borges vitriol on neal dealings...

...more bile...

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/04/02/a_poison_in_the_system/?page=3

Truly a 'free' agent?
Hometown discounts are one thing. Unfair advantages are something else. Houston general manager Charley Casserly believes he knows the difference. Casserly was among several teams pursuing Patriots guard Stephen Neal and he thought the Texans had a good chance of landing him. Then the negotiations ended before they ever started, and Casserly smelled a rat.

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Flying Fungi said:

...more bile...

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/04/02/a_poison_in_the_system/?page=3

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After cleaning the cr*p off my screen from viewing yet another article by Borges, I've come to the conclusion that he'll continue to sink to tabloid depths in order to disparage the Patriots.

Well, what's a sunday morning without a morning dump.
At least you know with Borges around, you can count on being "regular".

What he fails to mention is the playoff money that Neal will recieve each year with the Pats (Houston is not going to the playoffs anytime soon), and the fact that he gets to stay with Dante, the guy who basically taught him how to be a lineman. The Pats carried this guy for a few years, through injury and getting to know how to play the position. The Pats gave him a chance to make millions, thats millions of dollars that he otherwise would not have seen. It's called loyalty.

Well, those things may all be true but the most disturbing thing, again, about Borges' writing is his gleeful condemnation of all things Belichik and Patriots. Most writers wouldn't write a one sided story like this one, let alone make the blatant insinuation that BB had doctored the market for Neal through his agent. What difference does it make what Neal himself might have to say about why he didn't go to Houston when Borges can spin the situation as another notch in the gun of the evil Patriot's empire? I hope Borges realizes what fool he is making of himself.

For the love of god....STOP READING BORGES!!!!!

The only way we will be rid of him is if people stop reading him.

STOP! Please I beg you.

This has been a public service announcement.

honestly this theory is also being picked up by felger and all ..i heard this on his radio show last week as well about the conspiracy theory behind the neal signing.i find it ridicolous that someone in the globe can allow this kind of journalism without a rebuttal.No one forced any player to sign.if neal thought he could get a good deal with a better agent then he couldve fired his agent like adam did.After all he signed after adam. Also why would an agent turn down more money for keeping ties with the firm where belichick's lawyers are ?? doesnt his own commision get lower with that ?
From now on there will be only 2 theories from borges - players leave new england because they are cheap or they are here because they got screwed by their agents. in essence no wants to play here according to him!
All these media outlets are going by what other GM's are saying - polian saying he didnt know adam was available and now this . Is polian the gospel of truth ?Has our GM said a word yet ? no.But they cant wait to get the right story.For these guys the patriots are liars(i have heard cafardo say this is a lot) for not telling them anything.

That's all well and good as long as the player willingly made that determination after viewing all his available options. If he did not, however, it could come back to haunt this team in the clubhouse.

I don't know how many Patriot players are represented by the Cornrich agency, or how they came to be, but you do have to wonder. Charlie Casserly could also be blowing smoke out his ass because he lost out on two Patriot players his new HC apparently wanted him to sign. We'll likely never know, but Neal probably eventually will.

This isn't so much about Borges as it is about Casserly. If I were the Patriots, I'd be roally pissed at that hypocrite, and I'd know exactly how to get him back. It'll be interesting to see if the patriots drive up the price of Texans in future years.

Two factors:

This might actually cause turmoil in the locker room if players feel any offer the Patriots make is a lowball. Most of these players only go on the market once or twice so they don't realize that every team tries to get aggressive, hold you hostage until you sign.

Second, Casserly is a hypocrite because he tried this same approach with Givens. The Texans even boasted that they would not let Givens leave the city without a signature on the paper. Same story.

I thought the first part about poison pills was interesting and I was almost ready to say Gee an actual good column by WRONG and then, I wanted to puke. One sided totally and as usual I am sure leaving out many facts and truths...just wishing to again hammer the Patriots. This scum bucket again shows why he is what he is...totally anti BB.

SaCaCh said:

For the love of god....STOP READING BORGES!!!!!

The only way we will be rid of him is if people stop reading him.

STOP! Please I beg you.

This has been a public service announcement.

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HELP me Sacach - I admit to having a problem. I have borgesitis, it is a sickness of addiction. I do great bodily harm to myslef when I read his poison. I get nothing out of it except high blood pressure and a headache. I know I am much stupider when I am done. Having to clean myself up after having subjected myself to yet another Wrong Borges column filled hate and jealousy should be enough to make me stop, yet I cannot stop.

Please help me to rid myself of this terrible sickness - save me, HELP ME.

CrazyDave said:

Well, what's a sunday morning without a morning dump.

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Speaking of dumps, I got to go take a Borges, and then wipe my Ron.

I wrote this on the Patriots mailing list.

"Does Stephen Neal's agent work for the Patriots??Does he not know that the Pats are way under the cap??Why agree to a deal that just sets Neal up to be cut in 2010?? How many 33-year old guards will be making a $2.5 million salary in 2010?? IMO, Neal should either gotten a front-loaded deal in terms of salaries or have paid the $6.9 million in salaries evenly throughout the deal?? Why do players agree to such back-loaded deals with teams that have a lot of cap space??

