Russini & Vrabel Nothing to see here?

hornetfb85 · 2026-04-15T10:03:35-0400

One-If-By-Sea said:
A), followed by 2), and then followed by D)??

Bill Lee · 2026-04-15T10:23:18-0400

Rob0729 said:
People are crying about a double standard as if it is a man vs. woman punishment. Russini wasn't forced to resign because she is a woman and Vrabel isn't going to survive this unscathed because he is a man.

Russini was forced to resign because she is a journalist and she is required to have boundaries with her sources and subjects of her reporting. She allegedly violated a journalistic ethical standard.

A head coach has no ethical standard. He might have an ethical standard not to have a romantic relationship with a Patriots' employee (which players all over the league violate by dating cheerleaders and other employees under the radar) or members of an opposing team. But I don't think Vrabel has any ethical standard not to be in a romantic relationship with a reporter.

The fact is many sports journalists violate their ethical standards by developing close friendships with players and coaches. It definitely affects their reporting. If there is a sexist double standard, it is there. I am not sure there is a huge difference between Russini having a romantic relationship with Vrabel and someone like Dan Orlovsky having a close friendship with Matthew Stafford where they spend a lot of time together purely as friends when it comes to journalistic standards. Orlovsky voted for Stafford for MVP where it seems pretty clear his friendship played a significant role in his vote. Moral standards, there is a huge divide, but ethical standards.

Ok, let's assume in some hypothetical future world a married woman becomes an NFL head coach and she is photographed off-season at a resort in a bikini in a hot tub with an attractive married male reporter in his swim trunks, she survives all that unscathed?

One-If-By-Sea · 2026-04-15T10:38:42-0400

RobertWeathers said:
Not really. I don't feel like debating it. All depends on how independent the NYT lets The Athletic operate.

I have no idea how independent The Athletic is. The report was that the NYT was doing the investigation and the NYT owns The Athletic, so I assume The Athletic is not all that independent. But I agree, who knows.

RobertWeathers said:
At any rate her statement is basically a voluntary exit.

I am seen posts that Russini was given an ultimatum to quit or be fired. I think the timing of her resignation was too quick for the NYT to have finished its legal review, which further supports the belief that her exit was voluntary.

XLIX · 2026-04-15T10:38:42-0400

Bill Lee said:
Damn, that means my elderly aunt is an adulterer too, because the way she greets people is with a kiss!

Sorry, auntie, time for you to put on the Scarlet Letter!

People keep referring to personal instances of greeting people with physical affection, as if that somehow exonerates Vrabel and Russini.

Does you aunt greet non-relatives with a kiss at a romantic getaway when her husband, and the spouse of the person she greeted, were each 1,000 miles away?

Can you understand how that’s a wee bit different from a woman kissing her nephew hello at the latest family wedding?

One-If-By-Sea · 2026-04-15T10:43:41-0400

XLIX said:
People keep referring to personal instances of greeting people with physical affection, as if that somehow exonerates Vrabel and Russini.

Does you aunt greet non-relatives with a kiss at a romantic getaway when her husband, and the spouse of the person she greeted, were each 1,000 miles away?

They were 1,000 miles away because they were attending a business event. I commonly take a day off when I am on business to relax or sightsee. Nothing nefarious in that. My wife (GF) does not get upset about that. Maybe you do not travel much on business?

Bill Lee · 2026-04-15T10:45:39-0400

XLIX said:
People keep referring to personal instances of greeting people with physical affection, as if that somehow exonerates Vrabel and Russini.

Does you aunt greet non-relatives with a kiss at a romantic getaway when her husband, and the spouse of the person she greeted, were each 1,000 miles away?

Can you understand how that’s a wee bit different from a woman kissing her nephew hello at the latest family wedding?

You're the one who suggested a kiss that didn't even happen would add fuel to the fire, a fire that might not even exist.

It's not like you are building your house on bedrock.

As others wrote, it's supposition upon supposition upon supposition.

XLIX · 2026-04-15T11:00:00-0400

One-If-By-Sea said:
They were 1,000 miles away because they were attending a business event.

No. The business event was in Phoenix, 2 hours south of the Ambiente. Absolutely no NFL business was taking place in Sedona.

