Volin, Owners, Sources, and Other Stuff. Maybe.

PBDWake

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Actual quote: "When Stephen A Smith said it last week, that lends credence to it". Everything you need to know right there.
 

Ed Hillel

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What a fucking moron. I assume a guy like Doyell is just trolling, but Volin strikes me more as just really fucking stupid. He really believes this shit.

Does anyone at the Globe do any vetting? Or are these hires intentional?
 

PBDWake

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This is honestly the most embarrassing interview I've ever listened to live. This is worse than a Daily Show segment. They went after Brady because his reputation is the one that could stand the hit.
 

TheoShmeo

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I'm glad there's a thread in this forum dedicated to Volin.
 
His performance during DG has been consistently awful.  He, like John Tomase and the CHB, knows in his gut that the Pats are guilty, and everything stems from that.  Not that he is able to articulate why other than the "if the balls were messed with, you can bet your sweet bippy that Tom (and Bill for that matter) knew every detail about how it was being done and directed it."
 
And, of course, Volin doesn't want to appear to be a Pats toadie because the same might interrupt his national career trajectory.
 
That Volin has been awful on DG has one silver lining.  It's not as if we're seeing a terrific football writer suddenly ruin things with a bad performance on a off field story.  Volin's columns, particularly his Wednesday analysis piece, provide literally no new insights.  The contrast to what Greg Bedard produced every Wednesday when he was in that position could not be more extreme.  If Bedard was shitting the bed to this extent on DG, I would be severely disappointed. 
 
Instead, Volin is part of a larger disappointment, and even resignation, about the Boston Globe.  That no one at the Globe has had the guts and brains to produce articles along the lines of Sally Jenkins, Dan Wetzel and the other columnists in other cities who were ahead of the curve on Roger Goodell's complete mishandling of DG, from start to the present, bespeaks to the Globe's overall weakness.  Volin fits right in, sadly.  
 
PS: For those listening to the WEEI interview, did anyone squarely put to Volin that holding back smoking evidence until now would be incredibly risky in that it will almost certainly, if not actually certainly, not be entertained by Berman?  Did anyone ask squarely WHY the NFL would have held back the evidence until now?
 

Ed Hillel

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Wow, he made a salient point. Says the biggest PR mistake was releasing the Wells context all at once, rather than piecemeal. He's right with that.
 

Rusty13

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He's on D&C right now hacking it up and feeding conspiracy theories about how it's inconceivable that BB wasn't implicated and may have been "protected" by the league. He actually resorts to "Well Steven A. Smith think so!" as a his sole source of credibility for this theory. He has become so pathetic.
 

Gorton Fisherman

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Ed Hillel said:
What a fucking moron. I assume a guy like Doyell is just trolling, but Volin strikes me more as just really fucking stupid. He really believes this shit.
Gotta agree. Guys like Shaughnessy and Borges are irritating trolls, but they aren't stupid. Volin on the other hand just seems flat out dumb. He has all the right troll instincts, but is just too stupid the actually be good at it.
 

dcmissle

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Rusty13 said:
He's on D&C right now hacking it up and feeding conspiracy theories about how it's inconceivable that BB wasn't implicated and may have been "protected" by the league. He actually resorts to "Well Steven A. Smith think so!" as a his sole source of credibility for this theory. He has become so pathetic.
Well splendid. The old saw that the NFL went light on BB on Spygate because he has files implicating the NFL on everything short of the JFK hit.

X Files crap. That is what he is channeling, and not even Myt can save him now.

Done and done with this guy.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Gorton Fisherman said:
Gotta agree. Guys like Shaughnessy and Borges are irritating trolls, but they aren't stupid. Volin on the other hand just seems flat out dumb. He has all the right troll instincts, but is just too stupid the actually be good at it.
 
I've seen saying this for months. Volin is stupid. Flat out, too-dumb-to-come-in-from-the-rain stupid. A troll is usually smart enough to pick his spots and be effective; Borges and Shank are a lot of unpleasant things, but stupid isn't one of them.
 
