Phillips disputes Belicheat-bashin' HBO report

[Fencer]

Is it possible Phillips was told his comments were off-the-record and King made them public anyway? If so, can't he be sued for that?

And if King did do that, shouldn't he be fired never to be hired again?

Sure it's possible, but I doubt that's what happened. Constantly saying "That's off the record" is a real pain. I'm not a real journalist, so my situation is by no means identical to King's, but my best GUESS is that his style in this is similar to mine. I.e., he gets people to speak freely in part by creating the expectation that he won't embarrass them about the specifics of what they (perhaps carelessly) say.

 

[SeauOUCH]

They apparently are going to be soft on him. They're already giving him all benifit of doubt and Holley even suggests that he may "have something" that he can't reveal yet until he gets everything lined up.

Yep no doubt they are going to go soft, I bet they dont ask him a single tough question.

I sent them an email telling them I hoped King would explain exactly what he thinks the Patrtiots did that was so aggregious. I would also like to here what in his opinion is worse, what the Pats did or what the '97 '98 Broncos did in when the deffered payments to Elway in Terrel Davis to the tune of 29 million $. There is no doubt in my mind that cheating the salary cap by that amount has a MUCH larger impact that anything the Pats did, yet nobody ever talks about the Broncos tainted SB's.

 

[solman]

I think King's wrong, totally misguided, about this Spygate thing. I don't think he actually understands what could possibly have happened, the machinations of it all. HOWEVER....

Until Spygate there was no bigger Patriots ball-washer than Peter King, so it's pretty short-sighted to assume he isn't sincere here. I think he IS sincere, but just ridiculously off-track.

He is a lover scorned. He had inside access to the team that didn't give anybody inside access. He lost it (probably forever) with his week-of-the-scandal reporting. He is REALLY pissed off about this. If the Pats have a perfect season, he may spontaneously combust.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Oh stuff a sock in it 23. The only one around here who looks foolish is you.

Peter King's bread and butter is almost breathlessly portraying himself as someone who thinks what he thinks matters because his opinion is based on access to others with either some snipet of actual knowledge or more often than not of late an agenda driven opinion of their own they want some media hack to front for them. Peter increasingly lacks the capacity to differentiate between the two.

Peter took the bait hook, line and sinker on what turned out in fact to be a tempest in a teapot, in part due to Goodell's public mishandling of the matter allowing uninformed opinion to run wild and gain a foothold within the media. Now that the jig is truly up based on his conversation with Costas, Peter is unwilling to admit that he helped shape an out of proportion reaction because he bought into the vindictive agenda driven hysteria among his "sources". And what he's really steamed about is the Commish didn't give that information exclusively to him. Had he, Peter would have suddenly emerged the lone voice of reason in a sea of idiotic conspiracy theorists.

The good news is this will cost him, not only in the court of public and media opinion (although few in the media will publicly acknowledge that unless it drives a pre existing agenda of their own because they've already permanently affixed Peter to a pedastal much like the late Will McDonough, whose ugly idiocincricies they still refuse to acknowledge) but where access is concerned. Absent access Peter doesn't bring much to the table. Lately absent the capacity to diferentiate between when his sources information has some validity and when they are spinning him to shape public perception in their favor, it really won't matter all that much.

What this story has once and for all revealed about Peter is he's not a critical thinker nor can he think on his feet. The demands of the exploding sports media age have overtaken a dinosaur. You see the same thing with guys like Mort. Given too little time to really work through what they think they think, they are forced to stake out their ground quickly, and therefore often prematurely, in order to keep pace with the 24/7 media opinion cycle. But being dinosaurs who believe they long ago earned permanent status as voices so well connected as to be superior to the masses, they find it difficult to admit they got snookered or even back away from ground they mistakenly staked out.

Peter King now needs this to be a story that still has legs more than the PR conscious league or a HC who could care less what the media thinks it thinks need it to just go away. He's dug in too deep to retreat and will go to whatever ends he must to attempt to save face. And in that he is totally Borges-esque. Borges let a baseless agenda driven Cleveland media spin him into an adversary to a HC who turned out to be arguably the best in his generation if not yet of all time. Peter is descending down that same path based on what vindictive league sources are willing to whisper in his ear as long as they don't have to back it up if attributed. That's shoddy journalism 101.

And as another poster pointed out, it's a travesty that this is what the HOF accepts from it's elitist voters. The good news is most of them will be in assisted living or 6 feet under before Belichick is inducted on that first ballot sometime after 2018.