One-If-By-Sea said:
I commonly take a day off when I am on business to relax or sightsee. Nothing nefarious in that. My wife (GF) does not get upset about that. Maybe you do not travel much on business?

Do you commonly travel 2 hours away from the business meeting to spend alone time at a romantic couples’ resort with a female colleague?

It would be like having a business conference in Boston but meeting a colleague at the exact same hotel in the Berkshires. Either you planned it together or it is one of the biggest coincidences of all time.

XLIX · 2026-04-15T11:01:46-0400

Bill Lee said:
You're the one who suggested a kiss that didn't even happen would add fuel to the fire, a fire that might not even exist.

WTF are you babbling about?

Bill Lee said:
It's not like you are building your house on bedrock.

As others wrote, it's supposition upon supposition upon supposition.

I drew a logical conclusion based on the overwhelming amount of evidence. If you want to bury your head in the sand, you go right ahead.

Bill Lee · 2026-04-15T11:07:30-0400

XLIX said:
I drew a logical conclusion based on the overwhelming amount of evidence. If you want to bury your head in the sand, you go right ahead.

You jumped to conclusions based on circumstantial evidence. If you want to blow right past the presumption of innocence, you go right ahead.

Oh, I forgot, part of Catholic doctrine is the concept of original sin. That's one interesting yet often problematic world view to choose.

XLIX · 2026-04-15T11:12:03-0400

Bill Lee said:
You jumped to conclusions based on circumstantial evidence.

The evidence is not circumstantial. You obviously don’t understand what “circumstantial evidence” means.

Bill Lee said:
If you want to blow right past the presumption of innocence, you go right ahead.

We are not in a court of law so I am under no obligation to provide a presumption of innocence.

I have made a logical conclusion based on the facts at hand.

Bill Lee said:
Oh, I forgot, part of Catholic doctrine is the concept of original sin. That's one interesting yet often problematic world view to choose.

You’re the only one talking about doctrine here.

Bill Lee · 2026-04-15T11:17:23-0400

XLIX said:
We are not in a court of law so I am under no obligation to provide a presumption of innocence.

That's one very flexible ethical code you have.

Glad it works for you.

gobesmug · 2026-04-15T11:26:49-0400

Clonamery said:
Schefter - given that he twice violated HIPAA laws and kept his job, he should keep his mouth shut

Because he didnt violate HIPAA laws.

HIPAA applies to Healthcare providers who have access to Healthcare information.

Unless Schefter works for a hospital and used his employee credentials to look up information he didn't violate anything.

Now the person who disclosed the information to Schefter potentially could have violated HIPAA, but thats only if they used their workplace information to obtain that info.

If a person reveals their Health status to a friend and that friend shares it with Schefter who blasts it on social media, then no HIPAA violation is made.

I'm not talking about slander, defamation, ethical or state privacy laws, only HIPAA.

Rob0729 · 2026-04-15T11:31:52-0400

One-If-By-Sea said:
Yup, Russo's career at the New York Times is over. Who cares?

Bari Weiss was kicked out of the NYT in 2020, and has made over $100M since then. Bari is very happy to have left the NYT.

It will depend on whether she can find an audience. Legacy media is dying and you can make more money doing a podcast or starting your own your own media company like Weiss is the way to go these days. Hell, that is how the Athletic started until they were bought by the NYT.

The problem for Russini is what the public thinks of her. Her popularity took a real hit. She is getting flamed on social media when she posts. She will need to disappear for a bit and let the story die down.

She is a good reporter and is well connected. So she has the potential to turn around her career and make money. It depends on how well she can rehab her reputation.

Rob0729 · 2026-04-15T11:33:01-0400

Bill Lee said:
Ok, let's assume in some hypothetical future world a married woman becomes an NFL head coach and she is photographed off-season at a resort in a bikini in a hot tub with an attractive married male reporter in his swim trunks, she survives all that unscathed?

She should. But who knows.

But if Adam Schefter had an affair with the owner of the Colts, I would assume that ESPN would ask him to resign.

n1997y · 2026-04-15T11:47:40-0400

RobertWeathers said:
Yep. Even with her contact up 6/30 an NFL reporter on a national level doesn't resign before the freaking draft.

n1997y said:
How about if her employer tells her she’s suspended pending investigation, and they told the NFL to not issue her credentials?

