

Oh, and this.

 

[borg]

"Patriots have become worst fan base in the NFL" .....'but I'd love some of these deplorables' money'

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Bedard claims that 1,052 people bought some subscription on the first day and that 25 crazies (my word) bought lifetime subscriptions.

 

[varjao]

Wasn't Bedard critical of us during "deflategate?" He did something to tick a lot of us off - i can't remember if that was it or not.

Meh, feel like there's plenty of free content available. What did Bedard do anyways? Can't recall. Something douchey about deflategate?

He convicted the Patriots as guilty from the get go and kept bragging that "stay out of the gray line" ********.

 

[Koma]

He convicted the Patriots as guilty from the get go and kept bragging that "stay out of the gray line" ********.

I dig a little digging in the old threads and Bedard had some pretty dumb comments at the time.

One was a theory that he pulled out of thin air and somehow thought it made sense: Bedard believed if you took away the highest and lowest PSI readings from the Patriots and Colts footballs, the remaining readings for the Patriots couldn't be explained by science, thus, they were guilty. How he came up with that approach is beyond me, but it made Rob0729 want to vomit with rage at it's stupidity.

On the topic of science, when the AEI report came out in the summer of 2015, he was critical of their actions, tweeting that they shouldn't have sent out any press releases or leaked any information. Instead, they should have provided their study to the NFLPA privately. With all the leaks that happened associated with that story, somehow the AEI stuff was the only bad one.

Probably his biggest misstep was stating that the science of the case was a "toss up." That is, Exponent said one thing, every other scientist not paid by the NFL said another, so all of those analyses cancel each other out. What was not a "toss up" to Bedard were the text messages. Those could only be interpreted the way the NFL viewed them. In short: Science? Who can really say? Toss up. Texts? Crystal clear, no gray area or wiggle room there. At all.


Having said all that, I'm not saying don't subscribe to Bedard's site. We give players who made mistakes in the past second chances and Bedard's not the only writer there. What I am saying is that we know Bedard's view on this topic in the past. If he ever starts writing opinion based articles, we have some historical markers on what direction he could go in.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Gonna take a wait and see approach. Was one of my favorite writers up until deflategate bs.
To me, you would have to be an utter moron to alienate your fanbase like that. Sure you have your idiots, all of them do. But he lumped them all into one which is either click bait material or plain ignorance.

Not to mention being too stupid to realize that the whole exponent-Wells report was complete and utter trash. Again, either total click bait or total ignorance on his part.

If he can get back to breaking down the film and identifying the offensive And defensive formations/sets that worked or didn't on game day that is a good start. Really what set him apart from the the other local writers.

 

[Nunchucks]

So, I have decided to give this a try. Never before have I paid for any kind of news, it is a bit of a stray from my personal philosophy. However, I am sick of the current media climate, especially as it pertains to the Patriots. Hot takes, ignoring the team, etc...I would prefer a higher class of sporting news.

Furthermore, I want to see change in the industry and this is the kind of self-funded operation that can enact that change. I'll give them a year and see how it goes. 30 bucks ain't too much to invest in an interesting new venture.

 

[varjao]

I dig a little digging in the old threads and Bedard had some pretty dumb comments at the time.

One was a theory that he pulled out of thin air and somehow thought it made sense: Bedard believed if you took away the highest and lowest PSI readings from the Patriots and Colts footballs, the remaining readings for the Patriots couldn't be explained by science, thus, they were guilty. How he came up with that approach is beyond me, but it made Rob0729 want to vomit with rage at it's stupidity.

On the topic of science, when the AEI report came out in the summer of 2015, he was critical of their actions, tweeting that they shouldn't have sent out any press releases or leaked any information. Instead, they should have provided their study to the NFLPA privately. With all the leaks that happened associated with that story, somehow the AEI stuff was the only bad one.

