SI hack Rosenberg gets thoroughly fisked

Submitted by MikeCohodes on

Noted hack writer Michael Rosenberg wrote a hit-piece against the Patriots over "deflategate" that was complete crap writing (though what would one expect from Rosenberg, right?). It was noticed by a sportswriter in Boston, who wrote a very funny and thorough fisking of the whole thing, which I'd encourage you to read it here if you want a laugh to brighten your day.  My favorite quote from the fisk piece is this:

This is stupid. This is lazy. This is irresponsible “journalism” from Sports Illustrated. This should not be published, period.

EDIT: to make it clear, here's the link to the fisking, in case you missed it in my text paragraph above: LINK  I'm not linking to Rosenberg because eff that guy.

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mich_hockey_6

January 20th, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^

Am I the only one who is excessively annoyed by adding "gate" to the end of every scandal? The Watergate hotel has had nothing to do with any scandal since the actual Watergate scandal.

Joined: 01/20/2015

MGoPoints: 1902

Yo_Blue

January 20th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^

Rosenberg accuses the Patriots of not talking to him because of a culture of secrecy.  No Michael, it's because you are a world class douche.

He talks about NFL "whispers" accusing the Patriots of "things".  How old is this guy, twelve???

He accusses the Patriots of putting a large screen in the parking lot so that Belichick can see the replays from the sidelines.  Really?

He talks about how the various formations with ineligible receivers is totally within the rules and then goes on to explain how it is cheating.  Really?

I'll bet he even saw the Patriot players stretching before practice began.  If only he could find (or invent) some rule against this.

This guy is a waste of ink and pixels.

Joined: 08/24/2010

MGoPoints: 102594

Rabbit21

January 20th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

Wait, a Patriots homer takes exception to, an admittedly poorly written, article in which Rosenburg says what everyone is thinking in terms of the Patriots going a little far down the path of "Doing all the little things to win."  Color me shocked. 

Admittedly, I'm a Patriots hater, but I don't see either side coming off well here.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30303

gbdub

January 20th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

If "everyone is thinking" that the Patriots intentionally stuck a TV at a restaurant in the parking lot so that Belicheck can watch replays, or that the Pats (and only the Pats) are using towel boys to spy on the visitor's locker room, then I'm sorely disappointed in everyone.

Joined: 02/16/2010

MGoPoints: 26761

oriental andrew

January 20th, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^

Because no other team does anything shady at all to try to gain a competitive advantage, right? Only the Patriots?

According to Matt Bowen (former Iowa and NFL safety) in 2010, after the Broncos taping incident:

Immediately we started hearing echoes of “Spygate” and the Patriots. The so-called benchmark for “cheating” the game. However, let’s be honest here. There is much more that goes on behind closed doors that we don't hear about in the mainstream media.

Let’s start with playbooks. You don’t think those find their way into the hands of opposing players? I saw plenty of offensive playbooks during game weeks in my career. Printed, stapled and handed out to the defense. Magically they appeared in our meeting rooms, complete with route schemes, exotic plays and top concepts.

It happens everywhere. The sad thing about this article is that, aside from "Spygate" the best evidence Rosenberg has of cheating is a legal maneuver against the Raves and rumor/innuendo. 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 56088

DaytonBlue

January 20th, 2015 at 6:38 PM ^

shady?  I think the refs had no clue what was going on this weekend w/ all the folks declaring themselves eligible and ineligible.  Even threw a flag claiming one of a pair hadn't reported in to them.  I'm sure he did and the refs were just confused.  Even lost respect for John Harbaugh w/ his whining.  Learn the rules, dude; can't slow the game down because your opponent's so much smarter than you are. 

Joined: 12/08/2009

MGoPoints: 2079

Baughlieve

January 20th, 2015 at 2:14 PM ^

“Smart opposing coaches put locks on every entryway to the locker room, so nobody from the Patriots can walk in, ‘accidentally’ grab a play sheet or two and ‘inadvertently’ bring it back to the New England coaches.”

Again, this is garbage. You either report this type of “information” via respectable sources, or you don’t publish it in a story. This reads a lot more like the paranoid Steelers/Colts/Rams/Eagles fans who flood message boards with “Cheatriots” and “Belicheat” than it does a man who (presumably) earned a degree in journalism. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.

Joined: 11/22/2014

MGoPoints: 5753

Everyone Murders

January 20th, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^

I tend to hold grudges longer when the offending party (a) continues to be unapologetic about their missteps, even when the missteps inflicted great harm, and (b) continues to spew bullshit in order to generate clicks, having learned from Stretchgate that there is really very little fallout from this sort of hack journalism.  Like Rosenberg.

I drop grudges when people try to make amends and alter their behavior.  Unlike Rosenberg.

So I applaud the CBS Boston write for the thorough fisking, and I applaud the OP for bringing this to our attention.

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 65552

MikeCohodes

January 20th, 2015 at 2:12 PM ^

I can't take all the credit. I saw the article after Brian on his @mgoblog twitter account sent out the link to the fisking (while cc'ing Rosenberg on the tweet), so I figured I'd share for those not on twitter. Plus it saves Brian the trouble of having to include it in his next Unverified Voracity post.

Joined: 08/28/2012

MGoPoints: 4805

1329 S. University

January 20th, 2015 at 2:09 PM ^

Just more garbage from that guy. I'm glad that yet another writer has taken him down, not that it makes any difference since blogs keep doing it, maybe this MSM article will len more credence? Unlikely.

Joined: 01/01/2010

MGoPoints: 2343

joeyb

January 20th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Q3gmF0U0Y

I'd just like to point out that this video starts with 11 seconds on the playclock. The line is already set, although, you can't tell if the receivers are. They don't snap the ball until 5 seconds left on the playclock. That's 6 seconds for the defense to read the alignment. That doesn't include the time that they had while NE was in the huddle or getting to the LOS. Just guessing here, but I'd say they probably had 15-20 seconds after the announcement to make adjustments and probably 10 seconds after the huddle broke to read the alignment. The way that they complained about it, you'd think it all happened within the course of 5 seconds.

Joined: 10/12/2008

MGoPoints: 16845

ST3

January 20th, 2015 at 2:20 PM ^

I don't understand why Sports Illustrated continues to employ him. His stuff is complete garbage.

I've been an SI subscriber for almost 40 years. He's the worst writer they've had in that time.

I did notice that in the national championship game recap in the print edition, another writer wrote how OSU beat Michigan at Michigan this season. The only problem is, that game happened in Columbus. I guess that didn't fit his narrative or else the fact checkers are terrible.

Joined: 09/11/2010

MGoPoints: 52497

Sam1863

January 20th, 2015 at 5:24 PM ^

I do remember clearly that back in early 2007, after Michigan's basketball team had missed the NCAA tourney for the sixth straight year, Rosenberg wrote a couple of articles in which he strongly supported the idea of hiring West Virginia's basketball coach. He was certainly right about that one, and I think it's only fair to mention it.

But that's where my fairness ends. Seriously, fuck that guy.

 

Joined: 04/27/2014

MGoPoints: 28876

BlueHills

January 20th, 2015 at 7:47 PM ^

Rosenberg is an embarrassment to humanity in general. So let's consider possible punishments for his willingness to speculate and...uh...stretch....the truth.

You see what I did there, right?

I shall cancel my subscription to Sports Illustrated!

Wait a second, I stopped my subscription to Sports Illustrated after I got out of middle school. Hmmm.

I will never take the Detroit Free Press seriously again!

Of course, I never took the Freep seriously in the first place. But that's because of Drew Sharp long before there was Rosenberg. So I'm stumped.

Joined: 10/31/2010

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