Mike Reiss: Mea Culpa on the Butler article.

[borg]

I think, if he had reread it, he might not have posted it at all. It seemed like it was some innuendo about Butler and, even if his point was valid, there wasn't any way the reader didn't think Butler had some outside issues.

Reiss is an anal retentive perfectionist who prides himself on precise wording both on camera and in his articles. To say he threw caution to the wind this one time contradicts everything we know about the guy.
More relevant than his unsubstantiated implications is the timing of this agenda article.....the very same day Butler is in New Orleans negotiating a contract. Typically, the media doesn't start carving up an ex Boston sports star until after the official departure...but not this time. Of all the days to deviate from his typical routine of accumulating team released info for dissemination, Reiss chooses today. Wonder when his source became so forthcoming?
Tomase would be proud

 

[pwes]

Regardless of his apology the article was still stupid and his explanation isn't much better. He owns up to it but the subject matter really seems irrelevant and out of left field. You cannot judge a player by whether or not they are married or single. Plenty of married players in the league who have disastrous home lives. And plenty of single players who don't. It really shouldn't be a factor and I highly doubt the Pats care. They just want guys who stay out of trouble and work hard, married or not.

 

[Tony2046]

The man writes for a living - is trained to use words carefully and be fact-based and accurate. There is no way that he missed seeing the interpretation that everyone who read it immediately saw. He knew his story was incomplete and gossipy when it was printed. Apparently he did not care until his journalistic ethics were called into question.

That would make sense if this were a trend but that's not your typical MR story. I think there is a hidden story behind all of this which involves BSPN and their editing habits.

 

[Tony2046]

Reporters do make mistakes - typically when they get facts wrong. It happens. That was not the case here. He knew he was being careful to not give specifics - there were no facts. It made little sense. The Pats paid single players with more high profile issues. The story was gossip and any J-school student would know that (as did everyone else). I like Reiss but this story was disgraceful.

If you disagree with the marital stuff that's fine. Major corporations prefer married with children btw.

But his apology was for the insinuation that Butler had "off the field" issues.

 

[yopats]

If you disagree with the marital stuff that's fine. Major corporations prefer married with children btw.

But his apology was for the insinuation that Butler had "off the field" issues.

Gronk and Edelman say hi

 

[Tony2046]

Gronk and Edelman say hi

What does that have to do with my post?

 

[mosslost]

This is important enough to get it's own thread.

Mike Reiss wrote an article this morning that surprisingly, imo, left a lot up to assumptions which has never been his style.

Reiss suggests the Pats might be concerned with Butler off the field

He followed that up with a Mea Culpa explanatory article that puts into light what he was attempting to convey in the original article which includes an apology to Butler.

Piece on Malcolm Butler was incomplete

Mike is a class act plain and simple. @Ian defended him like a 200 lb pit bull.

Name anyone who would go through and apologize to each Twitter response.

Tweets with replies by Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) | Twitter

Reiss still needs to put the actual dirt he has on the corner out to the blogoshpere to get all things right again... Then he will be able to move one from Thomase land.

 

[PittPatriot]

TB12 was single for the first half of his career, dating Hollywood ladies, and actually had a pregnant ex while he was making marriage plans with Gisele.
Butler is a single guy who probably has not had as much opportunity to find a spouse, if he were even looking. He has fathered no children that we know of. Either he is doing things "right," or he has a really low sperm count that may require some medical attention at a later date.

 

[Tony2046]

It seems like some jumped on the outrage train without understanding the purpose for the outrage.

His first article: Left the assumption that Butler had off the field issues. Which sounded bad.

His second article: He clarified that Butler did not have off the field issues.

There isn't or shouldn't be any outrage about wondering if BB favors married over single players. Maybe players aren't immune to corporate hiring practices. Personally I don't think it matters in the NFL. But MR doesn't need to apologize for bringing up "married or single".

Reiss still needs to put the actual dirt he has on the corner out to the blogoshpere to get all things right again... Then he will be able to move one from Thomase land.

He has. He apologized. He responded to numerous Tweets individually which included a link to his apology. What else does he need to do? And who else goes as far as MR just did?

Tomasshat?? Give me a freaking break. MR is light years above that twinkie stuffed scumbag.

 

[pwes]

I don't think anyone really cares about him apologizing for bringing up the married v single angle. The issue is it shouldn't have been brought up to begin with as it is totally irrelevant. He might as well have written a fluff piece about whether Belichick prefers players who like bacon over sausage for breakfast. It's about just as relevant. You can go through the list of the team and see half are single and the other half married. Remember our 2 tight ends 5 years ago. One was single with no children and the other engaged with a child. Guess which turned out to be a murderer.