Who was Hurst working for?? Neal or BB?? IMO, agents should either represent front office people or players, not both. There is an inherent conflict of interest. According to Neal, he wanted to be closer to California and yet Neal did not visit the 49ers, Raiders, Seahawks, Broncos, or the Chargers. That is curious. It is legitimate to ask if Hurst did the best for his client.

While Miguel's question is concerned only with legitimate queries concerning the apparent facts of the contract, Borges' original article is not, and it is important to separate the two.

This seems to be an important campaign for Borges, and he is waging it with innuendo. If he feels that this is a legitimate story, then he should report the salient information. Is there any evidence that Casserly is believable? Is there a possibility that Neal rejected the idea of the Texans himself? How many Patriots have been represented by the Cornrich office, and have they received "sub-standard" or team-friendly contracts? Why have more Cornrich clients not come to the team? How prevalent is this in the sport--Belichick is surely not the only coach with an agent, who in turn has many players as clients as well?

In other words, is this really a story, or is it business as usual in the NFL?

Again, Miguel's questions are good ones, and conflict-of-interest cases can be damaging--although, in this case, I would think far more damaging to the agent than the team; after all, agents will continue negotiating with New England, it is players who may steer clear of the agency. But Borges' column is not reporting: it is gossip, and that's a shame.

Miguel said:

Who was Hurst working for?? Neal or BB?? IMO, agents should either represent front office people or players, not both. There is an inherent conflict of interest.

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You are right in bringing this up...but do you think it is the ONLY one like that in the league??? Other coaches GMs may have the same agents as players as well....I don't think this is isolated. Also, what about players and agents..(the so called McGinest-Uberstine connection) having an interest as one negotiates with other players on the same team?? Or for that matter a writer and an agent having a connection that leads to a story and that fact not being divulged in the story?? (Borges and Blank). I agree that conflicts of interest are not good, but I think they are all over the place if one tends to look. This may be more the tip of the iceburg. Certainly an interesting topic...one that I doubt many wish to get into.

Pats726 said:

Certainly an interesting topic...one that I doubt many wish to get into.

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Go back to Russia

kolbitr said:

Again, Miguel's questions are good ones, and conflict-of-interest cases can be damaging--although, in this case, I would think far more damaging to the agent than the team; after all, agents will continue negotiating with New England, it is players who may steer clear of the agency. But Borges' column is not reporting: it is gossip, and that's a shame.

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And he left out the part about the fact that Neal visited with the vikings, bills and dolphins. Don't those clubs count as football teams? He claimed that Neal was prevented from talking to other teams. Now unless his own newspaper didn't know what they were talking about, Borges just got caught in a flat out LIE.
http://www.kffl.com/player/1176/nfl/news

Directly from the Globe:
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/03/21/lions_harrington_part_ways/

Neal to visit Texans
Stephen Neal is scheduled to take a free agent visit to the Houston Texans, who are looking for a right guard, the position where Neal has been a Patriots starter for the last two seasons. Neal has visited with the Vikings and Bills.

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http://www.boston.com/sports/footba.../03/22/kick_in_the_teeth_for_patriots/?page=2

Starting guard Stephen Neal visited with the Dolphins yesterday and will meet with the Texans today.

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Profootball talk had a little blurb on this too.

Although Casserly amazingly (and unwisely, in our view) went on the record with his comments, the article raises new questions regarding Borges' objectivity when it comes to the Patriots. For example, Borges doesn't mention that his own paper ran an AP item indicating that Neal had visited the Vikings and the Bills. Another article from Nick Cafardo of the Globe said that Neal also had visited the Dolphins. The fact that Hurst took Neal on three visits undermines Borges' implicit suggestion that Hurst wouldn't let Neal talk to other teams.

Borges also fails to mention that, if Casserly's version of the events is true, it means that Casserly has admitted to an attempt to negotiate directly with a player who is represented by an NFLPA-certified agent, which arguably violates Article VI, Section 1 of the CBA.

Casserly's decision to characterize the re-signing of Neal by the Pats as an inside job also has curious timing, given that Casserly reportedly is under consideration for a job in the league office. With the Krafts quickly gaining more and more influence in the NFL, why risk making enemies through a gratuitous attack on the team they own?

It'd be interesting to see what Neal has to say about all of this. The fact that there's no indication in Borges' item that he tried to reach the player himself makes us wonder whether there might be even more to this one that Borges conveniently has overlooked.

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Very interesting stuff indeed. I'm sure the owner of the Texans can't be to happy with Casserly today.

While Miguel is right that there are conflicts of interest, we have to point out the fact that Casserly himself also engaged in aggressive "take it or leave it" offers. He said he wouldn't let Givens out of Houston. He tried to hold him hostage until he signed. He tried to do the same thing the Patriots did with Neal. The Patriots beat the offers of the other teams Neal visited (that much is obvious, since Neal so much as stated the Patriots offered him the best deal of all the other suitors). The fact that there were other teams out there willing to offer more is irrelevant since they didn't offer more in time. If Casserly really wanted Neal, he would have offered him his speculative (BS!) deal right away. But no, he waited. The Patriots have gotten burned in exactly this manner. They weren't given a chance to offer Vinatieri precisely because Vinatieri was held hostage in Indy. I don't see Pioli calling out Uberstine this morning, do you?

ClosingTime said:

Go back to Russia

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Huh?????????

a bad attempt at a joke