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Correction On Ron Borges

November 29, 2012 By

Yesterday, I wrote that Mr. Ron Borges ate dinner at Drew Bledsoe’s house, based on this tweet from Bledsoe:

This claim has since been clarified by Bledsoe:

 

So Mr. Borges didn’t in fact actually eat at Bledsoe’s house. He flew out to the Northwest to visit Bledsoe, but they actually dined in a restaurant.

Our apologies to Mr. Borges. BSMW regrets the error.

Now that we have that out of the way…

Of course, their own words indicates that they had/have a close relationship, and that was the ultimate point all along. I’m also sure that there is no chance that Mr. Borges contacted Bledsoe yesterday and asked him as a favor to change the Tweet.

Mr. Borges can split hairs all he likes (although there are media members – multiple – who INSIST that Mr. Borges was a dinner guest at Bledsoe’s home here years ago) while attempting to muddy the waters, but the larger point remains.

Yes, this is tiresome to go over again, but since Mr. Borges insists on trying to cloud the issue, it needs to be run through again.

That larger point is that Mr. Borges had a close personal relationship with Drew Bledsoe and that when Bill Belichick made the decision to stick with Tom Brady during the 2001 season, after Bledsoe was of the thinking that he would be given the chance to win his job back, Mr. Borges immediately went on the attack against Belichick, and hasn’t stopped since.

Mr. Borges has admitted publicly in the past that he advised Bledsoe on how to confront Belichick on the matter.

From Bledsoe Turned to Borges for Advice…

Michael Felger: How did Belichick lie? What did he say to Drew?
Mr. Borges: What Bledsoe said to him at the original meeting, when he was cleared to practice, and I know this firsthand, for a lot of reasons,
Felger: Why…you were sitting there on the couch?
Mr. Borges: I PREPARED THE GUY TO GO MEET HIM! Quite frankly!

Mr. Borges in the 11/22/2001 Boston Globe:

Why did the normally placid Bledsoe react so angrily this week after Belichick’s announcement that Brady was the starter for the remainder of the season “barring something unforeseen”? Bledsoe’s point of view is reflected in the comments of one source who has personal knowledge of Bledsoe’s thinking on the matter. That person said that Belichick looked Bledsoe “right in the face” and told him he’d get a fair chance. “Face to face . . .” said the source. “Where do you go from there?”

Wait…did Mr. Borges use himself as a source here? He admitted he prepared Bledsoe for this very showdown, so there’s no doubt he would’ve huddled up afterwards to go over how everything went down.

The entire column is shots at Belichick, and contains this all-time classic bit:

Belichick will not be so lucky. He doesn’t have [Jimmy] Johnson’s personality, which can be as jovial and charming as a snake oil salesman’s. Worse, this Patriot team isn’t going to win two Super Bowls any time soon.

Mr. Borges is an angry, increasingly irrelevant man. I’ve wasted enough time on him in the last two days.

Now everyone can get back to vilifying Rajon Rondo.

Filed Under: Ron Borges

Ron Borges Caught In Another Lie, Mazz Making Stuff Up, and Peter King’s Laughable Rationalization

November 28, 2012 By

Just another day in the world of the Boston sports media.

In the morning, we had Pete Sheppard taking on Ron Borges on the Dennis and Callahan Morning Show. Borges, as usual sounded like a raving madman, screaming, yelling and cursing on the air- getting bleeped out, shouting down any accusations or points made against him. As far as defenses go, its a reliable one, if you’re on the offensive and changing the talking points every two seconds, it’s going to be hard to build that stable case against you in the short time you have on the air.

Of course, the case against Borges was made a long time ago, and it has only been added to since.

One accusation that Sheppard made was that Borges had had dinner at Drew Bledsoe’s house, and how this closeness was part of the reason Borges turned on Bill Belichick so venomously when Belichick named Brady the starter even when Bledsoe was ready to return in 2001.

Borges went ballistic on Sheppard, screaming, asking what evidence he had of this supposed dinner, and when pressed on it yelled “NO I DIDN’T” and demanded again to have Sheppard reveal evidence.

