Beautiful tribute to Krafts from Jeff Saturday of the Colts

[SeanBruschi54]

Jeff Saturday is a true class act, pays tribute to Krafts

Jeff Saturday Story link

Saturday praised Mr. Kraft for continuing to attend the meetings during the final days of his wife’s life, and Saturday praised Mrs. Kraft for allowing him to do it.

Saturday was unequivocal regarding Mr. Kraft’s role in the process.

“Without him, this deal does not get done,” Saturday said. “He is a man who helped us save football.”

Well done sir.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I know this was posted elsewhere (at the end of a long thread that brings back for some of us at least a few of our more contentious memories of the Lockout), but thought that it deserved its own space for two reasons:

1) To remind us how extraordinary the Kraft family is.

2) To remind us why we love this game and of the true spirit of the NFL, even between heated rivals.

(The clip is only a little over two minutes long.)

Saturday: Kraft helped save football - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

 

[Patspsycho]

What a wonderful classy act!

 

[townes]

Nicely done by Saturday, for all his franchise achievements I think Bob Kraft may well have put himself in Canton for his role in settling this dispute and putting football on track for the next decade. I think it's fair to say he is going down as one of the greatest owners in the NFL. Incredible effort by him during an incredibly difficult time personally. He deserves everyones gratitude.

 

[Bostonian1962]

Re: Jeff Saturday is a true class act, pays tribute to Krafts

Jeff Saturday Story link



Well done sir.

Sean, I just saw that on T.V., and will forever wish great things for Jeff Saturday! What a complete classy human being he is. That was very touching. Awesome!

 

[townes]

Hopefully this leads Mankins to revisit his views on Bob Kraft and he signs soon.

 

[BPF]

Re: Jeff Saturday is a true class act, pays tribute to Krafts

That was a great scene, Saturday is a smart and classy individual. I remember King writing about a meeting he and Goodell had early on one-on-one while sharing a beer and King commenting on how much respect the commish had for him.

As for the man that made this deal happen. Kraft put in some big time work to mend fences and heavy lifting behind the scenes eventhough he was criticized for "missing" meetings early on in this process.

Twitter

Albert Breer
Respect between DeMaurice Smith and Robert Kraft was evident at the press conference. As was the relationship they've built. ....In fact, Smith twice traveled to negotiations with Kraft on the Patriots owner's private plane, after De spent weekends in Boston.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I think Kraft was a main player in the last CBA too, he was the only that kept saying there was a deal to be made while some other owners were spouting rhetorhic. To keep his head in all this while going through the grief of losing his wife is amazing. I hope Jonathan picks up the ball in 10 years if we end up here again someday.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Football is both a business and a matter of having a HUGE family involved between both owners,coaches and players.

Just like in a family you will have squabbles but deep down inside there is really love between both sides from an off the field perspective and this shows the 'other' side of business...the family side

 

[mosslost]

I've never seen such sad eyes... and I've seen some sad eyes... I feel so badly for him.

 

[jv320i]

After all of the unnecessary PR BS our team has dealt with over the last few years, it is absolutely AWESOME to see such positive press regarding the Pats. Hat's off to Bob, and everything he's done over the years including his hard work during a difficult time. I have more Patriot pride than ever. Thank you Robert Kraft, and thank you Jeff Saturday for acknowledging him, and Myra, like you did.

 

[patfanken]

As I read the link to the PFT report on Saturday's classy comments, another thing caught my eye and only confirmed my respect for Bob Kraft. Several owners, players, NFL execs and NFLPA execs made comments, including Bob Kraft. Kraft was the ONLY one who apologized to the FANS for what occurred. Unfortunately he's the ONLY guy who really "gets it". And that's because long before he was an owner, he WAS a fan.

 

[WhiZa]

It was great to see a heartfelt and warming tribute like that. Especially just before FA kicks off

 

[Fencer]

Nicely done by Saturday, for all his franchise achievements I think Bob Kraft may well have put himself in Canton for his role in settling this dispute and putting football on track for the next decade. I think it's fair to say he is going down as one of the greatest owners in the NFL. Incredible effort by him during an incredibly difficult time personally. He deserves everyones gratitude.

Just awesome, for all the reasons everybody else is saying.

ALSO, it's clear that Kraft let most business go through his wife's final illness. It's also clear that he made significant contributions to the NFL labor situation. So clearly, he placed it pretty much over any other business priority he had.

Thank you, sir.

 

[NSPF]

I guess I can finally forgive him for recovering that fumble in the afc championship... Very very classy guy. Now my favorite Colts player! (if there is such a thing)

 

[woolster22]

Kraft contributed more than any of us will ever know. Must be tough leaving your wife's side like that, with our without her blessing. If anyone is to be celebrated in all this it is certainly Bob. Hopefully he gets some time with friends and family before returning to his monetary affairs.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[randomk1]

Wow...really strong words. If you look around the league at some of the owners and then come back to Mr.Kraft...jeez...we should be thanking our lucky stars for him.

Best owner in the game and more importantly as big of a fan as any of us.

 

[italian pat patriot]

see the embrace between the two was also very touching

 

[DarrylS]

It was a very nice touch, and when I was watching it it was somewhat unexpected, so Mr. Kraft must have done some extraordinary things to keep this moving along.

 

[Gumby]

Very nice by Saturday.

eventhough he was criticized for "missing" meetings early on in this process.

Now that everyone knows about Myra and the cancer she was fighting; can we go back and revisit EXACTLY WHO WERE THOSE (In MEDIA i mean) WHO CALLED OUT KRAFT and Demand they give him some Mea Culpas.

They need to be made to feel like sh!ts for busting on him while he was fighting on two fronts without doing the 'BACKGROUND RESEARCH'; that 'reporters' are supposed to be doing. I vaguely recall some mediot complaining that he was off vacationing in the caribbean when he should be in Chi-town. That was probably his last time alone with Myra.

Too often in the today's media dominated world, whether talking about sports, politics or whatever, our institutional memory is about 3 seconds. Some idiot can get away with being flat out stupid, liar, lazy or whatever and one week, month later is still given respect as a valid source or opinion even though he may be saying something 100% opposite of what he said before or even if he has a track record of irresponsiblity.

Hold some of these idiots accountable at least for the case of Myra and Bob. Thanks.