You can smell the oil burning when Simple Ben tries to think.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Rusty13 said:
He's on D&C right now hacking it up and feeding conspiracy theories about how it's inconceivable that BB wasn't implicated and may have been "protected" by the league. He actually resorts to "Well Steven A. Smith think so!" as a his sole source of credibility for this theory. He has become so pathetic.
Were this to be true, it would make the league look even more stupid and incompetent than it already does look, which is saying something.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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The only thing Volin has over a guy like CHB is that CHB has the talent to produce great work but usually chooses to troll instead. Volin either doesn't know or can't do any better.

The next Volin article someone recommends to me on merit will be the first.
 

joe dokes

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Super Nomario, on 16 Aug 2015 - 2:03 PM, said:
Super Nomario said:
To be fair, if you're Volin, and an NFL owner comes to you with this, you pretty much have to print it, don't you? I don't really begrudge him, and I suspect that it is an accurate reflection of how many in the game feel about the Patriots. He probably goes a bit farther than he needs to, but I'm more frustrated that this is the perception than that Volin wrote about it. Does any reporter keep that under his hat?
 
 
Sure you run with it. But not as evidence for what the owner says, but as evidence for what it is......a desperate attempt to prop up a humpty dumpty case.
 

MuppetAsteriskTalk

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Rusty13 said:
He's on D&C right now hacking it up and feeding conspiracy theories about how it's inconceivable that BB wasn't implicated and may have been "protected" by the league. He actually resorts to "Well Steven A. Smith think so!" as a his sole source of credibility for this theory. He has become so pathetic.
 
He tries to give Smith's story more credibility by suggesting that because the phone story was true this must also be true because it likely came from the same source.
 
The problem with that is the phone story was twisted to paint Brady in the worst possible light, and the source is the same source that leaked a dozen other lies and half truths. The reason they had to resort to using SAS as the mouthpiece was because they already burned all the usual league mouthpieces.
 
Only a moron or somebody with an agenda and no integrity would run with this the way Volin has.
 

yep

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Volin seems rather incurious though.
 
First NFL-side leak was 11 of 12 under by 2 pounds. Wrong.
 
Then it was Brady wanted transcripts sealed. Wrong.
 
Then it was Brady didn't admit talking about Deflategate with equipment guy in hearing. Wrong.
 
Those aren't arguable things, where one can lean either way--they are 100% false statements.
 
Now we have this claim. And Volin didn't think to question it a bit more?
 
People who misunderstand the law of averages, such as those who think a roulette wheel is more likely to hit black after seven reds in a row, sometimes extend this misunderstanding to things that have nothing whatever to do with statistical averages. 
 
If none of your spaghetti is sticking to the wall, that doesn't mean it's undercooked, it just means you need throw more of it, and harder.
 

nighthob

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MuppetAsteriskTalk said:
He tries to give Smith's story more credibility by suggesting that because the phone story was true this must also be true because it likely came from the same source.
 
The problem with that is the phone story was twisted to paint Brady in the worst possible light, and the source is the same source that leaked a dozen other lies and half truths. The reason they had to resort to using SAS as the mouthpiece was because they already burned all the usual league mouthpieces.
 
Only a moron or somebody with an agenda and no integrity would run with this the way Volin has.
Fixed that for you.
 

lexrageorge

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So, today, Volin is wondering why Belichick got off so easy on DeflateGate, using the fact that the Falcons' President was "punished" despite not being directly involved in the pumping in of artificial crowd noise:
 
a.) Wells went out of his way to completely exonerate Belichick.  My guess is that no matter what the NFL Bylaws state, Belichick's lawyer would have a field day in court for his client being punished after being officially cleared. 
 
b.) Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, while employees of the Patriots, were not employees of Belichick.  
 
c.) The people that did pump in the crowd noise were, you know, actually employees of McKay.  
 
d.) McKay's punishment was that he missed a couple of committee meetings during the NFL offseason.  Which means that McKay missed a handful of free meals in a 5-star hotel.  I think he'll get over it. 
 