 

[LoveDemPats]

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/


Peter King dropped a pretty big bomb on HBO's Inside the NFL last night, mentioning that Wade Phillips wonders how much Bill Belichick's cheating aided the Patriots' dynasty.

"You know, 5 and 0 New England against 5 and 0 Dallas. The league, the Patriots, everybody, they just want this Spygate thing to go away. But Wade Phillips this week told me something that I think a lot of coaches around the league and a lot of people around the league are still thinking and that is, 'Hey, New England was caught cheating and it is a black mark on their success.'
"There is no doubt in my mind that it is and more and more people around the league are starting to say, "Why did this thing just go away? Why didn't it get more traction?'"


Phillips, however, accused King of putting words in his mouth.

"I didn't say that at all," Phillips said during today's press conference. "I think they would have won no matter what. I have no idea that it even helped them. They were a great football team, well coached. I don't see any way they wouldn't have won what they did.

"I don't think that at all, and I don't know why Peter would say that. Maybe he thinks that."

UPDATE: An HBO spokesman said King stands by his report.

Posted by Tim MacMahon at 4:38 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (13)

Perhaps King fatty will get his come-upance? Well, I am believing Phillips for what ever reason. (maybe not such a good selection, but King seems like such a fat toad.)

 

[LoveDemPats]

I think King's wrong, totally misguided, about this Spygate thing. I don't think he actually understands what could possibly have happened, the machinations of it all. HOWEVER....

Until Spygate there was no bigger Patriots ball-washer than Peter King, so it's pretty short-sighted to assume he isn't sincere here. I think he IS sincere, but just ridiculously off-track.

Do ya think that he is maybe compensating for this ball washing? I wonder about that. Maybe they are all a real fragile bunch (the writers) and they actually pay attention to what their peers say.

 

[LoveDemPats]

This is my interpretation of the whole videogate issue.

If my company catches me breaking a rule which could hurt their image, should they try to prosecute me on legal grounds and make the whole issue public EVEN IF THEY DON'T WANT TO?

Think about that last part. Given the choice, which the NFL and the Patriots have, who wouldn't refuse to make the records public? To me, it's like there are hourds of hungry media wanna-be's and angry (opposing) fans just waiting to get their hands on information & they would not have a clue what to do with it.

So, yes, the NFL is doing the right thing here.

Couldn't Badell be a little more clear about things?

He could simply say that what was shown on the Glazer tape is what all the tapes comprize. I think that the NFL did a poor job on the whole matter. And, we will never learn how that freak'n tape got into Fox's hands. The NFL has shown itself to be rather leaky and unorganized. (they need someone like BB) Man, can you imagine how he would run the NFL?

Maybe that would be a funny thread. "What if BB was commish?"

 

[LoveDemPats]

But then Bob Costas went on to say that he asked Goodell directly if any of the tapes that were handed over revealed that they had an impact on any of their past playoff victories, and he said that he did not see any evidence of that.
That is what needs to come out in force.

Yes, and Costas went on to explain that he had a different view of the issue back when he interviewed Goodell right after it happened. Costas, in other words, quoted Goodell, then proceded to redirect the story to what he wanted the story to be. That he was under the impression that when the rest of the tapes were given to the NFL that further penalties would insue.

And, the story was really what you have just stated.

I remember, as I would imagine a bunch of people on this website would agree, that it seemed as if Costas was not listening to Goodell, and that Costas was alll glassy eyed about the posibility of the crashing and burning of the whole patriots organization. He (costas) was practically foaming at the mouth with his end of the seat questioning that to most of us was way out of line.

 

[LoveDemPats]

What this story has once and for all revealed about Peter is he's not a critical thinker nor can he think on his feet. The demands of the exploding sports media age have overtaken a dinosaur. You see the same thing with guys like Mort. Given too little time to really work through what they think they think, they are forced to stake out their ground quickly, and therefore often prematurely, in order to keep pace with the 24/7 media opinion cycle. But being dinosaurs who believe they long ago earned permanent status as voices so well connected as to be superior to the masses, they find it difficult to admit they got snookered or even back away from ground they mistakenly staked out.

