Big Bad Bill Belichick.

He really does bring out the absolute worst in the media. Things that would be ignored, or laughed off if they were done by any other team, result in hysterical, hair-on-fire denunciations if the Patriots are involved.

He causes the media to become unable to think for themselves, and become subject to a mob mentality in which they are all sheep, following along with the loudest voices, afraid to produce an original thought.

The NFL, specifically its Commissioner, is a laughingstock in all of this, while pledging a transparent investigation, they instead allow late night leaks of salacious details to good ol’ boy reporters. They pledge to get all the details and facts from Foxboro when they can’t even ascertain whether a video was received by the league office showing a player knocking a woman unconscious. They want us to trust their investigation when they hire a former associate to investigate (and exonerate) themselves over said video incident.

As usual Roger Goodell has lost control of the situation, and will be in full reactionary mode once he decides to take action.

For Goodell, he can get himself into the good graces with the media by inflicting the harshest possible punishment upon Bill Belichick and the Patriots. This satisfies the bloodlust of the media and the public outside of New England, and gets Goodell back into the good graces of the media after his PR fiascos earlier in the season.

What I’m saying is be prepared for the worst possible outcome from this.

Belichick suspended for Super Bowl? Entirely possible. Suspended for next season? Entirely possible. Multiple first round draft picks taken away? Entirely possible.

If, after all of that Robert Kraft kowtows to Goodell and tells us all what a great job he’s doing one more time, I’m going to be gravely disappointed in him and what he stands for.

All of this for making the football a bit softer so the QB could grip them better. (and that’s even speculation, we don’t actually know the facts here yet, just that the balls were under regulation by 2 PSI.)

It doesn’t matter that the best quarterback in the NFL told CBS earlier this season about liking to overinflate balls and pushing the limits and seeing if they can fool the officials, all so he can grip them better.

It doesn’t matter that a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback insists on his footballs being doctored for months before he will use them in a game because he wants to be comfortable gripping them.

It doesn’t matter that a Super Bowl winning quarterback has admitted to paying $7500 to have the 100 footballs used in the Super Bowl he played in altered  so that he could grip them better.

It doesn’t matter that the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers were using heaters to warm up footballs on the sidelines this season. (which would impact the hardness/grip of the football, by the way)

Nothing matters other than the fact that the Colts were getting their butts kicked and wanted to find a way to try and get in the Patriots heads. They didn’t actually anticipate it going this far, very similar to the Jets when they reported the Patriots for taping in an incorrect spot.

Nothing matters other than the fact the owner of the Colts, coming off a season in which he was suspended for six games, gave a crony columnist a middle of the night tip, which initially the columnist thought to ignore, but instead realized that since it was the Patriots, he’d get a lot of play out of it, and ran with it, and now says Belichick should be suspended for the Super Bowl and for that is a national star.

Nothing matters other than the fact that Belichick isn’t cuddly with the media, and most out there would like nothing more than to see him fired and disgraced, so they’re put aside any objectivity they may (unlikely) have possessed and have gone all-in on the idea that this is a huge cheat masterminded by Bill Belichick who personally oversaw the deflation of the footballs. (also unlikely) That’s the true endgame here.

The national media, in addition to the piling on of Belichick also goes after the fans who make the points above. They call it excuse making, and saying that those incidents don’t matter because the rules were broken here, and the Patriots were caught. OK. That’s legit. Punish them according to the severity of the alleged crime. But why can’t the hypocrisy be pointed out at least? We’re supposed to take this incident seriously – to the point of huge suspensions/punishments – but it’s OK to completely ignore the other incidents that have taken place?

 sometimes you can get lucky and put an extra half a pound of air in there to help Aaron Rodgers out.

Hypocrites. Cowards. Frauds.

*******

Related: The Ballghazi Takes Are Here, And They Are F****** Insane

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

62 thoughts on “Media Hypocrisy, Cowardice, Never Bigger Than When Patriots Are Involved.”

