We’ll lead off this morning with the news that Boston Globe Patriots beat writer Adam Kilgore will be leaving the paper to go down to Washington D.C. and take over the Nationals beat for the Washington Post.
The move is said to be a personal one, rather than a professional one, as Kilgore is taking a job with his former paper, and in a place where he has some personal ties which make the move a good fit for him.
This is a blow for the Globe, as Kilgore has always been a rock steady performer, taking intelligent, reasoned stands, and staying away from the muck-racking which is more and more prevalent in his profession these days.
Now, on to the top links for today:
Wizards, Celts in swap talks – Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has the two teams talking about a potential blockbuster trade.
NBC’s universal coverage will be hard to miss – Chad Finn will be among the Globe staff in Vancouver for the Olympics, and he previews the TV coverage in his media column today.
Busy time for Celtics call-in show – Bill Doyle talks to WEEI Celtics postgame host John Ryder about the current struggles of the team, and talks about his career in sports radio.
Red Sox have trucked a long way – Jon Couture notes that as absurd as “truck day” has gotten, it’s a good time to reflect just how far the Red Sox have come.
Mirror, mirror on the wall . . . – Rich Levine with a detailed look at the Celtics problems, and how to fix them.
Some Celtics trade rumors don’t add up, but an Iguodala deal would make sense – Robert Lee looks through the various trade rumors and advocates a trade for the 76ers André Iguodala.
Hot Peppers talk needs cooling down – Tom E Curran says Patriots fans shouldn’t be getting hot and bothered over Julius Peppers.
After decades in the minors, Johnson looks forward to major role – Joe McDonald has former PawSox manager Ron Johnson looking forward to his first season on the Red Sox major league staff.
Bruins slip Lightning comeback – Stephen Harris reports on the Bruins 5-4 victory in Tampa over the Lightning.
Get to know the new look Red Sox – John Tomase has a position-by-position look at what the Red Sox should look like come opening day.
…and for the NASCAR folk – Wounded knee won’t bury Hamlin – Michael Vega has Denny Hamlin getting ready to race in the Daytona 500 with a torn ACL.
I also wanted to comment on a Boston.com Patriots blog entry this morning. Albert Breer happened to write this one, and while this is going to sound like I’m picking on Breer, he’s not the only one to spout this point of view. In talking about the franchise tag, and whether the Patriots will use it on Vince Wilwork – actually the post is titled Why is Wilfork not tagged yet? – Breer says the following in conclusion:
Remember, what players get upset about isn’t simply being tagged — It’s the violation of the spirit of the tag. The idea of the rule, in the first place, was to keep valuable players (namely, quarterbacks) from arbitrarily switching teams. But it’s become a way of holding players hostage for a year or two, and delaying their big paydays. It’s important, if this negotiation gets to the point where Wilfork must be tagged, a day that’s still likely to come, he doesn’t feel like that’s what’s happening.
C’mon. a violation of the spirit of the tag? Can you tell me the difference between the two scenarios? You’re either “keeping a valuable player” or holding them hostage (unfortunate choice of words, by the way.)
I’ve heard the “spirit of the tag” elsewhere. Do these people forget that this was a negotiated point in the CBA that the players agreed to? So did they agree to it, but never expect the owners to actually use it?
Looking at the other side, was free agency never supposed to be about players arbitrarily swtiching teams? Have they violated the spirit of free agency?
I’m always bemused when the media applauds players for treating things like a business, (Tony Massarotti has been adamant lately that if he was Tom Brady, he’d have no loyalty to the Patriots since he’s not from here, and this isn’t a good place to play and that he should go chase the money elsewhere.) but when a team makes a move within the rules to protect and hold onto a business asset, they’re holding them hostage – at millions and millions of dollars per year.
If the use of the tag really has turned out to be different from its original intention, it will be interesting to see if it is tweaked to be more specific as to its use. Is it changed to only include quarterbacks? Or specific positions (not kickers)?
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Don’t apologize for picking on Breer — he’s a complete buffoon and deserves to be picked on early and often.
(It really is amazing to see incredible dropoff in intelligence and competence in the Globe’s Pats blog when Reiss left and it was taken over by Breer & Gasper, The Moron Twins.)
