It’s the circumstantial evidence mounting against JT. At this point the only way he proves his previous transgressions were an abberation would be for him to do a solid reporting job and on top of that break legitimate stories ahead of his competition.

And if Tomase does indeed slide over to the Sox beat don’t think there may not be some awkwardness there. I don’t believe Manny is Captain Oblivious as he is portrayed by some local media and is likely familiar with that ‘05 column.

Don’t look now, folks, but the same guy that brought you Matt Walsh on the eve of the Super Bowl is headed to cover the Sox. What could possibly go wrong?! After all, moving a roundly disliked writer from one sport to another worked for Shaughnessy, didn’t it?

First off, I never even mentioned the ‘manny’ article that Tomase wrote. I’ve never read it and probably will never read it. You might be confusing me with someone else.

Secondly, your ‘heroes’ statement should be directed more towards a child or adolescent. I’m 32 years old and don’t consider any Boston athlete one of my ’sports heros.’ That’s fine if they are for you, however.
What Tomase writes or what any other writer writes has absolutely no effect on my rooting passion or interest for that team. I just really enjoy rooting for and following the Patriots everyday and the red sox to a little bit lesser of an extent.

I just thought it was a lousy thing for him to do, at the lousiest possible time. If Tomase was blatantly lied to, purposely setup to fail, or some other unfortunate things happened to cause him to write that story, then fine…i’ll let it go and would completely forget about it. But apparently what that took place was an over eager writer, who might have had worthy intentions at the start, but who was willing to cut corners to make sure his piece was published first, ensuring his time in the national spotlight. Apparently absolute accuracy wasn’t as high up on the list. Him releasing that story, at the time that he did, shows me that he’s not a guy who holds himself to the highest possible journalistic standard. He was willing to sell out so he could cash in on the opportunity of writing a hugely impactful story on the eve of America’s biggest, most celebrated sporting event. It sucks that circumstances so (for lack of a better word) dumb and something so bush league had to take away from the superbowl. But, apparently it’s okay for a columnist to ’stir the pot’…just so we have something controverisal to talk about on WEEI and read about in the papers. Which leads me to #3…

Third, I understand how the industry works and what the job of a columnist is. I’m sorry, but in his industry, like in all industries, there has to be some level of accountability. That’s why people are pissed. If I screw up at work because I was dumb, careless or was willing to cut corners, you’re damn right i’m going to face the consequences. I’d fully expect my co-workers and boss to be pissed.

As a side note, I’m not blaming Tomase for the ENTIRE mess. I’m blaming him for spoiling/overshadowing what should have been a great couple of days for the Patriots as they were going for 19-0, and for getting the story WRONG.

Honestly, I just didn’t like the column. Plain and simple. If you can’t handle that and choose to defend Tomase, that’s up to you. I’ll respect it but won’t agree with it. I still won’t read the guy ever again. It’s not a public excecution. I’m just not going to read him. I can’t believe you’ll actually be cheering for a guy like that. I have to wonder where that inspiration comes from…

As for the “Manny transgression”, that was an opinion piece by Tomase. It was unpopular then and he took a pretty good beating for it. Funny though how much of what Tomase wrote at the time about Manny being a high maintenance pain in the ass has come to be true.

What I don’t get is how people take it so personal when a sportswriter or sports columnist writes a negative story about one of their sports heroes. It’s the writer’s job to stir the pot and break stories and tweak the teams and athletes they cover (unless they’re writing a straight game story). It’s not their job to route along with the fans for the hometeam. If you can’t see that Manny is a spoiled brat then you’re just letting your love affair with the athlete cloud your judgement. I am a Manny fan because I think he’s a great hitter. I also know that, on a daily basis, he does things that drive his manager, his teammates and the fans crazy, and if he were a .250 hitter he would have been out of baseball a long time ago.

Sports, and sports writing, is entertainment. Nothing more. Yes Tomase screwed up, and the lynchmob has extracted far more than its pound of flesh. But please try to remember that the genesis of the whole affair was that the Patriots (a team I have been a fan of for 30 years) were caught cheating. I don’t like it and it hurts to say, but that is a fact. It has become very convenient to blame Tomase for the whole mess and be done with it, “Off with his head!”, and simply absolve BB and The Patriots, and somehow paint them as the victim. It’s the tail wagging the dog. Paul Simon was right: “People hear what they want to hear and they disregard the rest.”

Finally, spare me with the term “dramatics”. Dramatic would be saying something like Tomase is “dead to me” and what he did was “unforgivable.” I hope that when one of you guys screws up at work (and we all have) you won’t have to worry about a million people knowing about it and all of them standing outside your door waiting to drag you in to the street for a public execution. I’m not even religious but I can certainly forgive a guy for a very public mistake and try to let him move with his life and his career.

I hope Tomase gets another chance. I’m cheering for the guy.

Will never read Tomase again - and yeah, I dislike the guy but mostly for what he stands for. It was surprising that in this era where print journalism is on the downswing journalists came to his defense when he has contributed to their downfall - being controversial doesn’t cut it anymore.

Regardless, with the Patriots it’s Mike Reiss/Gaspar then everybody else. Fans are still in good hands.