  2. And here we all thought that the local guys were the worst when it came to the Pats. Turns out we were all wrong. I’d much rather hear talk about them being cheap than this. The sharks are out in full force.

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  3. Is it a fact that the balls were 2 psi below regulation? I have yet to be presented with one fact yet. Mortensen’s anonymous sources have been wrong many times before.

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  4. DC&M got a couple of calls this morning regarding whether a proper investigation shouldn’t also measure the balls the Colts used. Their response? “No, because the Colts have not been accused of anything.”

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    1. Nice to that somebody did think to measure the balls on the Colts side as well. Sounds like data to me!

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  5. I suspect the Colts balls would have been fine. I saw at least one quote, somewhere, that they noticed this in the regular season game, and hence were looking out for it this time. Note, they didn’t say anything to the refs before the game, they wanted to catch the Patriots in the act.

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  7. The funny thing is that there are now more “leaks” out there stating that the balls were, in fact, reinflated at halftime, and that the NFL folks were hanging around near the ballboys for the entire second half. If so, that means: 1) the league suspected the Pats of doing something to the balls in the first half (which is not a good thing, is a completely, utterly, stupid thing to do, and should be punished if true); and 2) the Patriots played much, much, much better in the second half using the properly inflated footballs. If all of that is true, does that moron “Doyel” from Indy still think the Colts should go to Glendale instead of the Pats, given that they were outscored 28-0 AFTER the proper footballs were used? I guess we’ll find out all the details in a couple of days, but this entire episode, to paraphrase YARM, “SUX!” Super Bowl experience competely, utterly ruined for me.

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    1. UPDATE: Apparently the footballs were NOT reinflated at halftime, but merely set aside by the refs. The 12 “backup” balls were used in the 2nd half, and checked by the refs to make sure they were psi-compliant. Given that there was already “suspicion” in the air about the balls used in the first half, I’d find it highly unlikely that the Pats managed to doctor the balls used in the 2nd half–the half in which they totally dominated and rattled off 28 unanswered points.

      By the way, one recurring mediot theme during the last 48+ hours has been that the Pats are, basically, a repeat violator of the league’s rules and henceforth should be hammered mercilessly over this thing. If I recall correctly, the Super Bowl champion Broncos of 1997-98 were fined TWICE for cap violations. The second fine was, I believe, a bit steeper than the first, but they still were NEVER docked as much as a first round draft pick (I think the most they lost was a third rounder) and their championships remain unquestioned to this day. I guess Mike Shanahan was a nice guy in his press conferences back then, huh? (Truth be told, the league also had a much more logical, less egomaniacal and less camera-hungry commissioner enforcing the rules back then as well.)

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  10. “Belichick suspended for Super Bowl? Entirely possible.”

    If it comes to that I would hope Brady, first & foremost, along with all of the others players would say they’re not playing the game.

    I’m a Pats fan so say I’m biased, but this is the equivalent of getting caught speeding to me.

    I’m afraid Goodell will go overboard like you said. Better to appease 31 other fan bases and have one hate you than the other way around.

    I figure a fine for the Pats and a warning to all the teams would be suffice. Goodell may do Kraft a favor for his public support after/during Ray Ricegate.

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    1. In that scenario, I’d prefer that Brady & Co. play the game, win, dedicate the whole thing to BB, and tell everyone else to eat poop.

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  11. Look you guys, I’m not happy about this either. If the report comes out the way it looks like it’s going to, this was blatant and unnecessary cheating. This event cements the public image of the Patriots outside New England (and even somewhat inside). These are the bad guys.

    As a fan base, I think it will help us all enjoy the Super Bowl a little more if we all acknowledge our role. We all just need to take a good long look in the mirror and embrace the Patriots “heel turn.” In a given matchup (even the Ravens — what a world!), the Pats the bad guys. They’ve been caught lying, cheating, and stealing. They’re booed everywhere outside New England. They’re always trying to pull one over on their opponent, trick the
    refs, and they’re constantly at odds with the commissioner’s office.

