Once again we are all getting all "passionate" about nothing.
First, it wasn't a "dumb question". Christ we just had a 400 page thread about that "dumb question. It was about all we talked about here for the last 14 days...and we are STILL talking about it, (though its kind of degenerated to a few guys just yelling at each other.
)
Lets not pretend that we ALL wanted an answer to a question that Bill had skillfully avoided since Friday. So to say it was a dumb question is to label yourself as.....I don't know.....DUMB.
Second you may want to question whether asking Bill the question at THAT time, was inappropriate. That is a reasonable thing to ask. I would say it had to be asked then, because we all know that when Bill is asked that question on Monday, we are going to get some version of "we are on to Buffalo" from him. So it was almost ask it then, or not at all to me.
As to the media "backlash" (if any). That's natural. You have your teammate's back, and there are many in the media who feel that way when you attack one of their own. You should expect some backlash. Most of us would react in the same way if one or our "teammates" was viewed as being "attacked" I don't take any offense at all.
Finally comes the question of whether Bill's "death stare" was even a rebuke to the reporter, or was it just Bill being Bill and none of the beat guys would have even noticed it if they had asked the same question and got the same reaction. I think it was much more the latter.
Bill, by choice, has always had an adversarial relationship with the media. When you think about it, it almost has to be to a degree. Its the reporters job to ask the questions that we would ask if we were there. It's Bill's job to answer them....... UP TO the point where he views the response COULD become a strategic disadvantage or distraction to his team.
So questions like "is he going to play?" or "how will you defend this great player?" are NOT going to be answered (as we have found out over 20 years
). But because WE would like to know, they are questions a reporter is pretty much required to at least ask, even though they know the response they'll get.
Its like being a salesman and going to a customer you KNOW isn't going to buy. But its your job, so you HAVE to ask for the order, because once in a blue moon the guy just might say yes.
Sure there are a few guys/girls who thrive on "creating the narrative" usually "columnists and commentators" rather than reporters. But that's why the good lord gave us brains to weed out what these idiots say and ignore it.
So to recap. Nothing to see here.
