A New Era For The Red Sox Begins

49 thoughts on “A New Era For The Red Sox Begins”

1. Ha:

   

   And, when I see that shot of Ben Trollin, it just makes me think of this one:

   

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2. Have to assume Shefter was fed the “settle for a game” report by one of the usual suspects at 345 Park, so he had to run with it:

   I was just told any reports are false suggesting Brady is getting ready to accept a suspension.

   — Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) August 19, 2015

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   1. I don’t even think the “one game” idea is that much a stretch one way or the other – if Brady settled for one game and no admission of responsibility then that’s still a win for the players…so while I think it’s a good compromise on paper, it’s actually a terrible compromise for the NFL.

      At this point, the NFL has to go down with the ship…they’re better off fighting it in appeals than giving any ground.

      I think we can agree that the NFL lawyers were given a terrible case to fight – who knows when it went off the rails, but it looks like the NFL braintrust dug themselves an impossible hole.

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      1. Compromising in the way you say is actually a terrible result for the NFLPA. For two reasons:

         (1) It’s an acceptance that the penalty for failure to cooperate has jumped from a monetary fine (as with Favre) to a suspension, which is a significantly greater penalty; and

         (2) More relevantly, it’s an acceptance that Roger Goodell can, on behalf of the NFL/owners, change the severity of the punishment for a given offense without explicitly promulgating a new policy or subjecting it to collective bargaining. From a labor law standpoint, I think this is the worse admisson to make.

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         1. I’ve had some discussions with a few people at work today, and we all agree that if Brady accepted a suspension for “non-cooperation”, it would essentially be setting a very bad precedent for the NFLPA going forward. Basically, Goodell could play his usual parlor games in any future case: hammer the accused with a ridiculously harsh penalty based on the alleged “evidence”, and then, as you said, change the reasons for the punishment to “non-cooperation” in exchange for the player accepting some kind of lesser suspension — and non-cooperation could come to mean whatever Goodell says it means; it doesn’t have to be about cell phones. It should also be noted that the freakin’ Wells Report actually said that Brady cooperated fully, so now in order to “compromise” he’s going to accept a one-game suspension for “non-cooperation.” Very bad deal IMO. He should take his chances with Berman, I think. At least he wouldn’t have caved like Kraft did.

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            1. Yeah, when I see it that way it makes more sense. My view of “compromise” is good only in the very narrow “right now” sense – but not as a long-term strategy.

               On the other hand, if you’re Brady and you just want this to be over for YOU and don’t care about the union, etc., then it could be a personally beneficial compromise. You’re not fighting the union’s battle.

               But I don’t think Brady sees it that way and I don’t think he should. I agree, he should go down with the ship too and let Berman make the ruling.

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            2. And, define “non-cooperation” when Ted Wells basically said he was fine up till the phone, which is his personal one, that there is nothing in the CBA saying its required.

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         2. Hmm, – good point. I didn’t think of it that way.

            To me – and bear in mind I don’t believe Brady is guilty of anything – I could see a compromise being “okay, I’ll take one game for not actively helping you, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

            But you’re right – that now puts “lack of full cooperation” (whatever that means) on the table as a suspendable offense, which is a worse place for the players to be in.

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         3. Plus, you can’t negotiate against the 4 games as it is a completely arbitrary starting point. All that says to the NFL is that next time if they want 4 they will start at 10. They should only be willing to settle for a punishment that brady is comfortable effectively pleading “no contest” to, i.e. a fine based on the rules and precedent.

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3. I think the “Red Sox abandoning analytics!!!!” arguments are overblown. There’s a difference between abandoning analytics and abandoning Lucchino’s people. Henry comes from an investing (specifically, a commodities futures) background, where ignorance of statistical analysis can be very harmful. In fact, his wealth was largely built on a system of avoiding SUBJECTIVE decisions about the applicable commodities market by focusing on OBJECTIVE data on movement trends. Henry is not going to abandon the sabremetric analysis function — that’s the essence of how he made his money.

   However, another thing you have to worry about in the investment world is becoming too anchored to your thesis and any assumptions you’ve made with respect to it. Human nature is to continue to think your bright idea is right until you’re conclusively proven wrong. The way to combat that is to make sure you have voices that will challenge your assumptions and make sure they’re still sitting on the foundation you thought they were on.