    They’re arrogant and they don’t care what anyone in the stands or media thinks of them.

    The Patriots are Ric Flair, and we’re all Bobby “The Brain” Heenan/Mr. Perfect (circa 1992). Like any good heel manager, it’s now our role to justify their actions with absolutely ludicrous statements and arrogant dismissals of the ham-and-eggers who disagree with us.

    Seems ridiculous right? Is it any more ridiculous than any of the other #HotSportzTakes out there today? No way. And this one is way more fun.

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    2. Love it. Let’s go all in. And… Do our job…… Road warriors.of the 80s. Ran ruff shod. Embrace the hate

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    3. Bullock, I’ve been thinking the same thing today. At a certain point you just have to grab your Sith cloak, and begin rooting for the Emperor and Vader.

      I’ve spent too much time being aghast and trying to suss this crap out the past couple of days. I’m going to begin leaning into the insanity.

      #TerribleMetaphors

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  13. Maybe I’m being influenced by the fact that I’m a diehard Pats fan, but something just seems really off. Start with the scoop from ESPN. Why would the NFL give a scoop to ESPN when it could give one to its in-house organ, the NFL Network? Add to that the fact that the NFL is still majorly pissed off at ESPN for Don van Natta’s reporting about the NFL’s handling of the Ray Rice situation. And they haven’t kissed and made up yet. Now take Tom C’s assertion that the league reinflated the balls at halftime. So then what precisely is the league testing now? Third, Eric Wilbur’s post this morning has an excerpt from Reddit http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2015/01/deflategate_blame_it_on_the_rain_or_is_there_no_de.html?p1=Must_Reads_hp where it seems entirely possible that much (if not all) of any deflation can be attributed to the then-prevailing atmospheric and meteorological conditions (that darned science). Some of the facts assumed in the piece are off (for instance, it didn’t rain all day Sunday in Foxboro), but OTOH, the temperature fell further after the game ended (remember the icy roads on Monday morning?).

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    1. I believe that off sense you’re feeling is based on the fact that Bill Belichick and the Patriots are being railroaded by media, fans, and everyone in between.

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      1. I’ve been trying to stay away from the media as much as possible today and read about things like the State of the Union, the Argentinian prosecutor who probably didn’t commit suicide the day before he was about to expose the Argentinian president’s cover-up of the Iranian government’s role in an Argentinian bombing (clearly much less important than deflated footballs), etc. But, anyhow:
        1. If the Patriots intentionally deflated footballs after they were weighed, shame on them and they deserve to be punished, and punished severely.
        2. If the Patriots submitted balls that were underweight to be weighed, naughty naughty and shame on the refs.
        3. If, through a combination of wear and tear during the course of the game and meteorology and atmospheric conditions, the balls lost weight during the game, the NFL should man up, explain it, and trot out whatever MIT Ph.D. they need to explain it to the assembled media dipshits. We as fans should boycott (if we’re not already) ESPN, F&M and the various & sundry media trolls.
        4. I disagree with Bruce that @nflcommish is getting ready to stick it to the Patriots. He might be right but, in particular, I think that post-Ray Rice, ESPN is no longer one of his favorite media toadies.

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    1. Good article.

      Yeah, the problem isn’t that this incident in meaningful in anyway – it obviously isn’t. Nobody cares and it happens all the time.

      But the perception is driven by an NFL scared about it’s reputation, and a media driven for clicks and views.

      Put that combination together and nobody’s got time for nuance or subtlety – all they want is “Scandal!” right then, right now.

      This is a BIG problem – I’m telling you, it’s going to spiral out of control and the NFL is going to find itself boxed into a corner. That leak to Mortensen was a disaster, because it already sets up that they have to do something if they’re so “enraged.”

      Forget whether or not this is “fair” – it is NOT. But is reality…this media-driven, insane-person-driven culture we live in is like a firestorm, and good articles like LaCanfora’s don’t get read, and they don’t drive the debate.