Here’s your evidence, Ron: From Drew Bledsoe himself:

So there you go. Yet another documented case of Ron Borges lying.

Gerry Callahan was his usual loathsome self during the show,  at one point dropping into his whiny, feminine voice to say that Sheppard would now be wearing a fireman’s helmet to the games and leading the cheers of P-A-T-S, PATS!

When the topic of Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning throwing the ball on the Packers with five minutes to go came up, the goalposts were shifted again, instead of it being only the evil Patriots and Bill Belichick that do this, it became “we’re only concerned with Tom Brady and him getting hurt.”

In the afternoon, Tony Massarotti spent the afternoon yelling that Jermaine Cunningham was clearly much bigger than he was in previous seasons and that the suspension was definitely not for Adderall.  He presented absolutely zero evidence of this, and really,  how could he? How much is he around the team? I’m not convinced that he even watches the games.

Meanwhile, if you want to know about Adderall, and why NFL players might want to take it, and why it is banned, Tom E Curran has it all.

A GIS search of Cunningham shows no obvious changes in his body since joining the Patriots. Some modest increase in strength, but no Barry Bonds-like transformation. Yet Massarotti was screaming that if you didn’t see, it, you’re an idiot, a moron and just plain stupid.

I continue to be baffled as to way anyone who actually enjoys sports and their teams would listen to this type of programming willingly. I’m clearly old-school, maybe not this old school, but definitely from before the time when sports radio only existed to dump on the local teams 24/7.

The running-up-the-score hypocrisy will not die. Peter King in his MMQB, Tuesday Edition answered an email from a New England NFL fan:

BELICHICK DOES IT ALL THE TIME. COUGHLIN, NOT SO MUCH. “How about a team that is up by four touchdowns (38-10) with five minutes left and keeping the starting quarterback in and is STILL throwing the ball? Man, that Belichick is one evil…. oh wait… that was Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning against Green Bay Sunday night. When it’s not Belichick, the moral outrage goes away, right?”
– Tom, Portsmouth, N.H.

It’s a little different. Belichick’s done this often over the years. You need more than one hand to count the times Tom Brady’s been in a total blowout in the middle of the fourth quarter. But Coughlin had a reason, I believe. His offense had been struggling for four weeks, and he has every right to use the game to do what he can to make sure his team is back on track for the stretch run. People wouldn’t be killing Belichick if it were a one-time occurrence. Obviously, it’s not.

My mind is still spinning at this.

It’s OK for Coughlin to use a real, live game to work on things to make his team better and make sure they’re in top form for the postseason. Bill Belichick does it, and it’s just out of spite and poor sportsmanship. Got it.

I mean, it’s not like Saint Tony Dungy ever did this sort of thing with Peyton Manning. Oh, wait.

I think this might be the more accurate explanation for why only Belichick gets flayed for this.

The other thing to wonder is how often are other teams even in this position? It’s all well and good to say that Coughlin, or any other coach doesn’t leave their QB in with a 35-point lead, or isn’t passing under five minutes with a 35-point lead. How many teams routinely have 35-point leads?

Still on the Patriots, with the Gil Santos era winding down, the subject of his replacement is gaining momentum.

John Rooke, The Obvious Choice To Take Over For Gil Santos – Derek Havens looks at why Rooke and his 20 years of working for the Patriots make him the best choice for the job. I’m on-board with this, certainly if it keeps Gary Tanguay or Jon Meterparel away from the gig.

Meanwhile, Red Sox reporters are waiting for something to happen.

Abraham of course, wrote a Lester column himself, but that was sort of his point. Right now, the Red Sox media is jumping on any scrap of information and writing about it.

I thought Abraham and Chad Finn had a nice 1-2 punch on the Jon Lester for Wil Myers rumor(?) Is it even a rumor? Speculation?