   If the front office has determined that what they’re doing isn’t working, the smart thing to do isn’t to throw everything out and start over again. It’s to do what they’ve done here — bring someone in who doesn’t do what they do. If you can re-argue your thesis to that person, the thesis is valid. If they can cut it apart, it’s time to reformulate. Either way, you wind up better off. If Dipoto is named the next GM… you’ll know I’m on to something here. (If it’s Wren, I think it’s more because of the personal relationship and Wren’s demonstrated skill at building/identifying minor league depth and talent, not because “he’s old school”.)

   Dombrowski comes from a team, the Tigers, who didn’t use analytical tools very well. But Dombrowski can only use the tools he’s given. I’ve got the feeling that the Tigers don’t embrace analytics at the ownership level. So even if DD had wanted to utilize that tool, he couldn’t, because the team wouldn’t build the infrastructure to gather the required data. For all we know, he’ll embrace the data gathered by Carmen/James/etc as another way in which he can strike better deals, etc. We don’t know yet.

   Either way, I think some new voices were needed in the front office, so this to me is a net positive.

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   1. Good analysis (no pun intended). I also don’t think they’re sh*t-canning Sabermetrics altogether, because, as you said, Henry is really big into that stuff, and I believe they hired Bill James largely at his urging. With that said, there was nothing — absolutely nothing — “Sabermetric” about those two big FA signings last winter. Panda has no plate discipline at all, and Ramirez is a nutjob (and somewhat of a free swinger as well). They have drifted back and forth between philosophies, it seems, ever since the run of six post-season appearances in seven seasons from 2003-2009 ended in 2010. After that season, they went nuts with the A-Gone and Crawford acquisitions. Then, after the team flamed out in Sept. 2011 and throughout all of 2012, they went full-on for team chemistry and plate discipline again, and caught lightening in a bottle during 2013. After the 2014 disaster, they went back to shelling out big bucks for non-Sabermetrics types. At least Dombrowsky should bring some stability of philosophy back to the organization, the kind of stable viewpoint and approach they had during the “boom” years of 2003-2009 (even if it’s not the exact same approach). In the end, it still all comes down to identifying and acquiring talent, and Cherington failed to do that consistently during his tenure — though he did, at least, seem to leave the farm system in pretty good shape.

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      1. I can hardly imagine that Bill James signed off on the Porcello trade.

         James is all about swing and miss pitchers, not pitch-to-contact, groundball inducers.

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         1. Exactly…..their philosophy has jumped around like crazy over the last few years, in direct response to the on-field performance and, more specifically, the NESN ratings. No way they make a deal like the Porcello trade/signing if they were still following the consistent approach to roster building they were taking during those “boom” years I mentioned before. They’ve just been flinging stuff against the wall for the last few years and hoping for good results (it worked in 2013, but that’s it). To wit, their major starting pitching acquisitions during the “boom” years were Schilling in the fall of 2003, and Beckett in the fall of 2005 — both flamethrowers with good secondary pitches who K’d a lot of hitters. After they got swept by the Angels in the 2009 ALDS, they seemed to lose their way. The Lackey signing was a good example. He was a very good veteran guy but he wasn’t really a “swing and miss” type of pitcher, especially at that point in his career. BUT, he was the biggest FA pitching name out there that offseason, so they felt they had to make a “splash”. They’ve just been all over the place, philosophy-wise, for the past several years. I do believe Dombrowsky will at least bring some consistency back to the front office.

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      2. I think they’re being very consistent…. just not in a way that you’re seeing. The consistency is that they’re identifying the market scarcity in a given period, and exploiting their ability to pay more for talent in that scarce supply pool. Power is enormously absent from today’s talent pool. Look at Mike Trout’s season last year. Nobody — and I mean nobody — would argue that Trout wasn’t any worse than the 3rd best player in the major leagues last year. But if you look at his numbers… that’s comparable (roughly) to what Dwight Evans hit in 1984. (Trout hit for a better average, and had a few more non-HR xbh.) And he didn’t even make the All Star team.

         If you can get 40 HR power, you get it, because there are almost no talents at that level available on a regular basis. So they went and got Ramirez. If Ortiz had, say, retired after last year, we wouldn’t be second-guessing the acquisition at all. Ramirez would likely be healther, and sitting at 35 HR / 90 RBI or so.

