I love anything that shines light inside Fort Foxborough.Got any names? Got any proof of contracts / payments from the team?
This is why I love “Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times,” a new book by New York Times Magazine chief national correspondent Mark Leibovich, scheduled to be released on Tuesday.
Unearthing truths from Gillette Stadium is almost impossible for local reporters. The Patriot PR Industrial Complex is a perfect model for keeping things in-house. Half the folks who cover the team are working for the team
...and much of the other half are too fearful or beaten-down to discover anything. Years covering the Patriots are like dog years. Reporters wear down and lose their will to live. How many times can a reporter hear Bill Belichick say, “It’s a football decision,’’ or “We’re on to Cincinnati,’’ before he/she stops asking for answers. This is followed, of course, by the chorus of angry Patriots fans wondering why anyone would dare ask Bill anything.Would that include your line of questioning from last month?
Into this mix comes Leibovich, a homegrown (Newton) Patriots fan, a responsible adult (interesting comment there, isn't it? - ed.), and serious national reporter for the vaunted Times. The author somehow coaxed Tom Brady, Bob Kraft, Jerry Jones, and even Donald Trump into cooperating with his four-year, part-time project to plumb the inner workings of the Patriots and all things NFL. The result is a 349-page grenade guaranteed to rattle cages in Foxborough, Dallas, and at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan.It should make for some fun reading, and the rest of the column reads like he got an advance copy from Leibovich. My initial take - one part truth, one part gossip. Either way, it's a major error for anyone connected to the Patriots to give Leibovich this kind of fodder, unless they're all at a point where they don't give a flying fuck anymore, since the dynasty is on its last legs. It's possible Leibovich has an axe to grind, or he's just another scumbag journalist, but right now I can't tell, not knowing his background. Time will tell.
Note this, however - it's early Christmas for Shank, because he can use / hijack the work of someone else to do the dirty work for him. Scumbag Globe journalism at it's 'finest'.
Shank's Twitter followers loved the column - for real!
The Boston Globe would do ANYTHING to help see the demise of the Pats. That's not journalism but then again, Globe Sports is more of a Teen Vogue than anything else now.
— Jeff Fuller (@JefFullerMyself) September 1, 2018
Wicked hard would be my guess!Seriously Dan... you can tell us: how hard were you when you heard that from him?? Be honest.
— Tom McNaughton (@tmcnaughton33) September 1, 2018
Odd not surprised by those involved, especially since Dan has always had a hard on for pooingthe Patriots any chance he got. Globe is the pillar of fake news.
— Jazz Hands (@jsm020) September 1, 2018
1 comment:
Reading one of the previews - in which Bills owner Terry Pegula is knocked for asking about Donald Trump reaction to the stupid player protest movement - indicates Leibovich isn't about unearthing the truth as much as justifying attacking people. As you note the clips by Shank indicate the book is part gossip, and one supposed piece in the book is that the Belichick-Brady-Kraft relationship is "fractured" - which damages the book's credibility as the premise is just a rehash of the Wickersham piece unsupported by actual evidence.
In all, the book comes across as just a gossip piece without a point beyond gratuitous criticism. That Shank endorses it shows there is a credibility problem.
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