It's amazing that Volin does not get any of the above points.  The Globe's decline is accelerating at a rather exponential rate. 
 

Harry Hooper

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lexrageorge said:
So, today, Volin is wondering why Belichick got off so easy on DeflateGate, using the fact that the Falcons' President was "punished" despite not being directly involved in the pumping in of artificial crowd noise:
 
a.) Wells went out of his way to completely exonerate Belichick.  My guess is that no matter what the NFL Bylaws state, Belichick's lawyer would have a field day in court for his client being punished after being officially cleared. 
 
b.) Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, while employees of the Patriots, were not employees of Belichick.  
 
c.) The people that did pump in the crowd noise were, you know, actually employees of McKay.  
 
d.) McKay's punishment was that he missed a couple of committee meetings during the NFL offseason.  Which means that McKay missed a handful of free meals in a 5-star hotel.  I think he'll get over it. 
 
It's amazing that Volin does not get any of the above points.  The Globe's decline is accelerating at a rather exponential rate. 
 
 
To quote Volin's hero Sen. Joe McCarthy, "I don't answer accusations. I make them."
 

jimbobim

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Super Nomario said:
Jeff Howe is killing Volin on Twitter for blocking him. Gloves off. Saying Volin has been covering the team from his couch for the last month.
The couch one was great, but this this one was a wonderful zinger in my opinion 
 
Jeff Howe ‏@jeffphowe  10h10 hours ago
Jeff Howe retweeted Sean Glade
Let's not use "professional" too loosely
Jeff Howe added,
 




Sean Glade @GladeSean
@jeffphowe I imagine it's far less.common and more serious when another professional blocks you though lol





11 retweets45 favorites
 
 

PedroKsBambino

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Volin is perhaps the biggest local loser in this thing.  He's completely alienated the fanbase, while also showing himself to be a lazy journalist.  If you have CHB's talent and you spend a decade trying before you shift into full-bait mode you can get away with that combo.  But Volin has neither.

I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone by end of this football season.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Nah, he won't be booted. The Globe doesn't give a shit about the quality of their sports coverage. I mean, Cafardo is still employed for crissakes.
 
Volin is not only lazy, but he's as thick as two short planks.
 

Van Everyman

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Cafardo and CHB have tenure tho. I agree w PKB – Volin has been on the beat only a few years and may be vulnerable.

Volin's laziness has come in two guises – tweets to the effect of the Kraft Foundation one and articles that have intentionally trolled the Boston audience ("Hey guys, Brady still might be guilty!"). Both are pretty indefensible and he's been guilty of both numerous times during all of this.

Fwiw, the post upthread was a tweet of his where he was agreeing with some yahoo who was saying that the DFG mess was distracting us from Hillary's transgressions. A new low I thought.
 

Granite Sox

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I've been noticing Jim McBride's byline more and more on the Globe's Patriots coverage. He's been doing some decent reporting. I think the big mistake Volin is making is bringing his hotakez social media trolling into the workplace. It's corrupting his objectivity, integrity, and work ethic.

More McBride, please.
 

amarshal2

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I cannot say enough bad things about Volin. I had the thought about the Kraft foundation thing before he did -- googled around and figured it out in my own in 5 minutes. Seeing somebody who is paid to not make that mistake blow it that spectacularly was incredible. Hearing Howe accuse him of pure laziness is extremely unsurprising and icing on the cake.

Why would anyone read him or follow him on Twitter? He deserves the no link CHB treatment around here.
 

yecul

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Does he get clicks and attention? I guess I'm missing the relevance of his quality from their standpoint.
 

soxfan121

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yecul said:
Does he get clicks and attention? I guess I'm missing the relevance of his quality from their standpoint.
 
