Dan Shaughnessy: Biggest douche bag of them all?

[Pape]

I must have read a different article... didnt see half the stuff in the article that has been claimed in this thread

the gist? he called Brady an a-hole for the two-faced dealings with the dolphins in 2019...

CHB was right, this time. Brady was an ass hole for doing that.

In case anyone is interested, here it is...

▪ Tom Brady is a great football player and put the Patriots on the map.

He is also proof that winning a lot of championships cuts you slack forever in this town.

Brady turned 45 this past week while working out in Tampa, trying to win his eighth Super Bowl. On the day before his birthday, we learned that Tom was talking to the Miami Dolphins — angling his way out of Boston — before he even started his 20th and final season with the Patriots in 2019. Throughout the ‘19 season, Brady was actively working on his next gig while he was playing for the Patriots.

Beyond weak. Phony. A betrayal. Hard to forgive.

When all this came out, the Dolphins were docked a first-round draft pick (and a third) and slapped with a $1.5 million fine for tampering violations. Owner Stephen Ross was suspended for six games.

Brady got nothing … just like in an NFL game in 2022. You can’t touch the golden boy quarterback, which — avocado ice cream aside — is the biggest reason Brady can keep playing at this level at 45.

Brady’s integrity takes a well-deserved hit. You have to be a true sycophant/fanboy to dismiss this one. We know for a fact that while he was performing and pouting with the 2019 Patriots, he was scheming to join one of their hated division rivals.

He later did the same two-faced thing in Tampa; his “retirement” was merely a ruse to get him to a player/ownership role in Miami. The scam was foiled when Brian Flores filed his discrimination lawsuit against the Dolphins and Brady had no choice but to slink back to the Bucs, but not without first getting his coach (Bruce Arians) fired.

For all these years, we’ve heard about how team-guy Tom took pay cuts to help the Patriots. In the end, it was just the opposite.

How is all of this OK with you, Boston? Your guy was mentally checked out of Foxborough in his last Patriot season. A lot of Patriot fans are still angry at Bill Parcells for talking to the Jets while he was taking the Patriots to a Super Bowl. The Tuna had a much better reason for leaving (stabbed in the back on draft day by Bob Kraft) than Brady. How is Parcells a traitor but Brady is OK?

Weird that the outing of Brady came while tributes were still pouring in for the late, great Bill Russell. It reminded me of a knee-jerk and incorrect column I wrote the day after Tom won his final Super Bowl for the Patriots in February 2019. Caught up in the moment and the magnitude of the 21st century NFL, I declared Tom the greatest Boston athlete of all time.

I take it all back. It’s Russell, who won 11 championships in 13 seasons, was not protected by referees, never once complained about his supporting cast (Emmette Bryant was a starting guard when the Green finished fourth in 1969), and did not negotiate with the Sixers while he was under contract to the Celtics. A star with integrity. Worthy of your love and adulation. Boston’s greatest of all time.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I agree with Shank's last paragraph. Always have. Bill Freakin' Russell is THE MAN.

 

[Ivan]

I don’t know what he said, and I’m still a big Brady fan, but Brady deserves a suspension if he was talking to Miami while under contract to the Patriots. And I would say the same if he were a Buc, or if it was another player. You wait until your contract is up to talk with other teams, period. If you don’t you should expect some form of punishment.

 

[Ivan]

I must have read a different article... didnt see half the stuff in the article that has been claimed in this thread

the gist? he called Brady an a-hole for the two-faced dealings with the dolphins in 2019...

CHB was right, this time. Brady was an ass hole for doing that.

In case anyone is interested, here it is...

What’s his point? Any player key to championships gets slack in that town.

 

[Triumph]

There are plenty of candidates for the douchebaggery hall of fame (like Felger), but O'Shaughnessy's column in today's Globe about Brady has got to make him the king of douchebaggery.

Dan Shaughnessy's Brady article is 100% fact and truth.

Brady tampered. If he did not tamper then who did Miami tamper with? It takes 2. The NFL does not fine players for tampering because its all on the club to not engage with a player/coach under contract with a different franchise. That should change. There should be a Brady rule where players pay a price for pimping themselves out. Brady did it twice with 2 different teams.