LikeLike
agreed….sick and tired of players bitching about the franchise tag….If they thought it was such a horrible thing they never should have agreed to it in the 1st place…..and yes, Breer is a clown…He totally butchered what was once a great blog
LikeLike
On the muck-raking comment regarding Kilgore, don’t we want our reporters to muck-rake? In other words, look for the stories rather than wait for them to be handed to them through releases, press conferences and other mouthpieces. Muck-raking doesn’t always need to be “negative” but it should always be investigative. That’s how a reporter makes his or her mark.
LikeLike
The media mentality we see displayed in the article about football players being “held hostage” by the franchise tag is the same media mentality that allowed Donald Fehr–to me, the most destructive figure in Major League Baseball over the past 20 years–to skate relatively free of criticism during the lockout of 1990, the massive strike of 1994, and the steroid mess of the 2000s, to mention just a few situations where he, personally, could have shouldered more than 50% of the blame.
Remember, this was the guy whose organization tried to pressure Ken Griffey Jr. to not accept a trade to Cincinnati–his hometown, where he wanted to play–for less money than he could have gotten in New York or elsewhere, “for the good of his MLB brethren.” He also nixed the A-Rod to Boston deal because he wouldn’t allow A-Rod to VOLUNTARILY reduce his salary in order to make the deal happen. (Maybe Sox fans should thank Fehr/Oriza for that one.)
In my view, Fehr was a complete SOB who lost site of the fact that the game sometimes has to take precedent over squeezing out every last dime from a contract. He deserved far more criticism in the press than he got during his tenure.
But the media’s mentality is always that the “rich, fat cat” owners are always out to screw the “working class” players, even if those “working class” players are making millions.
Same deal with football free agency, though at least in football, you can make the argument that those guys have very short careers and could end up invalids by the time they’re 50, so they have to make as much as they can while they’re young enough to do it.
LikeLike
Wojnarowski is a puppet for Ray Allen, so maybe that rumored deal is true
LikeLike
If you’re the Celts, how do you turn that deal down? Let’s hope the rumors are true. Right now it’s looking like a spring filled with just Red Sox/Orioles games on 38-degree nights at Fenway, with very little in the way of playoff hockey or basketball to follow.
LikeLike
Is it a “violation of the spirit” of a contract to not play the last year of it? Give me a break please. Everyday we get in our cars or whatever and we have a choice to go to work or not, same as these guys. We can whine about how insulting the pay is or make the best of it. Why is this even worth arguing about? I guess if your job is to facilitate arguements. Whatever.
All this contrived drama and no actual research by the press, as usual.Yawnnnnn
LikeLike
Funny but Breer wasn’t half bad when he was at the Herald. I’m thinking the sports editor at the Globe is trying to groom CHB’s replacement – since he’s such a respected and well-read writer. Globe Sports should be renamed “Stir the pot.” And yeah, the loss of Kilgore doesn’t help.
Reiss migrated to ESPN Boston and so did most serious Patriots fans. Cotton candy is for kids and high school drop-outs but cotton candy is the Globe’s coverage of baseball and football.
LikeLike
I’ll never understand why players (unless they truly detest the town they play in) resent being tagged, resent being paid the average of the top three players in the league at their position.
If Matt Cassell never made a dime more than the GUARANTEED $14 million dollar tag he got last year, seems to me he could live pretty well for the rest of his life.
LikeLike
PS: Regarding Chris Gaspar’s snarky Truck Day column yesterday:
Is this the future of sports reporting, where not yet thirty sportswriters, weaned on the Internet, and who have had the privilege of covering championship after championship for most of their career, simply spew bile and snark?
Say what you want about Shaugnessy, but his cynicism was well-earned over a forty-year career. What the hell does Gaspar have to be cynical about?
I used to think he was one of the good ones, but yesterday’s column reveals to me that he too is lost.
LikeLike
Unfortunately, it’s fashionable to be snarky and arrogant.
LikeLike
Classless is right, it’s called catering to your audience.
LikeLike
Too much exposure to Felger will turn most people into a) an assault or homicide suspect or b) an a–hole like Felger. I was rooting for a) but in Tony Mazz’s case, I’m afraid it’s b).
LikeLike
But today should be brilliantly entertaining, as Dan Roche fills in with Felger on 98.5 (Mazz is off this week). Other than the fact Roche and Felger are each married with kids, these two could not be any different in their personalities. At least you know the arguments they have will not be contrived.
LikeLike