The old Fenway Park taunt of Roger Clemens seems appropriate here as we await NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s ruling on the appeal of Tom Brady.
The rumblings have been that Goodell could issue his ruling today, which would be just perfect for Goodell, as this is the so-called “deadest day in sports” and Roger can have the spotlight of the entire sports world all to himself.
That he would arrange things so that this would happen tells you just about all you need to know about the Commissioner and his integrity.
One thing we can be sure of in all this. Goodell is going to act in whichever way makes him look the best, to the most people.
How will Roger Goodell rule on Tom Brady appeal? The way he thinks makes him look best – Oh, Chad agrees. Look at that.
(Though the NFLPA did some “Federal Court” sabre-rattling this morning, which might, just might make Goodell hold off a bit on his announcement.)
Some random items here:
So what do we think of the wacky morning show feud on WEEI? Two days in a row now it has been atop the Inside Track, and led the cover of the Herald yesterday.
Maybe if I was more cynical, I might suggest that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt, and using some friends at the Herald to get some attention. But nah, these guys are really angry at each other! Right? It’s just like the time Mikey Adams was so mad he locked himself in the studio until he got hired!
Prediction: John Dennis is gone within a year. “Retirement” to Florida.
Two not-awful Shaughnessy columns in the span of a couple weeks? What is happening? (Next, someone is going to say Gary Tanguay is making sense. Whoops.) Today Shaughnessy has a look at the Globe’s sports Rolodex (safe to click – this link brings no SEO boost.) which is actually pretty fascinating.
XANDER BOGAERTS IS GOING TO BE A FREE AGENT IN 2019 AND HIS AGENT IS SCOTT BORAS! AREN’T YOU WORRIED???? Well, no Tony, I’m not.
The story of Mookie Betts’ rise from Nashville to Boston Red Sox franchise cornerstone – A really good feature by rising star Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com.
Hunter has consistency in his sights – Chris Forsberg has a look at Celtics first round pick R.J. Hunter.
Danny Ainge: New forward Perry Jones a ‘much different’ player than a lot of other Boston Celtics – Jay King looks at the forward acquired from the Thunder yesterday.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Little late on this, but why doesn’t Chad name the Ortiz badmouthers in his column? I don’t listen to Boston sports radio much anymore and wasn’t listening on Monday. So who was it? All he said was they were fill-in “D-listers” in the afternoon. I can guess but why leave the names out? The column lacks real bite when he protects the identity of the slanderers. It’s another example of Chad pulling punches in his “media critic” duties.
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I think Chad regularly pulls punches, or, more accurately, lacks punch. But in this case I’m guessing he’s not naming names so as not to give any attention to the offenders. And I can’t disagree with that line of thinking.
Any list of “D-listers” has to start with Tanguay or Dickerson, right?
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I don’t listen to EEI much – just when I’m in my car – and I’m no Dickerson fan, but to be fair, he was arguing with Benz today that Oritz DOES deserve the benefit of the doubt because he’s a competitor who has zero history of asking out of the lineup. He said Ortiz will complain and whine, but he has never, ever come up with some phantom injury or ailment, and the thought of him pulling “I’m taking my ball and going home” stunt before a critical game against the Yankees is practically unfathomable.
I enjoyed his rant not only because I agreed with it but because Benz couldn’t come up with a counter. Nice to hear him put in his place.
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Right. Even a broken clock is right twice per day.
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The counter should have been…he does not ask out of the lineup for 3 reasons:
1) PEDs so he gets hurt less…unless he ruptures an achilles.
2) His ego is such that resting for the sake and betterment of the team is beneath him.
3) He does more damage to their chances of winning when he plays against lefties so why should he sit out.
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So you think Ortiz is lying? Come on, that’s Felger talk!
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Yes…from the moment he said he would investigate why he was on the PED list and that he would have an explanation for what he took the following day. We are still waiting.
I think Ortiz is no better at telling the truth than any of the other ego driven megalomaniacs who play baseball. He just happens to be our ego driven megalomaniac so we embrace him. I don’t have a lot of respect for Ortiz’s honesty. I don’t believe that a 39 year old can put up the numbers he has put up without help. I think he was lying then and he continues to lie now. But that is just my opinion.
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As I remember it:
He claimed his inquiry got stonewalled by MLB — as they were the source of the leak of supposed confidential test results and at that time headed by a used car salesman, who as a matter of practice at his previous operation, ran shell games — and while this answer sounds convenient and unlikely, it can not be dismissed outright.