Brady was dancing with Miami to get back at the Patriots.

 

[Triumph]

Whats not being talked about here is that Miami tampered with Brady still having Tua on the roster.

 

[PatsWSB47]

I don’t know what he said, and I’m still a big Brady fan, but Brady deserves a suspension if he was talking to Miami while under contract to the Patriots. And I would say the same if he were a Buc, or if it was another player. You wait until your contract is up to talk with other teams, period. If you don’t you should expect some form of punishment.

The rule is if a team initiates contact then the team will be punished. If a player initiates contact then the team must report that to the league and if they don't then they will be punished. So maybe there should be something to dissuade a player but there isn't. Suspension is a stretch though. Shaunessy is an ass

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

I am pretty sure that Brady was very PO'd at BB for drafting Harry. I am pretty sure he put his foot down before the draft and demanded that the Patriots get him some weapons. When BB passed on a few All-pro WRs and drafted Harry, well it was then that Brady decided to leave the Patriots and he started looking around.

 

[Pape]

What’s his point? Any player key to championships gets slack in that town.

i posted the article in the quote section of my post... feel free to read what he said

 

[AQPE]

Shaughnessy is a no-talent assclown that rode his connection with fellow Grotonite Peter Gammons to the Globe. He certainly didn’t get there on merit. The guy’s career peaked before his 30th birthday FFS. His cheap shot act is his pathetic attempt to be relevant since there isn’t any insight in that weird dome of his.

For me the all time champion D-bag Boston sports media was Shill McDonough. Will was a great reporter but “the world according to Will” was all about his “patrons” and once you caught on to that his credibility went out the window.

Give me Ray Fitzgerald any day as a columnist. He crapped out more insight than Shank has demonstrated in his 6.5 decades

 

[catent]

Yes Shaughnesswsy is an a**hole. But....

I do believe the days in the 40's, 50's 60"s and 70's when there was no free agency and many great players would stay with teams for their entire career was a special era for baseball and all prospects. Fast forward to today when very good (but not all time great players) like Soto, Machado, Bradley Beal and yes even Mookie Betts get guaranteed hundreds of million dollars dollars and thus by the time they are 24 years old have multi generational wealth, private jets etc.....it takes something away from the game. After they get big dollars...many of them understandably do not have the same dedication to the game and their team and the city's fans that puts them up on a pedestal. Even great players like Trout.....paying them 400 million, in my view takes away from the game...makes them unrelatable and puts them in a different world.

Its not always about things "were the best in my era", but its also about some of destructive forces that have taken over pro sports, especially free agency, legalized gambling, out of control salaries. Because of free agency, multigenerational wealth for even average players....has put a huge wall between fans and players.

I have a penchant for sarcastic “interesting” reactions, but this one is completely genuine. Hadn’t thought about this perspective and I appreciated reading it.

 

[rads2005]

His article attempts to diminish what Brady did prior to 2019.
That’s wrong.
No Patriot fan could ever have any issue with Brady prior to 2019. He was pretty much perfect.
His actions in 2019 were not good but it takes nothing away from the prior 19 years.

I don't see where in the article it says this. Can you give a quote?

 

[Betterthanmost]

His article attempts to diminish what Brady did prior to 2019.
That’s wrong.
No Patriot fan could ever have any issue with Brady prior to 2019. He was pretty much perfect.
His actions in 2019 were not good but it takes nothing away from the prior 19 years.

I can see how it can be construed the way you and some are seeing it, I read it and I just felt Brady’s reputation as a team guy needs to be examined. What he has said in the past about what matters to him are all over the place now. It appears the Pats may have prevented him from being in all the commercials, all the publicity that he is now showing up in. You name it, every show in town you will see Brady in it.
Does it get any more scammy than what he has done twice about going to the Dolphins? Brady is a legend on the field, no sane person can question that but he is as fake as they come. I certainly don’t listen to anything he says anymore because it is probably 90% ********.

 

[BTTA]

these people are not fans of the local teams. their one purpose is to gin up controversy. they root for the "story", not the teams...

That's literally his job description.

 

[BTTA]

Yes Shaughnesswsy is an a**hole. But....