Lester for a prospect? Here’s why it’s crazy – Abraham

Jon Lester for Wil Myers? Why not? – Finn

Filed Under: Morning Links, Peter King, Ron Borges, Tony Massarotti

Prescient Ron Borges on Cunningham?

November 26, 2012 By

Patriots defensive lineman Jermaine Cunningham was suspended today for four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

In his report card following the season-opener against the Titans, Ron Borges wrote:

Jermaine Cunningham, now mysteriously bulked up, doubled his career sack total with one and at times slid inside to DT, providing a distinct speed advantage without losing much strength.

When the suspension was announced today, Borges wasted no time in his victory lap:

So how much did Borges know, if anything? Or is this another “even a stopped clock is right twice a day” type of thing?

Filed Under: Ron Borges

At Last, Some Reason…

February 6, 2010 By

Tom E. Curran shows a little sanity when talking Patriots and putting the “team of the decade” comparisons with the Colts in perspective. He notes that some of his colleagues are letting their facts get a little fuzzy when it comes to this topic.

You may recall the other day when Ron Borges, twisting the numbers to suit his agenda, stated the following:

The Colts have won more regular-season games this decade than the Patriots, won more consecutive games this decade than the Patriots, made the playoffs more often this decade than the Patriots (9-8), reached the playoffs more consecutive years than the Patriots (eight straight) and if they win Sunday will trail them by only one Super Bowl victory this decade.

Borges, was of course spouting the Polian company line, which doesn’t include playoffs in win totals or winning streaks.

Curran acknowledges that Borges is his friend, but does correct him nonetheless.

From 2000 through 2009, the New England Patriots went 126-52. They won three Super Bowls, four conference titles and made it to the AFC Championship five times.

They became the first team in history to go unbeaten over a 16-game regular season and became the first to win 18 in a row in a single season. Only once since 2000 did they finish under .500. And that was 2000.

They won three Super Bowls, four conference titles and made it to the AFC Championship five times. They didn’t go one-and-done in the playoffs until 2009. They finished tied for first place in the AFC East every season from 2001 through 2009. They had one winning streak of 21 games that went from 2003 through those playoffs and into 2004. They had another winning streak of 18 games (2007). They set the record for most consecutive postseason games won (10).

He then compared that to the Colts:

From 2000 through 2009, the Indianapolis Colts went 124-52 (with one game remaining). They won one Super Bowl, two conference titles and made it to the AFC Championship three times.

They set the record for consecutive regular-season games won with 22 in the 2008 and 2009 seasons (a playoff loss in the first-round of the 2008 playoffs prevented them from being able to break New England’s overall record). In their nine postseason appearances, they were one-and-done five times.

He also looks at the money spent by the two teams – another frequent accusation by Borges. It is very close between the two clubs.

——————

Check the coverage of last night’s Celtics win over the Nets at CelticsLinks.com.

Filed Under: Boston Herald, Comcast SportsNet, Ron Borges

#4 Plagiarism Scandals

December 24, 2009 By

The decade was rocked by two major plagiarism scandals involving newspaper sports reporters in Boston.

In February, 2005, the Patriots were in Jacksonville, getting ready for their third Super Bowl of the decade. Ken Powers was covering the team for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, when we learned on the morning of February 2nd, that he had been sent home from covering the team. The Editor & Publisher reported that Powers had been accused of lifting material from a Peter King Sports Illustrated story.

Later that day, with the help of a couple BSMW readers, I posted a side-by-side comparison of what King had written and what Powers had written.

Powers was promptly fired by the paper, after an investigation turned up “at least half a dozen” cases of plagiarism. He responded by telling WBZ-TV – “The termination is a terrible injustice to me.” - even as more cases were being posted here on BSMW.

It ws discovered that Powers had copied Michael Smith of ESPN.com and even his friend Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

BSMW got a mention in The New York Times during that week. Here is also the Associated Press story on the incident.

Since that time, Powers has been working as a reporter for The Community Advocate and Central Mass. Sports Insider.