The leaked list claimed 88 players tested positive, and then provided a list of 103 names. 15 players on that list thus didn’t test positive.
He may have used. It might even be likely. But I don’t hold that whole fiasco against him.
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Ted Williams put up some good numbers at 39… What was he using?
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So you are suggesting Ortiz is Ted Williams?
I do think looking at Williams late career numbers is interesting. at 37 he hits 24HR’s at 38 he hits 38hrs at 39 he hits 26HR and at 40 he hits 10 (103 games). Which year doesn’t belong and why?
If Ortiz had played when Williams played I would not question him. He doesn’t. He plays in the Steroid era. He has been linked to them, rightly or wrongly, he has not been forthcoming when confronted with the accusation. I don’t think I am going out on a limb questioning his veracity and at the same time the legitimacy of his accomplishments. Every one of the greats in this generation so far has been exposed as a fraud. McGuire, Sosa, Bonds, A-Rod, Palmiero, Braun, even Puljos whose numbers have mysteriously shrunk since getting to Anaheim. I don’t for a second believe that Ortiz was the sole bastion of moral strength in the face of others success. The guy is too concerned with personal stats and legacy.
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Personal stats and legacy as opposed to what? Hard to argue he’s not been a valuable teammate…
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I am not arguing he has been a bad teammate. I am arguing he is selfish and I think a product of PED use which makes him dishonest and not worthy of Williamslike reverence.
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but according to you, Williams must have been using something also to put up great numbers so late in his career
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According to me Williams season when he was 38 deserves questioning…or it would were it to occur in 2015. Because there is no evidence of PED use int he 40’s and 50’s the numbers seem legit.
Ortiz does not get a similar benefit of the doubt. I don’t understand why this is such a difficult concept. The guy was on the list. He may or may not have taken anything but he did make the comment about not knowing what he put in his body when he was training in the Dominican and he swore at that conference that he would find out what happened and come back to address it. We never heard from him again. I think he is a fraud. I think he has cheated. I think he is petulant. But worst of all I think he has no respect for the game or the fans because he does not tell the truth and allegedly took PED’s, hung out with admitted PED users, and can’t account for his actions.
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I hear you…guess the PED stuff doesn’t bother me as much in general. Ortiz’s body of work is impressive no matter what…Same with Clemens, Bonds,, etc.
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I fall on the other side. I think that once these guys resorted to the PED’s everything they did was fraudulent. They did not trust their own god given skills that they needed an artificial enhancement. They did so with direct disregard to the players who were clean who competed against them, and had worse stats because of it, for the people coming up who never got the opportunity to make it because these guys clogged the way much longer than maybe they would have had they stayed clean and finally for the league rules and traditions that came before them that they selfishly tossed aside all to get an advantage. They did so without honor.
So to me, these guys are on par with Pete Rose. Ban them all for life. Don’t try and parse who did what or give it moral relevance…if there is evidence they took a PED…ban them forever. To me there is plenty of evidence Clemens, Bonds et all did it.
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Do you feel that way about all sports, or just baseball? For some reason, many people feel the way you do about MLB but don’t feel as strongly about NFL, NBA, etc players who use PEDs
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Yes…I was devastated when the whole Armstrong scandal broke…I had been a big fan on of UCI racing and now I watch it very jaded. Olympic swimming and track and field are pretty dead to me. I so want to believe Usain Bolt is for real but I find it hard to believe a country of 2.6 mill people has the fastest man, fastest women and 3 more of the fastest 20 people on the planet living there. I am cynical best outwardly incredulous at worst.
I am convinced the problems Tiger Woods encountered had to do with the fact he took PED’s, which in turn weakened ligaments. His swing was very flat, which exacerbated the torque needed on his lower back and then knee. He was flying off to see “alternative medicine practioners” in Canada to get back from the knee issues fasters. These same people who got busted for supplying HGH to football players…but spinning blood platelets…that does it. Please…
I am completely convinced Ted Johnson who went from a small safety at Colorado to a dominant inside Line Backer in the NFL took stuff. Both his bicep tears were incredibly uncommon injuries for a normal NFL player…yet someone with dehydrated muscles/tendon fibers due to PEDs…quite common. Rodney Harrison’s “It was the first time I used the stuff and only to get back from a knee injury” excuse should have received a lot more scrutiny. First question that should have been asked ‘Rodney, who told you to get X, and that it would help heal your knee faster”. Second question ” it was x person…what are their medical credentials?” Ray Lewis…deer antler powder…and the NFL didn’t right then and there drain his entire body of blood and check every molecule for PED’s…what a joke. The Pats routinely get criticized for not taking Green Bay Packer Clay Mathews who put on 40 lbs in college. Further he failed a PED test in college. The Pats questioned whether he could keep the size on. With better testing I think he would be caught. The list goes on and on. Mike Felger often questions Tom Brady. He takes crap for asking the questions based on Brady’s affiliations with a trainer who is a known PED pusher. That is one of the few football related topics that I have no criticism of Felger. Those questions should be asked.
