Re: BB Apology?
I'm not fixated on any players. Your assertion of how things went down simply fails in light of how the Moss situation unfolded.
Feel free to lay out the basis for your conclusion based on facts actually reported and not your suppositions. Your response to mgteich and his statement that, and I'll paraphrase, that Belichick acted like a vindictive schoolteacher, was "It won't matter. Most of the same people will still defend Belichick," and you have taken the position through repeated threads that Belichick was unreasonable for his actions. Here are the facts I have heard:
(1) it was snowing;
(2) Thomas called at some point Wednesday prior to arriving late that he was stuck in traffic;
(3) Belichick told them Monday they were to arrive early and plan on staying late after a bad loss;
(4) Certain younger players were seen laughing immediately after that loss;
(5) 4 players were sent home; and
(6) Belichick told Thomas personally he was going home.
Correct me if you know anything else by way of facts, specifically if any of the 4 had prior disciplinary issues, if the team had prior disciplinary issues this season, if Belichick was viewed by players as a stickler for his rules and thus players knew what to expect, or if the lockerroom flat-out appeared to not exhibit the degree of seriousness and focus expected of a winning team.
You simply appear to fill in the blanks for this situation and conclude he is wrong, while labeling anyone who supports Belichick's position as blindly voicing the "In Belichick We Trust" mantra. That's not called reason, it's called you don't like Belichick and are thus as biased as anyone who does defend him simply for who he is. Reason is based on facts, not conjecture. If you are in fact saying sending players home for a day for being tardy is per se wrong under every conceivable situation, then I am happy to refer you to basic managment theory that will strongly suggest otherwise, that your position is flatly incorrect. I don't claim Belchick was absolutely right because I do not know all the facts. The response could be excessive in a given set of circumstances and be unreasonable, but nobody knows. Many posters are simply accepting Belichick's decision over Thomas's objection to the decision based on the results Belichick has produced previously in managing this team and its players. That isn't blind allegiance, it's called listening to the guy who has exhibited a pattern of success.
As for Moss, here's a theory as to why he was treated in the way he was: Moss is a special case as he has history and a position on this team, captain, that caused him to take a brutal beating in the media (unlike the others) after a bad game after someone leaked the decision that players were sent home and Moss was in the group. He may be hurt and playing through it, he may have other issues in his life that only the inner circle knows. Cris Carter had once stated on
Inside the NFL, as someone who mentored Moss with the Vikings, that Moss needs his circle of trust and prior teams had not treated him in a way that they became family to him. The same guy called him (or his performance) pathetic that week in a public statement. Belichick doesn't have to hate sending Moss home as a consisent response to an infraction, but as he likely knows what Moss is doing during the week, as do all the players who said he is one of the hardest workers, it is done to tell Moss they believe in him and will defend him against the world. That makes him feel like family and in a group he can trust. But the fact you defend someone's work ethic or heart, a statement on who you are as a player over a career, necessarily says nothing about the decision to send him home on a single occasion in a consistent exercise of discretion to all involved.
