Poll: New scandal/major distraction/national noise watch

[dannydyn]

So far in this playoff run, the storylines have been:

* Friction between BB-Brady and BB-Kraft.
* Brady's practice injury and fallout.
* Gisele wants Brady to retire.
* Everyone outside New England hates having another Pats Super Bowl.
* Both coordinators are moving on to head coaching jobs.

Nothing too major here that threatens to distract from the team's preparations -- so far, that is. Considering the bombs dropped on this franchise in past playoff runs, Patriots fans are justified in nervously waiting for another unforeseen shoe to drop. What will be next, if anything? Will local or national media conjure another distraction-worthy scandal before the end of next week?

This is the thread to post concerns and potentially newsworthy distractions as the Pats prepare for a shot at Lombardi No. 6.

From the team's perspective:

 

[Chris Stevenson]

From the team's perspective:

Keep in mind, the Walkthrough tape lie was dropped as a story 48 hours before the Super Bowl, and the players later admitted it was a distraction.

 

[RayClay]

Apparently, the land sale reference was a "joke" by Bedard. Later tweet from that account.

 

[RayClay]

So guys, I manage a condo out here in Seattle and have to do my best to be friendly to everyone, residents, contractors, cleaning persons, even the mail carrier. So I decided to bring up the Super Bowl with an electrician guy (Steelers fan) I've talked football with many times before. His answer: "I'm totally disgusted with the Super Bowl and disinterested in the game. The Jags got totally screwed by the refs, pass interference call, fumble, etc, and then goes on to say only one penalty again the Pats and Brady was celebrating with the ref after the game." The discussion quickly turned heated and ended as I'm not gonna accept the weak ass "refs" excuse. BS. I can forgive him being a Steelers fan I'm sure he's very salty about how their season completely crashed and burned. As far as I'm concerned anyone that's gonna pull the ref card loses all credibility immediately. Haters gonna hate and I drink their tears like sweet champagne!

That's the way it will be. I'm much happier to be the fan of a great team, than another fan who needs to alter reality to keep me from crying.

 

[Funktopus]

Tom Brady intentionally rips thumb open on Burkhead's helmet as pretext to gain unfair advantage with performance enhancing KT tape.

 

[bormio]

Keep in mind, the Walkthrough tape lie was dropped as a story 48 hours before the Super Bowl, and the players later admitted it was a distraction.

By now they are old hands at BS distractions.

 

[SVN]

With accusations against Patriots, John Tomase confirms reality is upside down

 

[Clonamery]

With accusations against Patriots, John Tomase confirms reality is upside down

I think it's supposed to be, "Tomase confirms reality is upside down cake, chokes on it."

 

[SVN]

Alex Guerrero says he and Bill Belichick laughed, high-fived over ESPN story

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Bob Brookover @ Philly Inquirer:




Incredible. HOF worthy, even. Has a quote from Saint Dungy! What else can you ask for in your anti-Patriots schlock? This is a scorching Hawt taek, and so timely too! Really stick it to Belichick and Kraft right when it counts.

The ending says it all:

That’s fine, but somehow there should be even more. The Patriots or Urban Meyer, who was the coach at the University of Florida when Hernandez played there, should have done more when they saw the signs of trouble. What Hernandez did was horrible, but you get the feeling the only reason Meyer and the Patriots cared about him in the first place was because he could play football.

Once he no longer could help them, it became a sin to even speak the name Aaron Hernandez. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that the NFL team that has had the most success in this century also had to deal with the league’s greatest tragedy.

 

[1960Pats]

Once again, more pushing of this narrative. They're trying so damn hard to shape public opinion on this. The only reason the Patriots will have won Super Bowl 52 is because: refs.

I was lucky enough to see Inside the NFL when it began. It was 45 minutes of game highlights and 15 minutes of talk. And the talk was all football and it was coming from only two players, Len Dawson and Nick Buoniconti. It was fantastic.

Now we get 15 minutes of game action (one or two plays per game during the season) and 45 minutes of talk, mostly about themselves or some other bs. And the talk now comes from a gang of 5 blabber mouths talking over each other.

And can someone decipher WTF Ray Lewis is saying. I know he killed one or two guys, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be able to put thoughts and words together. The show absolutely sucks now.

Trying to keep true to my Pats only viewing, I did manage to see only a couple of minutes of the last show. Beside crying about the calls on the Jags, they also edited the tape of the Jags player slamming White down in the endzone. They showed the play but cut it short of the blatant non-call.

 

[Bella*chick]

Bob Brookover @ Philly Inquirer:




Incredible. HOF worthy, even. Has a quote from Saint Dungy! What else can you ask for in your anti-Patriots schlock? This is a scorching Hawt taek, and so timely too! Really stick it to Belichick and Kraft right when it counts.

The ending says it all:

Yeah, because I know the other 31 teams care so much about the player as a person and not their football ability. What an absolute crock of ****.

 

[Tunescribe]

Bob Brookover @ Philly Inquirer:




Incredible. HOF worthy, even. Has a quote from Saint Dungy! What else can you ask for in your anti-Patriots schlock? This is a scorching Hawt taek, and so timely too! Really stick it to Belichick and Kraft right when it counts.

The ending says it all:

Yeah, because I know the other 31 teams care so much about the player as a person and not their football ability. What an absolute crock of ****.

I sent that moron an e-mail:

Hi Bob,

Please tell me how much money you make writing columns for phillynews.com. If it's anywhere above minimum wage I'd like to apply for your job, as I'm sure I could dash off similarly uninspired schlock in less than half the time you put in.

Lordy you are awful.

Don't fall out of any windows. On second thought ...

 

[bormio]

Alex Guerrero says he and Bill Belichick laughed, high-fived over ESPN story

Video??

 

[SVN]

This one is hilarious. Tom brady's yrs old dog bite story from yesterday's presser is being reported as happened this week

 

[Soliel]

Ray Lewis said Brady handles daughtergate fine, if it were him, he’d have killed reimer

 

[Tony2046]

This one is hilarious. Tom brady's yrs old dog bite story from yesterday's presser is being reported as happened this week

The story is true but it happened years ago. hahahaha

 

[Clonamery]

The story is true but it happened years ago. hahahaha

Google, Volin’s best and worst friend.

 

[SVN]

Google, Volin’s best and worst friend.

Well it was the espn reported who tweeted this. He gleefully retweeted.

 

[Soliel]

Apparently, the land sale reference was a "joke" by Bedard. Later tweet from that account.

Yep, cheats at football, smokes steroids, gets shady land deals, lies to his wife.

No good unicorn