Yours was post 134 about him. So yeah, he gets attention. And believe me, he and his employer don't care that 95% of those 134 are people either hating him or wondering why he doesn't jump in a woodchipper.
 

PedroKsBambino

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soxfan121 said:
 
Yours was post 134 about him. So yeah, he gets attention. And believe me, he and his employer don't care that 95% of those 134 are people either hating him or wondering why he doesn't jump in a woodchipper.
 
They do however care that 1 of those 134 is mine, and I will never click on anything that his associated with him.  And I'm sure I am not alone.

There is in fact a relationship between quality and clicks, and while not 100% direct, or 100% instant, his employer will care because he will not generate the pageviews they want if many serious sports fans do not take him seriously.   CHB is so good at trolling that he generates clicks and that gives him some protection---guys like Volin shouldn't be judged on that same standard, as he isn't good enough to suck people into that game.
 

nattysez

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PedroKsBambino said:
 
They do however care that 1 of those 134 is mine, and I will never click on anything that his associated with him.  And I'm sure I am not alone.
There is in fact a relationship between quality and clicks, and while not 100% direct, or 100% instant, his employer will care because he will not generate the pageviews they want if many serious sports fans do not take him seriously.   CHB is so good at trolling that he generates clicks and that gives him some protection---guys like Volin shouldn't be judged on that same standard, as he isn't good enough to suck people into that game.
 
No one in their right mind reads Eric Wilbur, yet he's still employed by the Boston.com.  I think hoping that Boston.com/The Globe will rid itself of Volin is probably going to leave you disappointed.  
 
While he's not a Globie, the fact that John Tomase is not only still writing sports for a living in the Boston area, but still writes about the Pats on occasion, absolutely blows my mind.  I'm heartened by the fact that the comments after each of his articles is a bloodbath.
 

soxfan121

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PedroKsBambino said:
 
They do however care that 1 of those 134 is mine, and I will never click on anything that his associated with him.  And I'm sure I am not alone.
There is in fact a relationship between quality and clicks, and while not 100% direct, or 100% instant, his employer will care because he will not generate the pageviews they want if many serious sports fans do not take him seriously.   CHB is so good at trolling that he generates clicks and that gives him some protection---guys like Volin shouldn't be judged on that same standard, as he isn't good enough to suck people into that game.
 
Sorry, but they most definitely do not care about you. For all of "you" - and you're not alone - the numbers of people who DO engage with Volin (or other media people you "hate") vastly outnumber "you". 
 
The solution is for "you" to support media that isn't trolling for attention/clicks. To click on those sites and writers you would prefer to have a bigger role and voice than Volin. Because it is the comparison that matters to the The Globe (or any for profit media company). The great local example is Doug Kyed* at NESN, who has worked his way to his current gig by not engaging in "hot takes" and solidly doing his job. For him to take the next step, "you" have to read his stuff, re-tweet him, engage him, promote him, give him page clicks at Volin's expense.
 
I'll stop there but I've got a lot more to say about how to support (or not support) your favorite local media. Suffice to say I think many people are more interested in complaining about the known hacks than changing their habits and "ditching" the Globe, permanently.

If you really want to hurt Volin, find the Kyed alternative. And tell your friends to do the same thing. Not your SoSH friends. Your casual sports fan friends who don't know that the guy to follow is the NESN reporter, not the Globe reporter. 

*Note: Jeff Howe is a perfectly acceptable alternative to Kyed, locally. 
 

soxfan121

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nattysez said:
 
No one in their right mind reads Eric Wilbur, yet he's still employed by the Boston.com.  I think hoping that Boston.com/The Globe will rid itself of Volin is probably going to leave you disappointed.  
 
While he's not a Globie, the fact that John Tomase is not only still writing sports for a living in the Boston area, but still writes about the Pats on occasion, absolutely blows my mind.  I'm heartened by the fact that the comments after each of his articles is a bloodbath.
 