Two years later, in a Sunday Football Notes column for The Boston Globe, Ron Borges used numerous passages originally written by Mike Sando of The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington. The passages had been submitted by Sando to a “notes-sharing network” used by sports reporters across the country. Borges did not credit Sando in the notes, but there was a disclaimer at the bottom of the column (which ran most of the time in those Sunday notes columns) that “Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.”

Borges was then suspended for two months from the Globe, and barred from making outside media appearances.

Some have defended Borges, claiming that what he did was not really plagiarism. However, the Globe editor specifically stated in the announcement of Borges suspension that “The Globe does not tolerate plagiarism.”

Here are a couple of link collections about the story from that time period.

Media Reaction on Borges 

Borges Suspension Followups

After serving his two-month suspension, Borges wrote one column, relying on fired Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, who had been operating a bed-and-breakfast in Idaho prior to taking charge of the Oakland offense, to tells us that Randy Moss was washed up, that his skills were in decline, and Moss was “in denial of those eroding skills.”

Five days later, Borges “retired” from the Globe. He was hired by WEEI.com during the summer of 2008, and then bolted WEEI.com in September for a gig at the Boston Herald, where he remains.

In 2003, Hartford Courant college basketball writer Ken Davis was suspended for a month after he lifted nine paragraphs from a Syracuse sports writer. (Journalist Plagiarism/Fabrication Scandals - also used for background on the Powers and Borges cases.)

These scandals put a black eye on sports coverage, and journalism as a whole, and certainly were among the biggest stories this decade in the Boston sports media.

Filed Under: Decade in Review, Infamous Moments, Ron Borges

Ron Borges Knocks Out Competition at Boxing Writing Awards

June 10, 2009 By

Ron Borges of the Boston Herald (still seems weird to write that) will receive recognition for some of his work writing about the sport of boxing this Friday night from the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).

The Eye on Sports Media has more on the awards, which will be broadcast live on the internet starting at 6:00 PM et at the GoFight Live! website.

The awards are known as The Barneys and Borges will receive recognition in the following categories:

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

First Place
RON BORGES, “The Dying Art of Matchmaking,” Boxing Monthly, June 2008

BOXING EVENT COVERAGE

Third Place (tie)
RON BORGES, “Not A Rock, He’s Limestone,” Thesweetscience.com, July 18, 2008 

BOXING FEATURE (Under 2,500 words)

Third Place
RON BORGES, “Do You Know Who I Am?,” Boxing Monthly, April 2008 

BOXING FEATURE (Over 2,500 words)

Honorable Mention: Ron Borges, Boxing Monthly

Former Herald columnist George Kimball is also receiving some recognition:

BOXING NEWS STORY

Third Place
GEORGE KIMBALL, “Luis Resto – Billy Collins Redux,” Boxingtalk.com, 2008 

BOXING COLUMN - Honorable Mention.  (Boxingtalk.com)

Filed Under: Boston Herald, Ron Borges

Update on Worst Boston Sports Column Voting

April 6, 2009 By

After 500 votes, the Ron Borges draft column from 2001 is the leader in the clubhouse for worst Boston sports column in recent memory.

Borges’ mocking the Patriots drafting of Richard Seymour and Matt Light over such NFL luminaries such as Koren Robinson and Robert Ferguson currently has 29% of the vote.

Three other columns are in a hotly contested race for second place:

Bob Halloran’s attack on the coach of an autistic child.

Dan Shaughnessy’s “I created the Curse, I say when it is over” column from October 2004. 

Gerry Callahan’s “Manny hates kids with cancer” column from last summer.

Each entry has about 10% of the vote at the moment.

As for the AX MEN giveaway from the original post, I am awaiting receipt of the prize from the marketing company, as soon as I receive it, I will notify the winner and post it here.

Filed Under: Dan Shaughnessy, Ron Borges, Site News

Bruins Ruin Glen Wesley Night in Raleigh

February 18, 2009 By

It was Glen Wesley night in Raleigh, as the Hurricanes honored the former Carolina (and Bruins) defenseman for his many years of on-ice service to the organization. The Bruins then went out beat the ‘Canes, 5-1 behind three goals late in the third period, including one from Patrice Bergeron, who is finally showing some signs of life out on the ice.