They all make me sick. I have quoted Homer here before. The fact is the Blind Poet talked about Honor and Timé (the greek word for battlefield glory within the rules of war) in competition (book 23 the funeral games) 4000 years ago. That lesson seems to be completely lost on and forgotten by todays current athletes and to some extent fans. I hate the phrase “if you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin”. I hate the win at all costs mentality which is not really win at all costs but instead it is bring personal glory to ME at all costs. The fact that ESPN glorifies the behavior turned me off to them years ago. The fact that the rest of the media, fans, owners and other players have accepted that PED use is not as bad as gambling or deflating a football 1PSI tells me all i need to know about these people as well.
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I think it’s fine if Bruce or others stop linking to serial trolls like Shank, but Finn is writing a column on radio hosts slandering Ortiz and then he doesn’t report who actually made the comment or what, exactly, they said. That’s just poor journalism. Since I didn’t hear the comments on the radio, I have no idea if they actually happened. So i could be just a straw man argument that no one is really making. I doubt it but he delivers no real evidence, which his responsibility in writing a column on this topic.
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One of the prime offenders he points out writes for his paper (YARM).
The problem is that the people reporting it were either direct employees of the team or part of the group trying their hardest for NESN time. They’re the last people in the world to “question” a decision. (Yeah, sorry Pete Abe, but you’re a joke.)
I got the spirit of what Finn was going after. Problem is that he should look a little critically, even though its basically his employer, if he wants to remain credible on the issue.
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Yes, he should drop his “media critic” title if he is unwilling (or unable) to go after boston.com/Boston Globe hacks.
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Any click onto a Shaughnessy column should be seen as a plea for help. Why do you not love yourself enough to seek out a real sportswriter with real insight based on research and study or actual hands on sporting experience? Why take such poison into your system?
* proudly shaughnessy-free since 2014
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2014 …ROFL….1997 for me. Welcome to the band wagon, rookie…tell me you brought beer and pretzels.
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Then I suppose, in this particular example, it is I who is “late to dinner.”
But we all need start somewhere, some time. The important thing is we start, and then continue.
p.s., And i come empty handed, without beer pretzels or any sustenance — much like a shaughnessy column: words and air only.
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Don’t be so hard on yourself… the real answer is I am just really really old. Welcome to the boycott!
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Bruce, correct me if I am wrong. John Dennis’ contract runs through 2017. If so he retires then. I can’t see him leaving mid 6 figures on the table so he can be in Florida a year earlier. Heck he could do the show from a home studio in Florida if he absolutely needed to be down there.
As for the feud, I think it is contrived. If there was real animosity we would never hear about it on the air…Look at Dale and Eddie, Eddie and John Dennis when Eddie was still with the station, every one and Jimmy Myers, other than Minihane no one spoke out about how bad Mike Salk was publicly, the list goes on and on. Having said that, as I have said other places here…I am not convinced that the Tanguay stuff does not have more than a few kernels of truth in it. Listening to him on whatever show he is on is awkward. Guys seem not to want to be in the same room as him. Yet they yuck it up as good soldiers and move along.
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Speaking of Delfategate….I’m glad to see that, despite Kraft’s (likely forced) capitulation to the league heavies, the Pats are still updating the “Wells Report in Context” website. After being mocked by media morons for going on two months now for claiming that “deflate” meant weight loss, they updated the site (apparently in mid-June…the media just noticed and reported on it) to clarify that the term “deflate” simply means “to reduce” and can be used in multiple contexts, while pointing out that Wells simply assumed it meant “deflating footballs” and then, SIXTEEN TIMES his report, referenced the text in which McNally used the term “deflator” (in May 2014). Those 16 references to that one text, naturally, were designed to create the impression in the minds of mediots and haters everywhere that McNally was illegally deflating footballs all the time, and that it was part of his job. Of course, F&M will no doubt claim that by editing the website, the Pats are admitting that they made up the part about weight loss, that they’re admitting they deflated balls, etc., etc., etc. To me, it seems clear that they updated the site because they were sick of having the media mock and focus on the weight loss explanation for the term “deflator”, and they wanted to put the focus back on what a completely dishonest piece of expensive ($5 million) excrement the Wells Report really is. Won’t work, of course, because most of the mediots made up their minds about this thing back in January, didn’t they? Can’t wait for TB12 to take this to court…..as T.O. was said: “Getcha popcorn ready.”
