In the midst of a column about the Patriots, Dan can't resist taking shots at the Red Sox:
New England football fans, ever trusting, loyal, and anxious to pay homage to everything the organization does, were booing the offense with nine minutes to go in the first half of the first game of the season. Julian Tavarez certainly would not have approved, but Brady just shook his head and said, ``I don't blame 'em. I don't think we gave 'em much to cheer. They want to see us do some things offensively, put the ball in the end zone, and we turned the ball over, you know, we can't complete a pass. I'd be booing up there, too, if I were them."The first sentence is highly debatable, especially since he follows up his claim that fans are anxious to laud the organization by pointing out that they were booing REALLY quickly. I think the rope is considerably shorter than you believe, Dan.
And why the shot at Julian Tavarez? Just because Tom Brady didn't complain about booing fans doesn't mean no one is allowed to. I think booing a team that's given you 3 Super Bowls in 5 years less than halfway through the first game of the season is the height of stupidity, and I don't care how bad they looked. Show a little gratitude and have a little bit of rope, huh?
Do we blame the Revolution or is Coach Infallible gaining some perceived competitive edge from the golden sand?This is ridiculous. "Coach Infallible?" Is no one safe? Bill Belichick is on my short list of Boston guys never to boo, no matter what he does on the field. Also on the list: Tom Brady, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, and yes, Keith Foulke. "Coach Infallible?" I guess Belichick's sin is to win too much, which makes people happy. Dan can't stand that. Good grief. When does he start bashing Brady?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is called throwing yourself under the bus, taking one for the team. New England's offense was most inept in the second quarter, when a succession of running plays yielded a succession of three-and-outs and inspired fans to give their heroes the Seanez treatment.Phew. Dan still likes him. And the "Seanez treatment?" You could insert pretty much anybody's name there, and I guarantee you that idiot Boston fans will have booed him at one time or another.
Opening Day was an SOS to the front office.I don't even know what to say here, besides this: YOU CANNOT JUDGE A TEAM BASED ON ONE GAME! Jeez, Dan. Jump to conclusions much?
I was listening to Brady's post-game press conference when I heard CHB ask (unexact quote), "Did you hear the crowd reaction at the end of the second half?" Even if I hadn't recognized his voice, I knew it had to be him, and I knew Globe readers would be subjected to a LOVE LOST IN PATRIOT NATION AS FOXBORO FAITHFUL BOO BRADY column.
ReplyDeleteMy God, predictable or what.
Geez, CHB, why not don a black robe, throw a scythe over your shoulder and be done with it?
Let's see if we can decipher today's bout of muddled thinking. It seems to go thus:
ReplyDelete1. Fans booed the Pats.
2. Shaughnessy pointed out that fans booed the Pats.
3. Fans should not have booed the Pats.
4. Therefore Shaughnessy is bad.
Not a good way to start the new semester.
Of course this means I am Shaughnessy or, in the latest absurdity, I am his copy editor.
Never met the man. Sorry.
No, OB, what is an absurdity is the fact that a person with a platform like lead sports columnist at the Boston Globe, a position that implies superior ability to offer a top-notch insight on the topic at hand, instead has nothing better to offer than childish tangents aimed at the readers whose passion for sports create the market that allows him to draw a paycheck. That's absurdity, OB, that and the fact CHB's editors don't demand any insight out of him and let him sully the pages with childish rubbish.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if these anonymous comments are from Globe people. That would be great!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually down on Belichick. I'm afraid that he may have bought into his own myth. After 5 years of the media, local and national, telling you that your teams have no stars and players that nobody else wanted and your superior game-planning makes it all work, he believes it. Thats why players leave on bad terms feeling disrespected. A mediocre season wouldn't suprise me.
it's one thing for him to twist facts, make irresponsible assertions and overblow aspects of events concerning the red sox. i may despise his attitude toward them, but he at least knows anything about the red sox as a franchise / baseball as a sport.