Kevin Paul Dupont has the details. Steve Conroy has the Bruins bouncing back to pick up their 40th win of the season. Joe Haggerty has the Bruins picking up the late momentum for the win.

Mick Colageo has a look at Wesley’s time in Boston, as well as what the Bruins ending up getting for him when he left.

Dupont’s notebook looks at the ceremony for Wesley, of which the Bruins were a big part. Conroy’s notebook has more on Bergeron finally breaking through.

Red Sox

Maureen Mullen has Jon Lester ready to step up his game even more this season. Joe McDonald has more on Lester looking to expand his role this year.  Steve Buckley says that Mike Lowell should know that baseball is a business, and shouldn’t be disappointed in the Red Sox for going after Mark Teixeira. Amalie Benjamin has David Ortiz hoping that the Red Sox have enough pop in their lineup this season. Rob Bradford examines how Dustin Pedroia stayed motivated this offseason.

Sean McAdam says that it is likely that Julio Lugo is going to be your starting shortstop to open the season. Alex Speier has more on the shortstop competition. McDonald has the Sox holding Rocco Baldelli out of the shuttle run yesterday. Buckley also has Lowell aiming to be ready for the start of season in April. McAdam has Takashi Saito seeking permission from Manny Ramirez before taking #24 from the Red Sox. McDonald has a quick bit on Mark Kotsay and his back surgery.

John Molori examines how the Boston media treated Manny Ramirez during his time with the Red Sox.

McAdam’s notebook has a report on Mark Kotsay’s back surgery. Benjamin’s notebook has more on Kotsay. Speier’s notebook has a look at the conditioning drills yesterday.

A-Rod/Steroids

Nick Cafardo and Dan Shaughnessy look at A-Rod’s confession from yesterday. Dan Lamothe picks apart A-Rod’s statement. Ron Borges examines the difference in how steroid use is viewed in baseball and in football.

I’m curious though, what Borges means by this statement:

Football is different from baseball and these days no one is happier about that than guys like Larry Izzo, Rodney Harrison and Tom Brady.

(Emphasis mine) We know what the Izzo and Harrison references are for, but is he implying that he has knowledge that Tom Brady has taken steroids or HGH (perhaps during his recovery)? If so, that’s a pretty casual way to drop something that would be a mega-bombshell. Or does he mean that the NFL allows him to use substances in his recovery that MLB would not? If he means something else, why not say so? Or is Brady merely guilty by association?

(Update – see comment section below for likely explanation.)

Celtics

The Celtics lost a pair of reserve guards yesterday as Sam Cassell was traded to the Sacramento Kings (briefly causing panic on Patriots message boards when they saw the headline “Cassell traded for conditional second pick.”) and Tony Allen was lost until the playoffs because he needs surgery on his thumb.

Steve Bulpett looks why the Celtics made the Cassell move. Frank Dell’Apa and Marc J. Spears also look at the trade and the injury and what it means for the Celtics roster. Jeff Goodman says that the Celtics will likely not make a trade prior to tomorrow’s trade deadline. Scott Souza also looks at the events from yesterday.

Jeremy Gottlieb on the BSMW Full Court Press has an All Star Break report card for the Celtics. Jeff Howe has three keys to the second half for the Celtics. Patrick Gilroy has the Celtics prepping for the stretch run.

Bulpett’s notebook has more on the Celtics roster depth after the loss of Allen.

Patriots

Karen Guregian wonders if the Patriots might go with a linebacker again in the first round of the draft this year. Mike Reiss and Guregian have the Patriots cutting a pair of reserves yesterday, perhaps to save some cap space.

Filed Under: Morning Links, Ron Borges

Borges Blasts Globe, Defends Walsh.

March 11, 2008 By

In an effort to bring you a “fair and balanced” perspective to the Matt Walsh story in yesterday’s Globe, I present to you a link to Ron Borges’ rebuttal piece posted on ronborges.com.