It was just a dumb article period.

 

[bormio]

Reiss does not deserve a pass. You cannot just come back and say there are no off-field issues. It is not believable. If that was the case, why write the article to begin with? This was the journalistic equivalent of a drive by shooting. Now Reiss wants his reputation back by apologizing and saying "I did a poor job" to some people on Twitter. Where does Butler go to get his reputation back?

 

[BelichickFan]

FWIW Doug Kyed says something sort of similar here :

Patriots Mailbag: Grading New England’s Eventful Offseason So Far

around the 8:00 mark. Not that Butler is a bad guy, more of a "fitting in" kind of thing. Obviously I have no idea just seemed to fit here.

 

[mosslost]

It seems like some jumped on the outrage train without understanding the purpose for the outrage.

His first article: Left the assumption that Butler had off the field issues. Which sounded bad.

His second article: He clarified that Butler did not have off the field issues.

There isn't or shouldn't be any outrage about wondering if BB favors married over single players. Maybe players aren't immune to corporate hiring practices. Personally I don't think it matters in the NFL. But MR doesn't need to apologize for bringing up "married or single".





He has. He apologized. He responded to numerous Tweets individually which included a link to his apology. What else does he need to do? And who else goes as far as MR just did?

Tomasshat?? Give me a freaking break. MR is light years above that twinkie stuffed scumbag.

he needs to expose the dirt he has got

 

[mike_usagisan]

Where does Butler go to get his reputation back?

Um, what? Reiss said MB was single and that may have been part of Bill's decision to invest in Gilmore. It was a stupid comment that didn't add up and Reiss has tried to explain his reasoning and apologize if anyone thought that implied anything more.

What exactly is the ruined reputation Butler now has?

 

[Tony2046]

he needs to expose the dirt he has got

There isn't any dirt.

 

[Tony2046]

I don't think anyone really cares about him apologizing for bringing up the married v single angle. The issue is it shouldn't have been brought up to begin with as it is totally irrelevant. He might as well have written a fluff piece about whether Belichick prefers players who like bacon over sausage for breakfast. It's about just as relevant. You can go through the list of the team and see half are single and the other half married. Remember our 2 tight ends 5 years ago. One was single with no children and the other engaged with a child. Guess which turned out to be a murderer.

It was just a dumb article period.

Sure that's a fair take. No problem with that. But nothing to be outraged about.

 

[bormio]

Um, what? Reiss said MB was single and that may have been part of Bill's decision to invest in Gilmore. It was a stupid comment that didn't add up and Reiss has tried to explain his reasoning and apologize if anyone thought that implied anything more.

What exactly is the ruined reputation Butler now has?

Do you believe that? BB paid Gilmore $14 mil because he was married?? Many posters here said this was Reiss - he would not write this unless there was something to it. Sure the truth is usually not as bad as what people imagine, but when you let everyone guess, it starts a whispering campaign. And then to mention Hernandez in the article ... this was terrible. And "sorry" does not undo it.

 

[farn]

In terms of "screw ups" - if this is Reiss' worst one, that is pretty good. I sure wish my greatest screw up was suggesting NE is more comfortable w married players than single ones.

Overall : I think he's wrong that BB would put much stock in married vs unmarried. But, he does talk about the grain of the grass...

Reiss IS wrong to through it out there, but it's minor in the grand scheme.

 

[neuronet]

Minor screw up. He had a piece to write on deadline. It's not easy. Man I just submitted something I wrote a couple of nights ago on deadline at 430am and looked at it the next day. I was like "Oh....crap I wrote that?" The stuff I wrote quickly the night before was pretty bad. That's a sports reporter's life. It's amazing they do it as well as they do.

Mortensen is a piece of crap because he didn't do what Reiss did. I forgive Reiss.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Do you believe that? BB paid Gilmore $14 mil because he was married??

Of course not, I believe it's because Bill thinks Gilmore is better at press man coverage than Butler and that's a value to his team.

I think I understand what Reiss was trying to say (after reading his apology/explanation), but I don't put much stock in it. Ultimately, what I think Reiss was trying to say was that Bill takes EVERYTHING in to account, even something as minor as married versus single, and that there might be more variables than we know about. When people read that he was saying Butler has off field issues, Reiss went out of his way to apologize to Butler and try to say that he didn't mean it to read that way.

That said, I still don't get the outrage about Butler's ruined reputation. What did Reiss say that has injured Butler's reputation? That he's single?