         What has screwed them more than anything this year, though, is the profound change in the strike zone called by the umpires, which has basically “spoiled” all their existing batter data. Mike Napoli is the prime example of that. Napoli’s value is that he’s patient at the plate, and only swings at balls he thinks he can hit — something that the Red Sox have prioritized for at least the past 5 years or so. When the umpires had a narrower strike zone, it forced pitchers to come into his wheelhouse more often. So even if he’s hitting .230, he still probably has 25 HR and a bunch of walks. That’s valuable. But with the more liberal strike zone, Napoli can’t be as patient as he was, and he has to swing at pitches that he normally wouldn’t. Now he’s hitting .230 with less power and a lot less walks, and he’s not nearly as valuable.

         This is a big problem when the analytics you’re using are valuing Napoli based on the old strike zone. Until the analytics catch up to the reality, everything is skewed. (I’d argue that patience is no longer what should be the focus — contact ability is now key. But I digress.)

         Panda was, I think, forced from above. What I’d really like to know is whether or not Josh Donaldson was shopped by the A’s or not. “Sources” at the time said that the trade was a shock; nobody knew he was even being offered. I would not be surprised if Lucchino or someone prioritized obtaining Sandoval for (a) lack of necessity of surrendering minor leaguers and (b) marketing. Because Donaldson would have made a LOT more sense for this team.

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         1. Good point about the changing strike zone. That certainly would throw off their analytics, especially on a guy like Napoli. I really wasn’t against signing Hanley, because they’ve had a decided lack of right-handed “pop” in the lineup for the past several years — ever since Manny was traded and they failed to re-sign first Jason Bay, then Victor Martinez, and then Adrian Beltre. The decision to sign him without having a real position in the field for him to play, however, smacks of a disorganized front office approach. It was fine to say, “we’ll slap an outfielder’s glove on him and stick him in LF.” It was quite another to actually try to make it happen. Now he’s got three years left at big money; he can’t DH because Ortiz isn’t going anywhere, yet; and he’s already balking about being moved to first base (and he could suck even worse there than he does in LF, really). The Panda signing, again, was about as un-Sabermetric as it gets. The guy swings at everything!!!

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         2. On the flip side of that they have assembled the pitching staff with the fewest K’s in a year that the strike zone has expanded. Terrible.

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   2. Agreed, I think this move is geared towards striking a balance AND having a clearly defined strategy whereas they’ve been throwing mud at the wall for the last 4 years.

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4. It’s clear…. Brady will win…. no matter the result. Let me explain:

   All we have been hearing from the Ben Trollins and Felger’s of the world is: ‘Sorry Patriots fans… if Brady wins it will be on PROCESS!! NOT on the facts of the case. Not on guilt or innocence.’

   Now?… assuming no settlement, Judge Berman has made it clear that even if he chooses to side with the CBA, he will be doing so while holding his nose and he will be scathing in his review of the NFL’s case against Brady. THUS… the tables would be turned and the NFL would win on PROCESS!! NOT on the facts of the case. Not on guilt or innocence.

   While I prefer Brady holdout and win… a judgement by Berman, even if in the NFL’s favor would contain language about Brady’s guilt/innocence that will be delicious.

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   1. Dave’s the lawyer of the group, so he can opine better than I; however, when Berman reportedly told Nash today that he believes “…arbitrations (sic) have been overturned in the past…” because certain people weren’t allowed to be questioned by the other side (i.e., the NFL refused to let Pash be questioned), I think that was the legal equivalent of George Foreman’s demonic right cross that floored Michael Moorer in their famous title bout back in ’95. I could be wrong, but that seemed to be a pretty telling statement in my considerably uneducated legal opinion.

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      1. Sure seems like Berman has found a clear path to vacating this (possibly more than one) and is making the NFL aware. Yes, the Pash stuff showed this blatantly.

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      2. Not quite a George right. Berman could have questioned Nash for a while, then dropped an already-prepared opinion overturning the award on him. That would be a stiff right to the jaw.

         I don’t think the judge can be any clearer in the message he’s sending, though. If I’m sitting there as the NFL’s attorney, I’m going back to my client and saying “we HAVE to assume he’s telling us that he’s going to rule against us on multiple grounds, and all the appellate court has to do is find one of them colorable and we lose. We need to decide how far we go to settle this now.” This hearing was, I think, all about browbeating Nash back to the table with a more realistic view of how he should compromise. August 31st will be the same thing but with the parties (who can, basically, order their attorneys to offer a given settlement).