      You watch – somebody will write a “well, what if the Patriots were disqualified…” and suddenly that becomes a legitimate option.

      It is B-A-D.

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    2. Resonates with what a guy from the WSJ covering the Senior Bowl said:

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  15. Good old Felger. Sits on his soap box about integrity all afternoon and then needlessly called out Field Yates, for being a Patriots Stooge who only has his job because he knows BB’s kids. Good for Beetle for calling him out on this.

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    1. Although I haven’t listened in a while, I distinctly recall Mr. Felger in years past saying he didn’t care about PED use. I believe “Everyone’s doing something” was his take. Just saying.

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      1. Felger “I bet you Kraft is PISSED…PISSED. But then again, he probably cares only publicly”

        Awesome Felger. So insightful…

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  16. Dear Michael Felger, you perfect human being for the love sports get off your high horse you perfect human being. Your show today is like you got your Patriots/BB porn and can’t get enough. You are talking about sports for living you smug perfect person. Calling you names is unnecessary as you probably get off on this stuff.
    Patriot fans just want to get this penalty dished and enjoy sports. Instead you want to stick the knife in this fanbase and come off like sports are perfect. Nobody wants to sweep this under the rug but you and your echo really are ruining sports with your smug negativity. We as fans know you read this site and these comments. You have made enjoying sports harder and harder and are laughing all the way to the bank.
    According to you Felger your either a toadie and you get one of those SEE voices from Felger or you ask questions and don’t worship at the altar.

    You are ruining sports Felger go ask the questions you are our savior.

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    1. I have stopped listening to them a while ago. Their show is crap now. The hub 98.5 sucks now. Except for Gresh and Zo I still enjoy listening to them… . Within a year there new contracts will look to the station as yoke around it’s neck…. They were funny and engaging the first two years but then it turned into SUCK RADIO. GOOD RIDDANCE. You peaked and you’re coming down the other side of the mountain into the depths of hell. Infill hosts… My friends out there boycott the db and ho show.

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    2. Much like many members of the media, this is Felger’s ultimate dream. His chance to spend 4 hours killing everything about the Patriots. His chance to ruin the enjoyment that anyone has in following this team. To be honest, the media desires an event like this so much it wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out that a media member was behind this. This delivers to them everything they could ever want.

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    3. They spent like a day on Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, ACTUAL crimes….and they are beside themselves over this.

      People scoffed at Dale & Holley (and Jerry) taking down DB & YARM in the ratings. I don’t think it’s so far-fetched anymore. I really don’t. A REAL sports show vs a sky-is-falling, everything sucks radio show. I hear dials clicking all across New England.

      I went from being a F&M loyal listener to now ONLY listening to the podcast so I know when they have a legit guest on and then I delete the rest. Can’t stand it anymore.

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  17. Not quite sure whether any of these media hacks have brought up an obvious question: But why didn’t an official become aware of this…by himself…much earlier in the game? After all, they touch and hold the ball after every play.

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    1. I asked Peter on twittr if it’s ‘uncomfortable’ being Goodell’s puppet. I used more colorful language, but I got the point across. So far no reply from him that I know of.

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      1. He ignores everyone. When he posts something that’s clearly a rubber stamp from Goodell’s stationary, it’s hilarious to see the mentions on each Tweet.

        D+H don’t do much in the line of questioning his credibility, from the looks of it, when he’s on their show.

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        1. It also is worth mentioning that I blocked him after sending the tweet. It was the equivalent of punching a person in the face then walking away. I don’t want him to reply. Goodell has his hand up King’s fanny. It must be uncomfortable, but it’s something he’s used to.

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  20. I agree with a lot of this article, but am still very disappointed in Belichick. It was miraculous that Belichick’s career was not destroyed during or shortly after the frenzied hysteria and demonization he was targeted with from September 2007 to May 2008. Much less has ruined the careers and lives of many people in sports, politics, and entertainment. No doubt, there were many in the media and in the league that wanted Belichick destroyed and were unhappy that he survived. This explains the endless “spygate” references over the past seven years. For that reason Belichick should have been extremely careful to protect himself and the franchise which employs him. While this is far from over, it doesn’t appear he did so.