I do believe the days in the 40's, 50's 60"s and 70's when there was no free agency and many great players would stay with teams for their entire career was a special era for baseball and all prospects. Fast forward to today when very good (but not all time great players) like Soto, Machado, Bradley Beal and yes even Mookie Betts get guaranteed hundreds of million dollars dollars and thus by the time they are 24 years old have multi generational wealth, private jets etc.....it takes something away from the game. After they get big dollars...many of them understandably do not have the same dedication to the game and their team and the city's fans that puts them up on a pedestal. Even great players like Trout.....paying them 400 million, in my view takes away from the game...makes them unrelatable and puts them in a different world.

Its not always about things "were the best in my era", but its also about some of destructive forces that have taken over pro sports, especially free agency, legalized gambling, out of control salaries. Because of free agency, multigenerational wealth for even average players....has put a huge wall between fans and players.

This level of thoughtfulness and articulation is a threat to the stability of Patsfans.

 

[sb1]

The rule is if a team initiates contact the the team will be punished. If a player initiates contact the the team must report that to the league and if they don't then they will be punished. So maybe there should be something to dissuade a player but there isn't. Suspension is a stretch though. Shaunessy is an ass

Yes he is. Where is Carl Everett when we need him lol.

Players can’t tamper. A player can try to engage a team but the team cannot engage with them back. At best I suppose a team could try to void that player’s contract and cut them for breaching the player contract clause regarding loyalty. Would love to see Bill or Kraft try to explain that one to the fanbase and media regarding Brady. Yeah good luck with that.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I don’t know what he said, and I’m still a big Brady fan, but Brady deserves a suspension if he was talking to Miami while under contract to the Patriots. And I would say the same if he were a Buc, or if it was another player. You wait until your contract is up to talk with other teams, period. If you don’t you should expect some form of punishment.

There's a reason that teams are subject to a penalty for doing this, but there isn't even a penalty for players not reporting illegal contacts: the imbalance of power between teams and players.

 

[Ring 6]

I can see how it can be construed the way you and some are seeing it, I read it and I just felt Brady’s reputation as a team guy needs to be examined. What he has said in the past about what matters to him are all over the place now. It appears the Pats may have prevented him from being in all the commercials, all the publicity that he is now showing up in. You name it, every show in town you will see Brady in it.
Does it get any more scammy than what he has done twice about going to the Dolphins? Brady is a legend on the field, no sane person can question that but he is as fake as they come. I certainly don’t listen to anything he says anymore because it is probably 90% ********.

I could not care less to judge what kind of a person he is. He is a football player.
His personality and persona are irrelevant to me. I care only about what he did for this team. Up through 2018 he was as perfect as it gets. In 2019 he wasn’t all in. That sucks, but it doesn’t diminish the other 19 years.

 

[Ring 6]

The rule is if a team initiates contact the the team will be punished. If a player initiates contact the the team must report that to the league and if they don't then they will be punished. So maybe there should be something to dissuade a player but there isn't. Suspension is a stretch though. Shaunessy is an ass

If the player negotiated with another team he is in violation of his contract.
I’m not sure why you continue to ignore the rule he must abide and keep stating how a rule that applies to teams not players doesn’t apply to him.

 

[NormZauchin]

Shaughnessy is a no-talent assclown that rode his connection with fellow Grotoniteration Peter Gammons to the Globe. He certainly didn’t get there on merit. The guy’s career peaked before his 30th birthday FFS. His cheap shot act is his pathetic attempt to be relevant since there isn’t any insight in that weird dome Of his.

For me the all time champion D-bag Boston sports media was Shill McDonough. Will was a great reporter but “the world according to Will” was all about his “patrons” and once you caught on to that his credibility went out the window.

Give me Ray Fitzgerald any day as a columnist. He crapped out more insight than Shank has demonstrated in his 6.5 decades

I didn't know than Shaughnessy was still around. The torrent of Shank putdowns on this site has dried up over the years, and I thought that he had retired - or maybe died. I grew up in western Mass in the 50's when Ray Fitzgerald wrote for the Springfield papers. He was great. I was sorry to see him leave for the big time.