RobertWeathers said:
I don't follow your point

Maybe it will help if you explain to me what reason(s) she would have for not resigning when she is sidelined, unable to attend any official draft events, prohibited from publishing anything because she’s still employed even though suspended, has no corporate expense account, is most likely a pariah regarding attendence at any non-NFL events and cut off from most of her sources?

Yes the draft is imminent, but she’s in the penalty box with handcuffs on. How does not resigning benefit her in any way?

RobertWeathers · 2026-04-15T11:59:17-0400

n1997y said:
Maybe it will help if you explain to me what reason(s) she would have for not resigning when she is sidelined, unable to attend any official draft events, prohibited from publishing anything because she’s still employed even though suspended, has no corporate expense account, is most likely a pariah regarding attendence at any non-NFL events and cut off from most of her sources?

Yes the draft is imminent, but she’s in the penalty box with handcuffs on. How does not resigning benefit her in any way?

Reason: If she is innocent and she has chosen to fight for her career life and personal/professional brand.

She chose not to do that and her career is over for the foreseeable future if not forever.

sb1 · 2026-04-15T12:03:50-0400

I remember she took an XFL job a few years ago.

Now I wonder if she was just laying low for a while after the McVay thing.

Bill Lee · 2026-04-15T12:03:55-0400

Rob0729 said:
It will depend on whether she can find an audience. Legacy media is dying and you can make more money doing a podcast or starting your own your own media company like Weiss is the way to go these days. Hell, that is how the Athletic started until they were bought by the NYT.

At this point the "new media" space is pretty darn saturated. These aren't the days when Grantland, The Ringer, Barstool or The Athletic were filling voids. Now you gotta elbow your way in against some very established players.

Rumors say she was pulling down $1.5M - $2.0M from NYT, and chances are the gravy train was going to keep rolling if not for this scandal. She ain't gonna make that kind of bread through new media unless a lot of things go right for her.

And yes, facts show she herself created the appearance of impropriety which is very damaging to a journalist's career, and she's gonna pay the price.

Rob0729 said:
The problem for Russini is what the public thinks of her. Her popularity took a real hit. She is getting flamed on social media when she posts. She will need to disappear for a bit and let the story die down.

She is a good reporter and is well connected. So she has the potential to turn around her career and make money. It depends on how well she can rehab her reputation.

I agree. Her best hope is that things calm down and she can recover her professional career. If not, the other choice is to carry the taint as a badge of honor and go rogue. That might work for a while, but it is hard to sustain.

I think, overall, it will be hard. For comparison, Lindsay Rhodes was the star host of NFLN's Total Access for over a decade, till NFLN decided to move on for younger and cheaper talent. She has a really good podcast, "The NFL Rhodes Show", but it's not making a huge impression out there. It's audience is best described as niche. Too bad, it's really good coverage.

One-If-By-Sea · 2026-04-15T12:05:05-0400

XLIX said:
No. The business event was in Phoenix, 2 hours south of the Ambiente. Absolutely no NFL business was taking place in Sedona.

I know that. My point is that I commonly drive an hour or two or three to sightsee on business trips.

XLIX said:
Do you commonly travel 2 hours away from the business meeting to spend alone time at a romantic couples’ resort with a female colleague?

Yes I travel 1 to 3 hours by car when on business trips to sightsee. Any resort in the hills is considered romantic to boost sales. So yes, I go to resorts sometimes - you might consider a resort romantic - I don't. The romantic part is simply marketing.

XLIX said:
It would be like having a business conference in Boston but meeting a colleague at the exact same hotel in the Berkshires. Either you planned it together or it is one of the biggest coincidences of all time.

I am sure they planned it. Planning to meet each other for a relaxing day is not a big deal to me, if appears to be a big deal to you.

Ross12 · 2026-04-15T12:05:39-0400

RobertWeathers said:
Reason: If she is innocent and she has chosen to fight for her career life and personal/professional brand.

She chose not to do that and her career is over for the foreseeable future if not forever.

Not sure about that one. She may actually be fighting for her career BY LEAVING. If she stayed she would have been stuck silenced during the draft. By leaving, she can find work elsewhere during a very busy period of time. Many are assuming she is radioactive and nobody will offer her any work but I think she will be fine.

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