First, by reading or enjoying "the bloodbath" you're one of the people supporting his continued employment. The click counter doesn't ask whether you're there for the bloodbath or the content. They don't care, so long as you click. 

Second, this attitude is exactly why he still has a job at a local media outlet. The multipage threads about people SoSH hates...and the threads that die out quickly on people like Alex Speier or Kyed (see above) is proof that it's more about the complaint than it is the desire for "good" media coverage. 
 

PedroKsBambino

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soxfan121 said:
 
Sorry, but they most definitely do not care about you. For all of "you" - and you're not alone - the numbers of people who DO engage with Volin (or other media people you "hate") vastly outnumber "you". 
 
The solution is for "you" to support media that isn't trolling for attention/clicks. To click on those sites and writers you would prefer to have a bigger role and voice than Volin. Because it is the comparison that matters to the The Globe (or any for profit media company). The great local example is Doug Kyed* at NESN, who has worked his way to his current gig by not engaging in "hot takes" and solidly doing his job. For him to take the next step, "you" have to read his stuff, re-tweet him, engage him, promote him, give him page clicks at Volin's expense.
 
I'll stop there but I've got a lot more to say about how to support (or not support) your favorite local media. Suffice to say I think many people are more interested in complaining about the known hacks than changing their habits and "ditching" the Globe, permanently.

If you really want to hurt Volin, find the Kyed alternative. And tell your friends to do the same thing. Not your SoSH friends. Your casual sports fan friends who don't know that the guy to follow is the NESN reporter, not the Globe reporter. 

*Note: Jeff Howe is a perfectly acceptable alternative to Kyed, locally. 
 
You do not seem to understand the Globe's business model---they most certainly do care about people not reading their writers.   They care about both absolute numbers and relative ones, because that is part of the pricing model and spend analysis over time.
 
Had you read and thought about my comments before spewing out your hot takez response above, you perhaps would have recognized that one of my points was precisely not to support writers who simply bait their audience for clicks. You have no idea what I suggest to my friends about who they read, so please step away from the ledge and stop suggesting that you do.
 
We would all benefit from you dialing back the rhetoric, taking the time to read posts before responding, and trying to live up to the standard you suggest we should aspire to in writers; your post is 100% Volin and you should be trying for better than that.
 

nattysez

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soxfan121 said:
 
First, by reading or enjoying "the bloodbath" you're one of the people supporting his continued employment. The click counter doesn't ask whether you're there for the bloodbath or the content. They don't care, so long as you click. 

Second, this attitude is exactly why he still has a job at a local media outlet. The multipage threads about people SoSH hates...and the threads that die out quickly on people like Alex Speier or Kyed (see above) is proof that it's more about the complaint than it is the desire for "good" media coverage. 
 
In my defense:
 
(1) The only actual Tomase articles I've read recently were the one he wrote on the Pats and a couple on the Sox that were linked on Twitter without revealing the author.
(2) While I don't follow Tomase on Twitter, Rob Bradford tweets Tomase articles into my timeline frequently, so I'm mostly judging people's reaction to Tomase based on how people reply to him on Twitter when he tweets out his articles.
(3) I am acutely aware of the need to not give jerks clicks.  I think I've clicked on fewer than 5 CHB articles in the past couple of years, and have only clicked on Eric Wilber's drivel by accident a couple of times.  
 

amarshal2

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I don't have anything interesting to say about Kyed, Reiss or Howe worth reading on an internet message board (they're all reasonably good beat writers!!!!) but I am most certainly following them on Twitter, clicking on their links and avoiding Volin like the plague.
 

soxfan121

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PedroKsBambino said:
 
You do not seem to understand the Globe's business model---they most certainly do care about people not reading their writers.   They care about both absolute numbers and relative ones, because that is part of the pricing model and spend analysis over time.
 
Had you read and thought about my comments before spewing out your hot takez response above, you perhaps would have recognized that one of my points was precisely not to support writers who simply bait their audience for clicks. You have no idea what I suggest to my friends about who they read, so please step away from the ledge and stop suggesting that you do.
 
