No really, he was scheduled today in the approval ratings prior to the Matt Walsh statement from last night…
Tomase is the beat reporter covering the New England Patriots for the Boston Herald. He is a Tufts grad, and joined the Herald in 2005 after covering the Red Sox for the Lawrence Eagle Tribunefor a number of years. He is the main blogger for the Herald’s Point After Patriots blog, and makes appearances on Comcast SportsNet from time to time.
He is in the spotlight now, of course, for the article he wrote the day before this year’s Super Bowl, where a source in his article claimed that the Patriots had filmed the Rams walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. The article brought Tomase national attention…whether that was his aim or not…and with yesterday’s revelation that Walsh has no such tape of the walkthrough and was not the source of Tomase’s article, speculation will likely renew as to who was that source.
Tomase is no stranger to controversy, having written a scathing piece in June 2005 on Manny Ramirez while working for the Eagle-Tribune. The piece claimed the the Red Sox themselves were sick of the slugger and that Ramirez was “robbing the Red Sox and more than indirectly contributing to the cost of baseball’s highest tickets.” He made the rounds of the radio stations after that article, getting his name out there, and possibly leading to his promotion to the Herald.
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A warning shot – take it easy in the comments, folks. Anything deemed inappropriate, offensive or overly personal is subject to removal.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
I live in Florida and read the Boston papers to get my daily fix on Patriots and Red Sox. I am dissapointed in Tomase and the Herald because I thought they would give me the straight skinney on Patriots matters. To put it out to the nation that there was a video of the Rams practice without any credible evidence, should be cause for removal. Tomase has lost all credibility. I will now read the Globe with my morning coffee (now that that idiot Borges is gone).
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Bruce, is Tomase italian for Templton?
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Is it fair to slam Tomase based on one story? Well, when you do it once (base a story on an anonymous single source), you leave us wondering what other unscrupulous scullduggery you’re been a part of, and in what other stories you’ve given us short shrift.
So, yes, it is fair. Because once is all it takes to have your credibility called into question. And in this business, if you have no credibility, you have nothing.
Tomase and anyone else at the Herald who had his or her paws on the “Walkthrough Tape” story should be ashamed of what they’ve done to the craft.
Worse yet, no one at the Herald is holding himself or herself (or being held) publicly accountable.
This isn’t about the Patriots. This is about shoddy journalism. This is about making it harder on everyone else who is trying to do it the right way.
(Wow, the view is nice from my ivory tower.)
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“Journalist, my a$$. He’s a sports writer. There’s a huge difference.”
Tim, you’re absolutely wrong.
Sports writers are obligated to follow the same ethics and standards as news reporters. Sports stories still need the same fact verification, the same corroboration of sources, and still must meet the same standards of fairness and accuracy. And they are subject to the same standards of libel. (This was POUNDED into my head when I was a green sports writer at a major midwestern daily.)
Unfortunately, however, this isn’t always the case. It has been my experience that too many sports writers view the sports section as a playroom with different rules. Too much opinion, too much emphasis on the funny line or the “gotcha” story. And that is what causes problems and why many sports writers and sports sections have credibility issues. Blogs have further blurred the lines of good judgment.
That said, I don’t think this applies to Tomase. I think he (and I’m guessing here) just got caught up in a chance to beat the competition on a story and let his standards slip. But what a bad, bad mistake. And the Herald dropped the ball with him.
And all it will take is one high-profile libel lawsuit, one “open your checkbook” verdict to change all that. And that day is coming.
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Disapprove. Rushing his “Big Story” to seize the media glory, without adequate fact checking, is wrong. Hell should have a special holding cell for his kind of reporting.
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Having read the last few comments I wonder if Tomase’s rationale behind the Walsh story was to take a gamble that it was legit because he knows he has to compete with Reiss in this market for Pats readers. Maybe he felt he couldn’t just report day-to-day stuff because Reiss already does that too well.
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With the deteriorated degree of access that Tomase is getting and will get from the Patriots it seems essential that the Herald replace him on the Patriots beat before training camp if the Herald expects to supply any original Patriots info to its readers.
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Grubbing for “the big story” at the expense of accuracy and integrity. Horrible “reporting.” Tomase should be ashamed. Go work for the Jets, traitor!
DISAPPROVE!
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He put his yarbles on the line with this cockamamie story. Now he can enjoy life as a Boston sports eunuch. Hiding out and hoping this all blows over is a good start.
Disapprove.
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If you want get this out to as many people as you can!
Please take time to review the petition that I have created. If you support my cause then feel free to sign it and pass it on to anyone you may know. I am not looking for anyone to get in trouble. I just believe that an explanation must be given by the Boston Herald and Mr. Tomase as to why it was reported in their newspaper (which has been credible in the past) that a video tape existed of the St. Louis Rams walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVIII. Hopefully, this will begin to put closure to the Spy gate issue. The New England Patriots violated a rule and should have been punished as they were, but this story has gone overboard for months.
http://www.petitiononline.com/5808NFL/petition.html
P.S. Lets now move onto real football talk!
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The lowest of the low. This guy’s behavior is ugly, and his newspaper – if you can call it that, is third rate. But the sorry truth is that this is now the nature of the media beast. Get noticed, say or do something outrageous and get yours while you can. Twenty years ago the story would not have seen the light of day, and Tomasse would be selling hot dogs.
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Tomase is a liar ,pure and simple.He wrote a false, defamatory story about the Patriots in order to slander the Krafts and Bill Belichick.This is also Tomase’s opportunity to get his fifteen minutes of fame, just like the other lying fraud, Matt Walsh.Tomase should be fired.Patriots fans should stop buying the Herald.
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Tomase should be packing his bags and getting out of town! How can this ass work in Boston anymore? How can the Herald continue to employ him? I think we should all boycott the Herald until he is gone!
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I believe the so called reliable source for the Rams taping story was the NY Times. Do not be suprised if Tomase does not land there. After all this is thier kind of journalism. Disapprove!!
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Just another case of drive by journalism. No better in politics as it is NOW in sports. Do you really believe
what you read? Geeesh!
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Email the Herald and call for his removal.
He’s officially Boston’s Steve Bartman, at best.
There’s plenty of opportunities for John. He and Matt Walsh could start a blog together called “BillBucknerHadNothingOnUs.com”… Writer for Taunya Harding and OJ fan clubs? Penn Jillette stand-in?
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The Herald needs to fire Tomase for the selfish thing he did to the patriots. He certainly got what he wanted though. We are all talking about him now. Same thing that lying piece of crap Matt Walsh did too. Bill Belichick says he misinterpreted the rule and got up with Mr. Kraft among his peers and apologized for his actions. HMMMM it’s funny how all the owners and coaches said “apology accepted.” Thats because all coaches DO IT! The patriots just got caught. Then Tony Dungy said it’s nice to win fair. Retire all ready Tony and do everyone a favor. Your pathetic! Tomase has never apologized like a man. He did some stupid half ass apology on a blog. How about going on WEEI and apologizing to all of the fans that listen.
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He posts and apology that says “I have no regrets” in it. What a pile.
A self promoting, overdone, long winded apology where he says “I have no regrets” in it.
He is also lying about Matt Walsh being the source. He lied in his apology and he says he had “no regrets”.
I will never buy the Herald again until they fire him.
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Well, at least I can say one thing nice about him. That would be…..
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