Peter King now needs this to be a story that still has legs more than the PR conscious league or a HC who could care less what the media thinks it thinks need it to just go away. He's dug in too deep to retreat and will go to whatever ends he must to attempt to save face. And in that he is totally Borges-esque. Borges let a baseless agenda driven Cleveland media spin him into an adversary to a HC who turned out to be arguably the best in his generation if not yet of all time. Peter is descending down that same path based on what vindictive league sources are willing to whisper in his ear as long as they don't have to back it up if attributed. That's shoddy journalism 101.

Great piece.

I really like the quote above. I think that the changing landscape of sportswriting is a huge aspect of this story. They are dinasours.

 

[njpatsfan]

If one's an experienced, knowledgeable, well-connected commentator, one has lots of conversations in which people first say what they think, and then take it back off the record, or even put it on background.

Sometimes I even prompt them to do that. Sometimes I negotiate with them as to what they'll leave on the record (or even leave off the record rather than on background).

There's simply a trust relationship that you won't burn them (and also that they won't go overboard with spinning or deceiving you).

If you quote somebody on something truthful they didn't want to be quoted on, you're almost always in the wrong.

EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify by saying that I annoy people all the time by what I report and comment on, and I think I'm right to do so. What's more, I hit companies pretty hard if I think they stonewall, or comment on less than they should. But despite all that, if they want to remain officially silent, they have the right to do so.

Hmmm ... great insight - perhaps journalistic ethics are not completely dead .... though good luck getting a job at the Globe or Times ....

R

 

[captain stone]

Oh stuff a sock in it 23. The only one around here who looks foolish is you.

Peter King's bread and butter is almost breathlessly portraying himself as someone who thinks what he thinks matters because his opinion is based on access to others with either some snipet of actual knowledge or more often than not of late an agenda driven opinion of their own they want some media hack to front for them. Peter increasingly lacks the capacity to differentiate between the two.

Peter took the bait hook, line and sinker on what turned out in fact to be a tempest in a teapot, in part due to Goodell's public mishandling of the matter allowing uninformed opinion to run wild and gain a foothold within the media. Now that the jig is truly up based on his conversation with Costas, Peter is unwilling to admit that he helped shape an out of proportion reaction because he bought into the vindictive agenda driven hysteria among his "sources". And what he's really steamed about is the Commish didn't give that information exclusively to him. Had he, Peter would have suddenly emerged the lone voice of reason in a sea of idiotic conspiracy theorists.

The good news is this will cost him, not only in the court of public and media opinion (although few in the media will publicly acknowledge that unless it drives a pre existing agenda of their own because they've already permanently affixed Peter to a pedastal much like the late Will McDonough, whose ugly idiocincricies they still refuse to acknowledge) but where access is concerned. Absent access Peter doesn't bring much to the table. Lately absent the capacity to diferentiate between when his sources information has some validity and when they are spinning him to shape public perception in their favor, it really won't matter all that much.

What this story has once and for all revealed about Peter is he's not a critical thinker nor can he think on his feet. The demands of the exploding sports media age have overtaken a dinosaur. You see the same thing with guys like Mort. Given too little time to really work through what they think they think, they are forced to stake out their ground quickly, and therefore often prematurely, in order to keep pace with the 24/7 media opinion cycle. But being dinosaurs who believe they long ago earned permanent status as voices so well connected as to be superior to the masses, they find it difficult to admit they got snookered or even back away from ground they mistakenly staked out.

Peter King now needs this to be a story that still has legs more than the PR conscious league or a HC who could care less what the media thinks it thinks need it to just go away. He's dug in too deep to retreat and will go to whatever ends he must to attempt to save face. And in that he is totally Borges-esque. Borges let a baseless agenda driven Cleveland media spin him into an adversary to a HC who turned out to be arguably the best in his generation if not yet of all time. Peter is descending down that same path based on what vindictive league sources are willing to whisper in his ear as long as they don't have to back it up if attributed. That's shoddy journalism 101.

And as another poster pointed out, it's a travesty that this is what the HOF accepts from it's elitist voters. The good news is most of them will be in assisted living or 6 feet under before Belichick is inducted on that first ballot sometime after 2018.

This is the definitive Peter Queen post.

I just hope that I'm also not on assisted living, or 6 feet under, by 2018. Live well, die young, I suppose.

 

[All_Around_Brown]

MoLewis hit a homer there. And if this were the Political board, one may go so far to say this same news cycle mentality has been leading the sheep astray in areas of far greater significance to the detriment of our nation. But thats all Im going to say about that.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Peter King is about 1 step away from putting on a Guy Fawkes mask and trying to blow up Gillette Stadium.