ReplyDeletehe needs to step. the fuck. OFF. when we're talking about the patriots, though. since when is he even on the pats beat? since when did we start referring to belichick as "coach infallible"? since when did we start shitting on patriots fans? pretty ironic since red sox fans are regularly shat upon in his column for supporting the team despite all the FO's sins, yet a bout of booing at gillette is grounds for completely the opposite form of tongue-clucking. meanwhile, watching the game, it was my conclusion that the boos were due to the patriots not running a play at the end of the first half, not booing because of their performance. if they were to be booed for their performance, that booing would have started after the very first play, n'est pas?
he has half a leg to stand on when it comes to the red sox, given their unfortunate history. with the patriots of this decade...after one game...sorry, dan, your eagerness to cause and feast on misery is showing a little too glaringly.
meanwhile, i thought mocking bill belichick (and looking stupid for doing it) was ron borges' job.
face it, dan. the celtics ran you out. your hero larry bird *personally* purchased your one-way ticket out. shitting on the other franchises in town you've been forced to cover won't make any difference.
OB, you may be the only person in Boston who can offer such a predictable, kneejerk endorsement of anything Shaughnessy produces.
ReplyDeleteIncluding his wife and kids.
Chief, kindly join Jenny in her remedial reading class.
ReplyDeleteHow is it an "endorsement of anything Shaughnessy produces" to point out the patently absurd post?
Keep it up Beth. Always great to see criticism of people paid to write for a living in obscene terms.
And the One. Word. Sentences. How clever.
Fact is, the Pats were booed, in a way that hasn't happened at home in years. That the criticism is based on writing about this simple fact is mind-boggling in its childishness.
Just be glad he didn't make any Mike Taliaferro/snowball references.
To Beth, he is a columnist, so he covers different areas. It is not the Patriots beat. it.is.the.nature.of.the.job.
ReplyDeleteBruce. Who. cares. if. the. Pats. were. booed?
ReplyDeleteIn. two. weeks. I. expect. Dan. will. be. blowing. kisses. to. Belichick.
Thank. you.
How is it an "endorsement of anything Shaughnessy produces" to point out the patently absurd post?
ReplyDeleteIt's probably considered an "endorsement of anything Shaugnessy produces" because, since I've been reading this blog, you have endorsed everything Shaughnessy produces. Without fail.
OB: Why should anyone bother buying the Boston Globe if they know when they pick up the paper, the Globe's supposed top columnist is simply going to make snide comments about booing fans, rather than offer any meaningful insight about the game?
ReplyDeleteSorry, the football team being booed was a significant event. It hasn't happened in several years.
ReplyDeleteYou don't want perspective, you want more wet, sloppy kisses for the athletes you love so dearly.
And no, I haven't endorsed anything Shaughnessy produces, other than to suggest his 'Curse' book was one of the few must-read things ever written on the Red Sox (it's up there with Al Hirshberg's "What's The Matter With The Red Sox" which, I will wager, most of the oh-so-smart bloggers have never read).
Most of the time, I don't even let on whether I agree or not; I merely react to the generally smarmy way in which criticism is presented, not because of any love of Shaughnessy, but because I find the purpose of this particular blog, to simply knee-jerk a negative reaction to nearly all of what a particular columnists says, to be absurd and the kind of pomposity that richly deserves to be punctured.
I think the way that bloggers and their fans are so quick to resort to profanity to make their points makes it clear that they have no business criticizing anyone who writes for a living.
I have no idea how the use of profanity in any way affects the validity of someones commments on a piece of writing. Even if the criticized is practically untouchable, because he writes for a living. I'm positive OB's boy Shaughnessy has dropped an F-bomb before to stress a point. And he writes for a living. Unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriots should be booed all season because they just took themselves out of contention. If they think that they dont have to re-sign champion players because its the system that makes champions, then they will learn the hard way that theyre wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe window of opportunity is closed.
Sorry, the football team being booed was a significant event. It hasn't happened in several years.
ReplyDeleteSure it was. Ranks right up there with Bannister's sub-4 minute mile and the U.S. winning Olympic gold in hockey.
Gimme a break. Dan talks about the booing because he doesn't know jack about the game or the team or the sport or, well, anything else. I'm sure millions of Pats fans now feel so much more informed about their team
//other than to suggest his 'Curse' book was one of the few must-read things ever written on the Red Sox//
ReplyDeleteNot again!!! "objectivebruce" has actually topped himself in the laughable/stupid category!!
ROFLMAO!!!
1. Profanity in writing is bush-league at the very least. Anyone who can't express herself in writing without resorting to it is parading her ignorance. When the profanity is used to criticize other writing, its use is all the more boorish. We're talking writing here, folks, not the spoken word.
ReplyDelete2. A columnist many times provides color, as opposed to detailed analysis of who carried the football through a particular hole against a particular defense. The color is often about a significant event or factor surrounding the game. The three-time Super Bowl champions being subjected to booing at home in the first half of the first game of the season after an off-season in which a key player could not be signed is worthy of note.