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    1. Agreed. The one thing I agree with the media on is that he should know that he is deeply under the microscope and he shouldn’t be even trying to pull such things. Even something minor the media and detractors will immediately pounce on and try their best to destroy him over. There is a certain level of arrogance there, I gotta admit. Why is it so necessary to either ignore memos or keep doing things that Belichick himself would admit impacts the game 1% at most?

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    2. The problem is, there is no evidence that Belichick is an outlier. If everyone in the NFL has been messing around with the balls, and it sounds like that’s the case, then Belichick may not have given this much thought. It probably doesn’t even register as “cheating” in his mind, it sounds well within the bounds of the liberties teams have been taking with the rules for most of the existence of the game.

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  21. So today we have had BB compared to, among others, Richard Nixon and Whitey Bulger.

    The word of the day is “perspective”.

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  22. To recap today’s news…

    The Colts knew about the ball because of DQwell Jackson’s int…
    But they really knew because of Mike Adams’ two int’s in November…
    However it was the Ravens who told them about it after the divisional game…
    Only the Ravens didn’t say anything to anyone about anything not related to formations.

    What. A. Mess.

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  24. Well at least John Madden came to the defense of Bill and threw Tom under bus but everybody loves Tom. RIGHT?

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  26. The only hypocrites here are the patriots. it was only 1 week ago Brady taunted that Harbaugh should read the rule book. And now, just one week later, the rulebook is brought out and there’s hemming and hawing. “it didnt affect the outcome of the game”. “everybody else does it”.”it doesnt really provide any advantage” irrelevant. the truth is most of those examples you cite dont break the rule. eli manning likes his footballs brushed and soaked and whatever else he likes. cam newton wanted his game balls warmed up. those are all within the rules. on gameday you have to provide gameballs for your team in a certain range of pressure. thats it. patriots were caught breaking this rule. deal with it.

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    1. “Deal with it”.

      Ban Brady for life, right? Or Belichick. Or is it both that will satisfy your bloodlust?

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  27. I will willfully admit Boston/New England fans are not the most classiest fans of the bunch. There is a majority of us who act obnoxiously and insufferably, not to mention that classless Bruins fans on Twitter. Nonetheless, there is not anything worse than “Patriots haters”. These people are the most irrational feebleminded people walking this earth.

    It’s okay to hate the Patriots, and I understand when people do so. But when I hear things like, “Patriots haven’t won since Spygate”, “Tom Brady is a system type player”, “Bill Belichick can only cheat to win, “The Colts should be in the SB”, not only do I lose faith in humanity, but I also lose faith in this universe.

    Worse of all, though, it is just not fans. Actual players sometimes say these things too. For example, some players believe the Patriots “stole their rings” when in fact Spygate was not illegal until 2006. Therefore, the Patriots were NOT cheating when they won their SBs.

    Now, the Colts fans (and an actual beat writer for the Colts) believe they should be in the SB. One fan (on ESPN, of course) wrote this entire piece on how the under inflated balls deeply impacted the game and was the sole reason the Colts lost. Of course, he ignored Andrew Luck throwing for 3.8 yards per play and 2 ints. Of course, he ignored the muff punt. Of course, he ignored his front 7 being destroyed by Patriot’s o-line. Of course, he ignored well-designed plays that allowed Edelman to be wide open for a ton of plays. And of course he ignored that the Patriots played much better with regular sized footballs. Delusionality at its worst.

    If it comes out the Patriots did, indeed, cheat, I will be disappointed. Disappointed that they had to stoop to a low level when they did not have to. And haters have every right to call them cheaters, because they have been caught twice now. But just because they have been caught should not mar everything they have accomplished in 15 years. I mean, if it feels better thinking the Patriots are winning because of cheating, so it be. But please, if you are one of these people, stop posting your balderdash littered with typos, grammar mistakes, jargon and cliched insults like “Bill Belicheat” on the internet and keep them to yourself. Not only are they utter waste, but you’re also exposing yourself for being poorly educated.