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         1. Thanks Dave. I guess now the only question is this: Is Goodell that drunk on his own power and so convinced of his own infallibility that he’ll pretty much ignore the very loud and clear signals coming down from Judge Berman’s bench? Does the league insist that Brady has to serve some kind of suspension, even if they’re willing to concede that he doesn’t have to accept or admit to any guilt? Are they really going to try to now assert that this vague “non-cooperation” charge is punishable by suspension, where it had always been a monetary penalty previously? I mean, in a logical, sane, rational situation, you’d think the NFL would settle for whatever it can get here — even if it’s just a Brett Favre $50K for withholding the cell phone fine — but there’s been nothing logical, sane or rational about this entire farce, going all the way back to Kravitz’s Tweet on Jan. 19th.

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            1. I don’t think Berman thought the NFL would ignore how loud he was last week. They did. He’s now being louder.

               I think it’s 50% Goodell being an empty-headed tinpot dictator who will pursue anyone who DARES question his integrity/authority/competence to the ends of the earth, and 50% Goodell acting to position himself in good stead with the owners (i.e. being able to say “I fought hard for you to screw over the evil cheating Cheatriots from Cheatboro Massacheatsetts, but the stupid courts stopped me THANKS OBAMA”) who pay his salary.
               Again, the fascinating thing here for me is that there’s apparently a plurality of owners ready and willing to just F over Bob Kraft for phantom “things” that “everyone knows” the team does.

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            2. I think you hit on it. There IS a plurality of owners out there willing to believe that ANY accusation levied against the Pats is automatically true, and that they need to be punished for SOMETHING, whether there’s actual proof or not. What’s bizarre about this situation is that the NFL and, by extension, the other 31 owners, has already won here, and they can afford to have Goodell just back off and accept a $50K fine settlement. Think about it for a second. They’ve sullied the Patriots’ name, once again, in the court of public opinion. They’ve managed to apply at least a little “taint” to their latest Super Bowl trophy, which means that even though the “no Super Bowls since Spygate” narrative has now collapsed, a new narrative — “no Super Bowls since Deflategate” — can now be launched. They’ve smeared Brady’s reputation beyond repair as well — he’s the butt of jokes in TV commercials and is being linked with the names of “heroes who’ve fallen from grace” and “cheaters” in every other walk of life, just about everywhere you turn these days. And, oh yes, they’ve already screwed the Patriots and have handicapped their future by stealing yet another first round draft pick from them, and a fourth the following next year, just for good measure, for the crime of being coached by a guy the league office hates. My point is that the owners could order Goodell to stand down over this Brady thing at this point, and the league can still walk away with a huge tactical victory overall, because they’ve already damaged both Brady, and the franchise, beyond repair. Would walking away from the Brady thing make the NFL look bad? No question, but it would only be temporary, and the long-term narrative still won’t change: The Cheatriots cheated again, and Brady cheated, too. Remember, SEVERAL media outlets, during this entire sordid affair, used “the Patriots taped practices and taped the Rams’ Super Bowl walkthrough” as examples of the team’s “pattern of cheating” prior to Deflategate. The story is, was, and always will be false, but the narrative has been established. The narratives about Deflategate are already established, too: Dorito Dink referred to himself as “The Deflator”!!! How do you explain that, Cheatriots fans? Huh? Brady destroyed his cell phone! An innocent man doesn’t destroy evidence!!! Honestly, I think if there is a cabal of owners out there who just want to see Pats damaged, that mission has already been accomplished, big time. They should tell Goodell to stand down and avoid further embarrassment at this point, because over the long term, the damage to their primary target — the organization in Foxboro — has already been done.

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            3. “no Super Bowls since Deflategate”

               Since Deflategate “happened” in one game, the AFCCG, the Pats have already won a Super Bowl post-Deflategate. This will be a very easy thing for us Pats fans to point out to even the dumbest non-Pats fans.

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            4. I know…but how much success have we had pointing out the actual facts about Spygate? I can’t tell you how many times I quoted the “no big deal” statements of Jimmy Johnson, Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher, and other coaches to the haters out there. It simply didn’t matter. The fact that the Pats had a BETTER overall record after Spygate than they did before also didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they went 0-2 in Super Bowls from 2007 through 2013. Besides, you know the worst of the trolls will just say something like: “How do we know they didn’t tamper with those balls during the Super Bowl, huh? Brady admitted to Wells that he was talking to that equipment guy about preparing the footballs before the Super Bowl!!!” They’ll have absolutely, positively no idea how something like that could have happened with all of that NFL security around, but they’ll say it anyway, because the Patriots are CHEATERZZZZ!!!!