3. One cannot appreciate the history of the Red Sox, and in particular the national interest surrounding the 2004 club without knowledge of Shaughnessy's 'Curse' book, and preferably one must have read it to put the 'curse' notion that drew national attention in perspective. Judging by Anonymous 11:55's poor writing and reliance on Internet cliches, once can assume that he/she has limited reading skills and the book was probably simply too much to tackle.
Right, Bruce. Can't tell you how many times I hear John Madden bring up "booing" during a telecast because it's such a "significant" aspect of the game. Not.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thanks for the lesson on writing. I'll try to remember that the next time Shaghnessy calls someone a "piece of junk" or a "sack of sh*t."
ReplyDeleteHoly Cross must be so proud.
That book was used by non-Red Sox fans to attach an identity no Red Sox fan appreciated. It was used to ridicule us and thank God its finally obsolete. No self-respecting fan should touch that book. Living at the west coast, I'm often asked if I had read that book or watched Fever Pitch. No and No are my answers.
ReplyDeleteOh OB, you're so obtuse it is almost cute. So now you're implying that Red Sox fans are so stupid they couldn't possibly understand the significance of the Red Sox championship drought without Dan Shaughnessy to guide them?
ReplyDeleteFans sometimes boo. Stop the presses.
"Opening Day was an SOS to the front office." I'm presuming Shank Shaughnessy means that Bob Kraft should have overruled Belichick and Scott Pioli on Deion Branch. The problme is that doiing so stabs into the economic system that is a key to the Patriots' success, an economic system that [i]ruthlessly maintains a strong "middle class" in the team so that there is no huge salary and performance gap up and down the roster.[/i] Overpaying to sign Deion Branch screws up your whole cap structure. This is what the Indianapolis Colts do and is why they're always struggling on defense - smart teams [i][b]never[/i][/b] overpay role players like kickers - [i]will anyone besides Steve DeOssie and Fred Smerlas get it about overpaying Adam Vinitiari?[/i] - or wide receivers.
ReplyDeleteShank Shaughnessy looks like he's stealing Bully Borgie's shtick.
And who did Shaughnessy call a sack of bleep? Where's the tape, the quote from a reliable source, the context?
ReplyDeleteDon't give me some jive about a defunct radio station or a quote on a Web site, either. And spare me that nonsense that quotes him as saying it BEFORE the Red Sox acquired Ortiz, as has been mentioned often.
As for the book, in Red Sox lore, it is a classic, no matter how much you don't like him, want to slap him, or think you have a better grasp on team history. Someone who brags about never reading it merely parades his ignorance.
And as for booing, if Madden was doing the Pats game last week and the three time Super Bowl champs were booed, for the first time in four or five years, he would damned sure mention it.
Now, as for the suggesting that I am "implying that Red Sox fans are so stupid they couldn't possibly understand the significance of the Red Sox championship drought without Dan Shaughnessy" I's not sure where that comes from. I imply nothing of the kind. I do state, without equivocation, that the Curse book is an important work about a franchise which, at the time the book was written, was notorious for years of uttter failure interrupted by falling tragically short in its best years.
Bore me, Bruce. Shaughnessy made the Ortiz comment on Jan. 4, 2003, on WWZN radio. You know it, and we all know it.
ReplyDeleteLet's put it another way: Bruce Allen has been running that quote on his website for 3 years. How long would it have taken for the Globe/Shaughnessy to hit him with a lawsuit if it were false? He said it. Live with it.
And of course you continue to ignore the Offerman prose because, of course, it is right there in the Globe archives. You could even pull it up on the microfiche. HAHAHAHA
And you continue to make a fool of yourself by trying to pass off Shaughnessy's "book" as an important tome. It is poorly written fluff, and is already fading into the vast abyss of pulp where it belongs.
Give OB credit for one thing ... he seems to have finally gotten smart enough to post early in the morning instead of during the down time between early-edition deadlines on Morrissey Blvd.
ReplyDeleteSeth Mnookin, in "Feeding the Monster": "Shaughnessy's book focused almost exclusively... on the Red Sox's misery, as he repeated many of the inaccuracies that had hardened into perceived fact.... Shaughnessy ignored the many problems of Tom Yawkey's ownership of the team, even going so far as to whitewash Yawkey's troubled history with black ballplayers."
ReplyDeleteYup, it's a classic all right.