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I think we are all missing a huge point with Goodell… He has a real opportunity here to make a difference in the “deflation of footballs” space.
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The first time I have heard this brought up since it happened back in the ’90s was when Tom Curran brought it up on ‘EEI the other day. Both Manning and Favre are made of tephlon and the media gets bent out of shape when you bring up either ones past mistakes.
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Interesting change of events:
http://thebiglead.com/2015/07/16/colin-cowherd-leaving-espn-whats-next/#sthash.tyctJRkT.uxfs&st_refDomain=&st_refQuery=
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Roger not so sure anymore? (thanks Bruce)
Maybe they discussed this over lobster together at their favorite NYC seafood place?
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This is one of the better ideas I have seen thrown around. It does beg the question “Are the people who work in the New York NFL office that scientifically phobic that they do not believe the Ideal Gas Law?” But assuming they can get over that…an entire year of data…especially in Foxboro…where the balls are measured at the same time prior to each game: first time in the refs room at a controlled 70F. Second time right before kick off on the field. Third time at half time within 3 minutes of the balls coming back inside again in the refs room in the controlled temp environment…fourth time right before they are to go back to the field. Measure the balls after the game on the field and then lastly do it in the controlled environment of the refs room 3 minutes after the game and then 20 minutes later.
With that data set…they would see how the deflation of the balls changes based on air pressure and weather. Then everyone can apologize and this whole thing goes away…except the NFL front office would have to explain to the owners why they spent $5 mill on Ted Wells ridiculous investigation/witch hunt.
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“With that data set…they would see how the deflation of the balls changes based on air pressure and weather. Then everyone can apologize and this whole thing goes away…except the NFL front office would have to explain to the owners why they spent $5 mill on Ted Wells ridiculous investigation/witch hunt.”
This is exactly why the NFL wouldn’t do this. Right now the issue is muddier than the Mississippi river in spring and that is how they want it.
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Do we really trust the NFL not to fudge the numbers?
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I wouldn’t trust them on a number of levels. Plus I don’t think they could resist hiring another ex jet employee to run the program.
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Right. Plus, I think we all know by now that this whole thing was never about allegedly deflated footballs. It was about Harbaugh (as payback for Brady calling him out over “knowing the rulebook”), the Colts (because they’re the whiniest, Patriots-obsessed, chicken-bleep organization in the league and have been since Polian ran the show), and the Jets-centric NFL home office (because Belichick divorced them and then turned the Pats into a dynasty) trying to stick it to the Pats, period. The principals involved in this scam knew they could count on the anti-BB, sensationalist media to spread the league’s propaganda and whip-up anti-Patriots sentiment, and they knew Goodell would bow to the public pressure that the media helped whip-up, and then grossly overpunish the Patriots…..again. I do wonder if this thing ever would have occurred if Brady had just kept his mouth shut after the Baltimore game when Harbaugh’s whining about the “illegal” formations was brought to his attention. TB’s response was somewhat out of character for him and I’d say there’s still at least a 50 percent chance that it was his “check the rulebook” comment that got this whole thing started, given Harbaugh’s ties to Pagano and the Colts’ coaching staff. Like Mangini before him, Harbaugh’s become just another Fredo Corleone, I would think, as far as Belichick is concerned. What an ingrate.
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I agree with your theory on what started this (Harbaugh,Colts etc). I don’t think any of them took into consideration (or are just dummies) the ideal gas law. Once the Colts insider (?) called Kravitz it spun out of control and rather than addressing it right away the NFL went into coverup mode, probably because they had no protocol in place and/or disregarded it if there was one.This Well’s report is simply an after the fact CYA report and ignores facts to assist in the coverup. The real villains in this whole epsiode are not the Patriots but the NFL, Harbaugh and the Colts.