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   2. The kinda “steps” process of the anti- media:

      – Two games is fair
      – One game is fair
      – Take a large fine
      – Now just take a game/large fine but only on grounds that he failed to co-operate and nothing on Deflategate.

      It’s like a stepper program.

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5. Setup a UFC cage at the Lodge? I’m down for that.

   They’ve been feuding for months about ratings and relevancy, and the tough-talking clowns finally met face-to-face today, as Crossing Broad reported. Here’s a version from Philly.com

   http://thebiglead.com/2015/08/19/philly-radio-clowns-nearly-got-into-a-fight-at-eagles-practice/

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6. It is more probable than not that Subway was generally aware that Jared was a pedophile. Therefore, Subway sanctions pedophilia. #TEDWELLSLOGIC

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   1. I think you mean that Subway engaged in a scheme to commit pedophilic acts against young girls and boys. #ROGLOG

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      1. 

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         1. Oh man….that photo is what P.R. people like to call “bad optics”. That’s like Buckner giving that TV interview three weeks before THE ERROR and saying “…the nightmare is that you’re going to let the winning run score on a grounder between your legs.” (I still can’t believe that interview actually happened, given the events which transpired a few weeks later — talk about Karma).

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7. At least one person likes to correct mistakes in Bristol:

   @stoolpresidente: caught this at 12:20 at night…. pic.twitter.com/EsnROBYQ7D

   — Mike Weisberg (@Mikeweisberg) August 20, 2015

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8. OK, finally talked myself into the Dombrowski signing.

   A well-run organization will see the right decision go awry occasionally because nothing is 100% certain.

   A mistake reveals a weakness, but can encourage a team to find and attempt to eradicate the ghost in the machine.

   Same mistakes over and over again? Time to shuffle the deck.

   Lucchino’s departure gives John Henry a chance to shake things up a bit. I don’t doubt Cherington’s recollection of his summer talks with John-boy. I think Henry likes him, values his knowledge, and would rather he be working for the organization in a high-level capacity than not. But the Red Sox’ brass dice have become worn, and their outcomes are now predictable. The departure of one major player. and the availability of another renders Cherington a casualty who’s hit a cold streak, but still gets his room comped and his drinks paid for when he flashes his World Series ring in years to come.

   Ben is leaving. Carmine is staying. Lucchino is gone. Dombrowksi is picking out drapes. He’ll get to bring in an agreed upon number of his hires and integrate them with the other guys who keep commemorative jewelry in their safety deposit boxes.

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9. Listened to Felger and Junior yesterday and ALL DAY LONG he was harping on the “why would Brady agree to 1 game?” even after Jeff Howe said the report was wrong. Even after Mike Reiss said it was wrong. Even after it appeared on CBS Boston’s website. His big line was “oh, so you believe Schefter when it suits you , but not now?” He even said it to Gresh on CSNNE, 6 hours later. Uhh….pick one single narrative and stick with it through heaven and hell for an entire day. Tomorrow find a new one. Glad Dale/Holley/JT will be back on air today.

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   1. When fed certain things, you run with it. It goes out to multiple outfits (ESPN, NBC) to appear more credible.

      Sometimes, it’s wrong.

      You can’t pick or choose when to and not to, assuming it’s a very high-level source (unless its just absurd).

      However, I heard part of that. They’re just exploiting what they mocked fans for: Picking and choosing what works for their agenda. However, one thing is an agenda and the other is someone doing their job.

      Maybe it was true? Beetle says it was. After what happened in court yesterday, nothing.

      And, this was also part of that segment, “BRADY IS OFFERING YOU A ONE GAME SUSPENSION WHY HAVEN’T YOU JUST TAKEN THAT, NFL”. I thought Brady should be the one bending over the NFL? Again, it’s moving the goalposts.. sometimes it’s 5 yards a minute. Other times, it’s real slow around 5″ a day.

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      1. My thing is he NEVER once acknowledged Howe, Reiss, or Hurley saying the report was false or changed. A caller did once in the 5 o’clock hour and that’s when he spit out the “so, now you’re calling Schefter a liar?”

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         1. I have a long drive home and he did acknowledge the conflicting reports but said “Everyone wanted me to believe Schefter during Deflategate. Now that he says something that makes Brady look weak you don’t want me to believe him” (The part of Tony Mazz during this mini-rant was James Stewart).