Probably his biggest misstep was stating that the science of the case was a "toss up." That is, Exponent said one thing, every other scientist not paid by the NFL said another, so all of those analyses cancel each other out. What was not a "toss up" to Bedard were the text messages. Those could only be interpreted the way the NFL viewed them. In short: Science? Who can really say? Toss up. Texts? Crystal clear, no gray area or wiggle room there. At all.


Having said all that, I'm not saying don't subscribe to Bedard's site. We give players who made mistakes in the past second chances and Bedard's not the only writer there. What I am saying is that we know Bedard's view on this topic in the past. If he ever starts writing opinion based articles, we have some historical markers on what direction he could go in.

Yeah, I forgot that "statistical approach" he came up with, something that would make any math professor to puke.

Also, with the stay out of the grey line thing, he implied that the Pats don't have the benefit of the doubt.

 

[pats4life12]

With so much free content out there about Boston sports I just can't get myself to subscribe to a website like that.

 

[captain insano]

Well I'm signing up.

I have never paid a dime for any site...EVER, but I believe this kind of site COULD be worth it and deserves our support at least at the start, to see if they can fulfill their promises to us. I'm hoping that they can.,

lol sucker,

 

[long distance]

Bedard has by far the best practice reports. The only one including all 1v1. That's the part of the practice BB takes most seriously and watches closely. Possibly this is a hint that there might finally be some proper comprehensive and transparent game reports coming..

Have a look: Practice report 07.30.17

 

[patchick]

With so much free content out there about Boston sports I just can't get myself to subscribe to a website like that.

I get that, but I also notice two frequent opinions expressed on this board:

1. Sports media totally sucks, most so-called reporters are just look-at-me yahoos willing to say anything for clicks and ratings, 99% of what's aired and published is just garbage.
2. With such comprehensive free coverage out there, why would anybody be willing to pay?

IMO the obvious answer is "you get what you pay for." If you want serious rather than sensational content; if you want coverage tailored to the (small) market of extremely well-informed fans; if you want reporters with the best access and connections to be responsive and let you pick their brains; then you should root for a venture like Bedard's. I'm not saying he'll end up actually delivering on all of that, it's a long shot. But the only possibility of it comes from folks like this board's regulars giving it a chance. What the heck, I'm signing up.

 

[long distance]

I get that, but I also notice two frequent opinions expressed on this board:

1. Sports media totally sucks, most so-called reporters are just look-at-me yahoos willing to say anything for clicks and ratings, 99% of what's aired and published is just garbage.
2. With such comprehensive free coverage out there, why would anybody be willing to pay?

IMO the obvious answer is "you get what you pay for." If you want serious rather than sensational content; if you want coverage tailored to the (small) market of extremely well-informed fans; if you want reporters with the best access and connections to be responsive and let you pick their brains; then you should root for a venture like Bedard's. I'm not saying he'll end up actually delivering on all of that, it's a long shot. But the only possibility of it comes from folks like this board's regulars giving it a chance. What the heck, I'm signing up.

Unfortunately i can't - so hopefully someone else posts from his practice reports to our daily TC threads from tomorrow on. I'd appreciate it.

 

[patchick]

Sorry to go on about this, but I just wanted to say a bit about the economics of running a content site. (This is from personal experience -- I built and sold a content-based website that attracted a million users a month in a desirable market segment. I sold it to a larger site because there was no chance of supporting the staff I needed on ad revenues. I could barely support myself.)

A niche site for hardcore Boston sports fans with original reporting HAS to have a paid subscription model. Ad rates just aren't nearly high enough to make it work free.

 

[long distance]

Or have a look at this two articles by Price.

Scarnecchia sticking with consistent group of starters up front
New TE Allen on short shorts, working with Gronk and succeeding Bennett

Nobody from the egomaniacs cares about OL.
Yet if OL wouldn't fall apart in 2015 (and it was not only injuries) . blitz for six would be in the record books by now (not that Id need that)