I bring you this link if only because it’s fun to:

1) See Ronnie bash the Globe.

and

2) See Ronnie defend Matt Walsh – the roommate would never have discovered that Walsh left knives in his bed if he wasn’t using the bed in the first place…by that logic, Walsh could’ve set the bed on fire and it would be roommate’s fault for being in it.

Good times.

I do agree with Ron on one point: Roger Goodell has just done a horrible job managing this situation from start to finish and is one of the main reasons the story just won’t go away. The NFL looks more and more ridiculous everytime the Commissioner opens his mouth as of late.

———–
Old friend Albert Breer tipped me off to this story down in Dallas, which could be setting an interesting precedent in sports media and blogging.

Apparently the Mavericks and Mark Cuban have banned writers from the locker room whose “primary purpose is to blog.” This includes writers from the local newspapers.

So far, this new edict has only impacted one writer, Tim MacMahon of the Dallas Morning News, who just happened to have been critical of coach Avery Johnson recently.

Cuban, on his blog, Blog Maverick explains that the new policy is simply due to the lack of space in the Mavericks’ locker room, and in the effort of granting equal access to all bloggers.

Right.

Filed Under: Boston Globe, Ron Borges

Ron Borges “Retires” From Globe

May 19, 2007 By

Wow. So I’m out at an anniversary party last night that some of my friends threw for my wife and I, completely shut out from the broadcast outlets, and I miss the news that Ron Borges has suddenly decided to “retire” from the Boston Globe.

Since when is Borges the retiring type?

This whole thing smells and certainly makes the Boston Globe look even worse.

Boston Magazine Illustration by Tim Tomkinson.

The early Friday night release of the news is an old trick…get the news out there quietly and let it simmer down over the weekend, the absence of any quotes from the publisher or editor of the paper (beyond sports editor Joe Sullivan), plus the suddenness of the decision, with Borges having written just one article (A Raiders-eye view of Randy Moss) since his return from his plagiarism-induced two month suspension.

When on with Michael Felger on 890 ESPN Boston, Borges made reference to an upcoming hearing with the newspaper guild, and several snide references about the truth being told at that time. Was Borges either so disgusted with how the Globe handled things that he walked out, or was he becoming aware that the exoneration that he was anticipating was not going to play out as he had planned?

In any event, this is a loss in the short term for the Boston Globe. Despite his ridiculous anti-Patriots/Belichick bias, Borges was still a well-connected and capable NFL writer. (When he wasn’t lifting passages from Seattle beat writers, that is.) The Globe has some shuffling to do. However, in the long run, they could be better off for it.

I’m confident however, that Boston and Patriots fans have not seen and heard the last of Borges. This move actually gives him more freedom to appear on outlets around town. Glenn Ordway has long said that he would love to have Borges on the Big Show during football season, and unless Borges decides to stick with Felger out of loyalty to a guy who gave him a weekly radio slot for the last year or so, a move to WEEI seems logical.

He will also find an outlet for his writing. While it is possible that he might decide to just stick with boxing and even get into the business side of that sport, he will likely find many websites and print outlets out there that are willing to overlook his transgressions and give him a forum to write on football.

Related Links

All Along the Watchtower – Cold Hard Football Facts.

Borges Leaves After Plagiarism Scandal – Jessica Heslam, Boston Herald

Dan Kennedy offers up his thoughts on the Ron Borges “retirement.”

David Scott continues the BSMW coverage on Borges with another piece on the “retirement” today.

Scott also parses the Globe press release from Friday night that announced Ron Borges’ “retirement” from the paper.

Controversial Sports Writer Retires From Globe – The Boston Channel.

John Gonzalez November 2006 Boston Magazine feature on Borges.

Wikipedia entry on Borges.

Ron Borges Retires From Boston Globe (AOL Sports)

Both A Disappointment And An Inspiration (Bob George)

Filed Under: Ron Borges
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