We would all benefit from you dialing back the rhetoric, taking the time to read posts before responding, and trying to live up to the standard you suggest we should aspire to in writers; your post is 100% Volin and you should be trying for better than that.
 
Heated agreement is terrific, ain't it? I'm sorry I wasn't clearer that those seeking quality are outnumbered by those who lazily go to the "Globe guy" for their news & analysis. You seem to have taken "you" personally, which I was trying to avoid with the quotations. The plural general, not the individual specific. So, I not only recognized your point, I amplified it and gave what I thought were concrete suggestions for how WE, people who want quality sports coverage, can make clear to The Globe that their continued employment of Volin will be unprofitable. 

I think we'd all benefit from not making things personal when it can be avoided. We should all be trying for better than name calling and hot takez.
 

joe dokes

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In his story about the NFL's brief, Volin says:
 
 
Under an expedited schedule agreed to by the NFL and NFLPA, the NFLPA’s response brief is due on Dec. 7, the NFL’s reply brief on Dec. 21, oral arguments would likely take place in January, and a panel of three judges will likely make a decision sometime after the Super Bowl in February. 
 
 
Didn't the 2nd Circuit explicitly say that the argument would be no earlier than Feb 1?
 

Rusty13

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joe dokes said:
In his story about the NFL's brief, Volin says:
 
 
 
Didn't the 2nd Circuit explicitly say that the argument would be no earlier than Feb 1?
 
Yup.  Unless the 2nd Circuit signed off on this agreement.  Although I would think it would be unlikely the Court would expedite a matter they already ordered would take place no sooner than a particular date and mess with a likely already filled January docket.

 
 
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today allowed a joint request to expedite the appeals process. However, oral arguments “shall be heard as early as the week of February 1, 2016,” according to a court order released today.
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots_nfl/the_blitz/2015/09/appeals_court_sets_early_february_target_for_nfl_vs_tom_brady
 

joe dokes

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I wish Volin (and others) would stop referring to Collins as having a "mysterious illness." Just because YOU don't know what it is, it's not "mysterious." If you have a source that says doctors don't know what it is, *that's* a "mysterious illness."

And somehow, in a rundown of the highs and lows of this year's rookie class, Volin managed not to mention Brown, Andrews, Mason or Jackson.
 

Van Everyman

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Is Volin just off this week? Football Notes column is written by Michael Whitmer – with no mention of Volin being on vacation or anything.

Edit: ok, Volin just tweeted that Whitmer is filling in. Bummer.
 
Last edited:

TheoShmeo

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Volin with this hot take today:

Between the Patriots dropping Brady’s base salaries to $1 million the next two seasons, and the release on Friday of an 8,000-word opus debunking the top 15 myths about Deflategate on “The Wells Report In Context,” the Patriots sure seem like a team that is bracing for Brady to lose the appeal and serve his four-game suspension. We applaud the Patriots’ attempt at transparency, but if they’re so passionate about their innocence and setting the record straight, it’s time to stop barking and take the NFL to court . . .
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/03/12/free-agency-kicked-off-with-bang/iWMbsRFRioTNAKOoGjJi1I/story.html

It would be nice if Ben told us how exactly the Pats could take the NFL to court and whether he thinks they have even a one percent chance of winning. Everything I have read has been consistent with the notion that as frustrating as it might be, Malden High School has a better chance of beating the Pats than the Pats have at beating the NFL on this.

But...but...if the Pats were serious, they would piss gasoline into a fan while holding a match....
 
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Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach write.
Those who can't write, do journalism.
Those who can't write or do journalism, cover sports.
 

TheoShmeo

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Fixing that last line:

"Those who can't write or do journalism, cover sports at the BOSTON GLOBE AND THE BOSTON HERALD."

Sally Jenkins, Michael Hurley, Dan Wetzel and a few others have managed to cover sports and not embarrass themselves on this story.