Plus, this brought out the most lame-o names, such as “Cheatriots” and “Belicheat”. Ya know what? Every team did it! But Goodell decided to hound on Belichick, and since the media already hates him, lazy-asses that they are, helped created the media firestorm and soap opera.

Hey, let’s turn the NFL into the WWE!

If certain information circulating out there can be believed (and who knows what to believe these days, reall?)–then Goodell told BB and the Pats to shut up about Spygate and to not respond beyond the issuance of their original press release the week the story broke.

However, that didn’t stop Goodell from legitimizing nearly every crazy accusation made about the Pats (mic’ing up linebackers, messing with the coach-to-QB communications, etc.) by addressing them on national TV and NOT issuing flat-out denials; and it also didn’t stop him from going on XM radio the day of the Super Bowl and threatening a “1-year suspension” for Belichick if Tomase’s story turned out to be true; and it also didn’t prevent him from openly mocking Belichick’s “rules misinterpretation” excuse after the Matt Walsh meeting the other day. Sure, I don’t think ANY of us believe that BB really misinterpreted the rule, but shouldn’t the Commissioner have stuck to his “we agree to disagree on this one” line that he’d used before? Instead, after the Matt Walsh meeting, he openly mocked BB and said “I never believed him when he said he misinterpreted the rule”.

The NFL needs a Commissioner, not a spotlight-craving grandstander like this guy, who when faced with his first real P.R. crisis (you know, aside from some of the league’s players torturing and murdering dogs while running illegal gambling rings out of their backyard; or other players being involved in multiple crimes that resulted in people being shot)–he totally mishandled it and created a “Watergate”-type cloud over the game that may never fully be lifted.

Soap opera indeed!

It should be called “As Goodell’s World Turns”

I feel so insulted, as a huge Pats fan, I have now joined the group that will never read the Boston Herald again. They have dis-respected this team.

Also, I have to give Belichick a lot of credit for dealing with all of this crap. He doesn’t even get respect from the commissioner, who I think in the matter of 1 year, has turned the NFL into a soap opera. Heck, it took Bud Selig 10 years to turn MLB into a soap opera with the whole steroid thing.

(No really, a guy who knows a guy who knows this other guy heard it from the guy’s friend’s girlfriend. That’s plenty for the Herald to run the story, right?)

Tomase and Callahan….. do the math…adds up to 3 strikes and yer out.

So they deliberately run such an explosive article based solely on what Tomase essentially remembers hearing once from a source who heard it from someone’s brother-in-law while waiting in line at Dunkin’ Donuts. Simply astounding.

Also, don’t kid yourself, Tomase was hoping to leverage this story in order to grab a more secure, better paying gig at an electronic media outlet. Of course, I have no sources for this speculation but, what the hell? It’s gotta be true, right?

Secondly, the Herald has to know that for every comment in its comment section on the Tomase apology there has to be 1000 other people who feel the same way and just do not have the time or energy to dignify his schlock with a response. Even the Herald management cannot possibly be blind to the fact that Tomase apologized for being caught, not for actually fabricating the story in an effort to be first. He has no remorse for the timing, or for that matter the content of what he wrote. He is only sad that it turned out no further evidence came out that would legitimize the unsubstantiated rumors he based his “story” on.

Lastly, I do not need Tomase to name his source or sources because it is clear he had none. What I mean by that is there was no tape. No one was ever willing to go on the record saying there was a tape because it never existed. Yet Tomase ran with the story anyway. He never saw a tape or spoke to anyone who ever had seen the tape…because the tape never existed!!!! Therefore there was no source. For this he should be fired, not let to resign quietly on his own terms, but fired. That is assuming the Herald wants to keep any of its journalistic integrity…which by their actions so far they don’t. For an institution that royal screwed up there does not seem to be any internal anger or outrage. I find that most unsettling.

He wrote this smear piece based on “rumors” that he’d heard and out of fear that he’d get “scooped”.

My journalism professors, if any of them were actually dead, would be rolling over in their graves right now.

I’m sorry….you simply cannot keep your job when you pull something like this. You can’t.

The Herald no doubt will reassign him eventually, since there’s no way he’ll be welcome down in Foxboro any time soon.

I wonder when Tony Mazz writes his next article blaming Tomase’s sources for this whole debacle?