            I had to turn it off since he’s just being willfully ignorant. Any time you hear that “league sources” are saying anything you shouldn’t pay attention because that’s the NFL trying more spin and defame tactics. Doesn’t matter who the reporter is.

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   2. The worst part is that Felger is the one who has determined that Schefter’s the one who is worth putting trust in as a reporter, and then he was using it as a strawman, and manipulating it to sound like the fans or callers were the one’s who determined that. I can recall multiple times when they’ve had breaking news cut into their show from Schefty over the past 7 months, and Felger saying to Jim murray that schefters the only one to trust, and then he comes out yesterday saying “ohhhh all YOU people say schefter is the one to trust so i’m going to stick to him” just so it fits his narrative, and then clearly ignores the 3 different reporters who said otherwise later in the day.

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   3. Someone needs to tell them that whenever they see “league sources say {…}”, they have to replace that with “the NFL wishes that{….}”.

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   4. He’s unlistenable now. I loved his rants when he started in ’09 but he’s either become jaded or literally hates the people he has to deal with. Brady offering 1-game for non-cooperation was brilliant negotiating and will be seen favorably by the Judge. I don’t believe his camp ever expected the NFL to accept that w/o him accepting the Wells Report findings, accepting the NFL’s right to trample all over player’s rights, and all that other BS.

      Adam Jones, please. It’s not even worth my time to type out all the ways he sucks.

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      1. I don’t think he’s jaded or hate people. I think that he knows he’s the King of Boston Sport Talk Radio and he doesn’t care who he’s got to step on or what he has to say to stay there.

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   5. So I tipped my toe back in the water for sports radio yesterday (my xm radio was broken). Jimmy Fund on one channel, crying and driving = not a good combination. For the literally 30 seconds I tuned into F&M I heard them mocking people for calling them irresponsible and the lead-in sentence: “The patriots position just looks so ridiculous”. Channel flip.

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10. Butch Stearns hosting 10-2 today. Lord….I hear dials all over New England switching to 98/5

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    1. He’s awful, always thinking unintelligent thoughts out loud.

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11. Funny when the official team account r/t’s it:

    ESPN apologized to the #Patriots late last night on SportsCenter: https://t.co/hb39pKek9K

    — New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 20, 2015

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12. OK, so there’s another cheating accusation out there, this one from Mr. One and Done Himself and his former coach, Saint Dungy: They feared that the Patriots bugged the locker rooms in Foxboro. I won’t link to it, because….I just won’t. I’ll give the writer of the article a little credit (emphasis on little): Before he snarkily insinuates at the end of the article that no one would be surprised if the accusation turned out to be true, he at least acknowledges that Dungy and Horseface have no proof whatsoever. THIS is the kind of crap we’re going to have to deal with as Pats fans, forever, because Kraft had to go ahead and support that moronic ex-Jets employee for the big job back in 2006, over someone more qualified. It’s not a coincidence, IMO, that this tarring and feathering of the Pats’ reputation began almost immediately after Goodell and his ex-Jets entourage took over command on Park Avenue. I really didn’t want to believe the conspiracy theories of Pats fans after Spygate. I just thought it was Goodell being incompetent and letting that minor story get way out of hand. But after this latest 7-month ordeal — truly, with apologies to Seinfeld, a show about nothing — I’m all-in on the “Goodell is a Jets fan and he’s out to get BB and the Pats” conspiracy theory. In fact, I’m going out at lunchtime today to buy my Patriots hat made out of tin foil. PLEASE fire that A-Hole, and his little (ex-Jet) attack dogs, too!!!!!

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    1. On paper, Goodell was qualified for the job. He worked closely with Tagliabue and started at the bottom and worked his way to the top of the league office. Now, in practice, he’s been a power-hungry, Pats-hating moron but, leading up to his hiring, there was no indication he’d turn into that.

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       1. I hear ya. Believe me, as I said before, I didn’t WANT to believe any of that conspiracy stuff. In fact, I scoffed at the more extremist views of some Pats fans regarding Goodell’s Jets ties as being absurd, or even worse. Of course, back then I had no idea whatsoever that a guy like Kensil had such an influential position in the league office under Goodell — nor did I have any clue that Kensil hated BB so much (that all came out after this deflation nonsense started). I really wanted to just believe that Goodell was incompetent, not corrupt. Turns out I was very wrong about that, and I can’t believe a guy as smart and successful as Bob Kraft could miss all of those warning signs.

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