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  28. I’ve yet to hear a media member compare this whole thing to what it really should be compared to, in my opinion: a pitcher doctoring the ball in MLB. Does anyone but the most diehard nutjob fan call for lifetime bans, managers being fired, or yearlong suspensions when a pitcher is caught scuffing or using a substance on a baseball? Of course not. It’s treated as a violation of the rules, as it should be, it becomes a topic of conversation for a few days, and then it goes away. It’s even often treated as an amusing battle of gamesmanship. Whether or when to report an opposing player for doing it, and rumblings about a team putting itself in a position to be reported in the future in retaliation. Of course, it’s the NFL and it’s the Patriots, so it could never be that simple.

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  29. Jay Glazer chimed in last night by saying this may have been a “sting” operation by the NFL (aided by the Ravens and Colts) that was planned in advance, prompted by the Colts complaining about the balls in the November regular season game. Glazer also hinted that part of the league’s motivation for going after the Pats is that they recently filed tampering charges against the Jets, and that the league, some coaches, et al, are “sick of dealing with this crap from the Patriots”. Interesting.
    Now, naturally, this could just be more rampant speculation and “my anonymous sources tell me” kind of b.s. from the media. However, if any of it turns out to be true and the NFL did not warn the Patriots to “knock it off with this deflating the footballs stuff” at any time before the AFCCG, but merely “sprung a trap” on them last Sunday, then Kraft and BB need to fight back HARD against anything more than a slap on the wrist type of punishment, given the fact that Carolina and Minnesota both received the courtesy of a warning for the ball-heating incident earlier this season. They also need to, in fact, get right in the media’s face and ask them why the Jets’ tampering with Revis hasn’t even generated a blip of interest on their radar screens. If, however, the Pats were warned and did it again anyway (whatever it is they may have done), then there’s a legit reason to punish them more than just the standard $25K fine for doctoring balls that’s spelled out in the rulebook.
    What’s funny to me is that very few people are pointing the finger at Brady over this (John Madden did yesterday, but that’s about it). It still seems to me that if a member of the Pats were involved in anything shady in this particular case, it would be the QB, not the head coach, since the QB likely works directly with the equipment guys on the “feel” of the footballs. But then again, BB is Dr. Evil as far as the media are concerned, so all of their heavy artillery are aimed at him, as usual.

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    1. After seeing the interview, I wondered how many teams are livid with the Colts/Ravens for being losers on this stuff because it means that their QB and “PSI preference” will be exposed and/or stopped? If this were so big, I have to think others would have said something.

      The reason the NFL doesn’t care is because they don’t want to handicap QBs, the leaders of offense, which is their bread and butter.

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  32. It occurs to me that the same so-called fans and members of the media, that on a daily basis, attempt to suck all the fun out of sports, would have hated and attempted to destroy Red Auerbach during his heyday, that is, if they’re not complete hypocrites.

    All of those ‘allegations’ about Red messing with the heat in the visiting locker room, refusing to fix the Parquet floor (so that only the Celtics knew the location, by way of familiarity, of the dead spots), stuff that writers such as Jackie MacMullan have been known to joke about…these are the same people whose mission in life is to take the Great Bill Belichick down a notch.

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  34. it is pathetic how the ones whining about deflate-gate are the type of people who can’t understand simple physics. the nfl doesn’t require the psi to be exactly 12.5 at the start of the game. the footballs can be HIGHER than 12.5 psi, so it’s very possible that the colts inflated their footballs at a higher psi in the beginning of the game (higher than the pats, which inflate their footballs to 12.5), so when the colts balls were checked at halftime they were lower than when they originally started (due to the cold temp) but still within the nfl regulations. this phenomenon probably happens a lot during cold weather games – but most men aren’t little beyotches whining about air pressure when they’re losing a game.
    take a science class. you whiners sound really uneducated.

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