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I tell fans from other teams who like to stick Deflategate in my face to beware. Make sure your team isn’t too good for too long (at least under this Commissioner) or you’ll be subject to the same mistreatment as the Patriots.
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It is too smart of an idea for Goodell or Peter King to have come up with. So it more probable than not that Peter King stole this idea from Shalize Manza Young who stole the idea from Mike Reiss.
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“Despite hiring an outside research firm to do exactly that, and basing our conclusions on their findings, we’re going to spend the year studying how weather affects PSI.”
Dumb enough for Roger? Yes.
Likely? No.
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While a small part of this entire Deflategate debacle, this is what drives me nuts about the ideal gas law:
– Any of you guys have or work with any type of aspiration (Supercharger or Turbochargers) in your vehicle?
– Any of you have an air compressor? That thing that powers nail guns and other various air tools?
– Right around playoff season, before there’s a ton of snow on the ground, ever take a basketball or football outside and notice its a little flat?
– Your tires in the winter look a little flat?
Say “Hi” to the Ideal Gas law. (And, yeah, there’s a ton more going on with the first two.)
The first two are limited to folks like me who love that stuff. The second two should be more common, or at least the last one–unless you park your car indoors, don’t own one or don’t drive/maintain your car. My HS physics class covered (1999), and I get that they’ve dumbed things down a bit, so anyone younger might have never had it covered in a class.
But, this isn’t some esoteric science theory that only an elite group of physicists at MIT encounter/deal with. It’s something you can experience with stuff around your house or apartment.
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That’s the funnies thing about Deflategate to me is the Wells report rejecting the science in this whole thing. It’s the Ideal Gas LAW. It’s not a theory. It’s not some blind guess. It’s an actual scientific law. You can’t reject it.
If the NFL does PSI testing this year, imaging how stunned they’ll be when in, say, Miami during September, that balls inflated in an air conditioned locker room will actually gain pressure when you take them out into the 90+ degree heat.
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Again, you point out how simple this “science” is to test:
It reminds me of, in 4th grade, for our science fair, kids doing the vortex tubes using the coupler on two 2 liter bottles of soda. Or, what I did, was your basic volcano using vinegar and baking soda. (Yeah SCIENCE!)
Simple, safe stuff you can try at home, right? Don’t need a billion-dollar particle accelerator for that!
And, I still find it absurd that supposed “scientists” or people who spent 4+ years studying this in a collegiate-level environment. Moreover, the fact that some “Professional firm” would DENY this.. and are still considered credible! This isn’t a complex topic with many theories. It’s not some brand new “law” or “theory” being pushed by questionable source. This is as simple as putting water in your freezer and wondering why, two hours later, it’s in a different state of matter.
Moving on.. It’s too smart/intelligent/reasonable of an idea. The NFL is also way too deep digging their own hole in this for that to happen. That’s the absurd thing and why I gathered that an outside source (overpriced consulting firm, actual intelligent confidant that Goodell/NFL execs trust) suggested it. And, as dewey4HOF pointed out, this was brought up months back by journalists.
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Imagine if that was the reason that Brady always seems to play a little less like himself in Miami.The balls inflate to a higher level than he prefers and it messes with his accuracy.
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So if they “delay sanctions against Tom Brady” shouldn’t they also delay (at least) the loss of draft picks, which is a bigger deal than the suspension? Doesn’t the lack of understanding of how weather affects PSI apply to that penalty as much as – if not more than – that suspension? Or did Bob Kraft’s caving and acceptance of those penalties mean they are final? That, of course, is stupid but so is this entire ordeal.
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I would think that because Kraft never appealed the team ruling then we will not get that pick back. Maybe if when this all flushes out, and Brady is exonerated then Kraft could try and make a plea to the league about the pick, but something tells me the other teams will say too bad so sad.
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I think you’re probably right. A final assault on intellectual honesty.
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Beetle just announced he’s hosting w/Gasper pre+post for the radio Patriots.
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Well I won’t be listening to that pre or post game show
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They just can’t get it right with pre/post game. Bring back Bill Abate!
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Ben Trollin; reporter….
Of course many had this info Wednesday night and Thursday but no one works harder at nailing down sources than that intrepid reporter, Ben Volin. I mean his investigative skills with regards to Robert Kraft’s financial contributions is clear evidence of that.
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I’m sure you guys have read that Rex Ryan is doing a jump with the Army’s Golden Knights unit.
BOOM!
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