Coach Joe Philbin's relationship with the media has grown tense and, earlier this week, even combative. It wasn't that way last year even during a 7-9 season. The difference this year is the increased influence of Executive Vice President of Football Administration Dawn Aponte, a member of the New York State bar and a Bill Parcells disciple. Aponte, originally hired to manage the salary cap underJeff Ireland, got from under the general manager's umbrella when the two clashed. She has become a close Philbin ally. Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolp...t-with-mike-pounceypicture.html#storylink=cpy Mando's blog ( if true ) is showing a serious division in the Admin. of the team. Very strange. makes me wonder if Ireland got canned if Philbin would stay and Aponte would hire the next GM.
I suppose she could become the next GM, but she'd have to hire a strong scouting/football staff. She is a capologist not a player personnel guru, no?
I always said parcells' stink will remain until "every" link is removed. This org seriously needs to be fumigated.
I'm so sick of the Parcells / Bellichick approach to the media and fans. You don't see FOs in MLB/NBA work so hard at subterfuge and be so combative with the media. It almost feels like these guys feel it is an important part of building a team. Just go build a roster and win. Putting on this crazy image of being a tight ship and messing with the media is such a weird focus for so many teams in the NFL.
Another disgusting hit piece. All this is, is retaliation for not telling the reporters everything about everything. These reporters want this staff to answer questions that NO STAFF answers, and when they don't, they turn on them.
Why though? I don't understand. Because Philbin is tight-lipped? Why is all of this coming out the night before and the day of the biggest game of the year? Why is this happening a few days after Philbin put Beasley in his place for prying on the Pouncey situation? Something doesn't quite add up to me. Smells awfully fishy.
Honestly, right now this is exactly what I feel is happening. I've never seen anything like this before.
The media doesn't make up bad news. They report what their sources tell them. And I'd bet dollar to donuts Ireland is Armando's source on this one. Your rant makes you sound like a right winger berating the "liberal media", which I know you are not.
Well if Ross had done what e should have and booted the GM two years ago, this wouldn't be a problem. See this is what happens when you don't totally clear house.
This all tells me if they lose tonight I think something goes down before the next game.....hopefully it will be Ireland's *** booted out and I will be dancing a kazatsky !
The hell they don't. Just start last year. - They made up Peyton Manning was going to sign with Miami. - They made up it was because of Ireland when he didn't. - They made up the dual coaching search. - They made up McCoy was the choice. - They made up why Cowher rebuffed us. - They made up why Gruden rebuffed us. - They made up Matt Flynn was going to sign. - They made up that Fisher turned us down. - They made up the reason behind Starks middle finger towards the sidelines (and are still pushing that lie, btw.) On top of it all, we have reporters who have cheered other teams beating Miami and who have used plagiarized material in their columns. Your refusal to accept or understand any of that, makes you sound like Tea Partiers, who refuse to accept anything other than their already held beliefs in spite of all the evidence to the contrary...which I know you are not.
Well, most members of the media are liberals, and some news organizations make no bones about it. But sports reporters are like vultures...they see a coach stumbling, they see a team reeling, and they start circling. The best way to keep sports reporters from churning out bad news is to win.
Tell me something...why is it, do you think, that Manning didn't even consider Miami as a choice? You DON'T think it had anything to do with the state of our front office?
No, i don't. I think it had to do with money and the fact that we had a brand new coaching staff. Manning wanted to go to a team that was close and had a coach that would basically not interfere. Besides, the narrative that the media pushed back then was that he didn't consider us because of Ireland's personality.
I love how you say that they made all that stuff up. Do you honestly believe the reporters make up stories out of whole cloth and publish it? Do you not understand that the major newspapers employ numerous editors and fact checkers to review stories before they go out? The reports sometimes end up being wrong because the sources are usually agents who are pushing their own agendas. Kind of like the Harbaugh story. And I don't care that Jason Cole and Salguero high fived a Dolphins loss 20 years ago. Somebody told Armando this Dawn Aponte story. And it was probably Ireland. And to top it off, I don't even know why the story upsets you, other than the fact that something has been reported that you didn't want to hear. It wasn't even particularly negative.
Yes, they absolutely make stuff up. Take the Stark's Bird. Its a fact it happened. That part is correct. The reasons they say it happened are absolutely made up based on things they think or to create controversy. Everyone on the team involved says it was just typical ribbing, but because there was a contract issue earlier the media decided it was about that. That is absolutely making up stories. You're even contradicting yourself...how do they have all these "fact checkers" yet get so much info wrong from agents? Are they new to this? Do they think agents are there to provide them accurate info?
I'm not going to get into a political discussion, but regardless of politics, sports, etc., the media does not cause the problem. The problem exists and the media reports it. Certainly, having public scrutiny can make the problem harder to fix, but such is life when you choose a public profession in a free society. The media didn't cause Pouncey to get served a subpoena due to his connections with an accused multiple murderer. the media didn't cause Martin to have emotional issues which caused an outburst that has led him to a mental hospital. They are simply reporting these things. And when the team (Philbin/Irelan/aponte/whoever) try to pretend these stories don't exist and refuse official comment, then obviously other people lower on the food chain who do have axes to grind and their own agendas will gladly fill the void. Even Bill Belichick, who is the most notorious anti-media coach, realized that the Hernandez matter could not be treated like nothing, so he actually gave an honest press conference. And now the criticism of the Patriots for their handling of the issue has dissapeared. On the Pouncey situation, all Philbin has to see is that he doesn;t know anything right now, and that as more facts are gathered he will let people know what Pouncey's status is. that's it.
If an agent tells you something and the team won't comment after you've given them an opportunity to do so then you are justified in going with the story. And why do you assume that the media is lying about the Starks middle finger and not the players. You honestly think Starks would cop to it, or that his teamates would rat him out? They certainly wouldn't on the record, but off the record they might
Just win baby. I also heard from reporters that the players do not like Aponte because she doesn't give them fair deals. This was reported as recently as the second game when Starks and Soliai were looking for contract extensions.
Wait, so the team is the only ones to gain something by lying? Really? What's more important to which side: - The team pretending Starks isn't sooooooooooooooooooo upset about his contract that he <gasp> flips a bird. OR - The media having a controversial narrative that they can generate stories and hits from. And what you described is not responsible journalism or indicative of trying to find the truth. On top of that, why the hell should the team comment? They don't owe the sports media anything and doing so could affect deals they are trying to make.
Of course the team has more to gain by lying. If they acknowledged that the Starks story was true it would be acknowledging that one if its best players was allowed to disrespect the staff and organization on national television with no repercussions. It would have looked bad. As for the media, they obviously want to get hits, but they have little incentive to compeltely lie. All a reporter has is credibility and if you get caught lying then you are likely to be fired and lose all credibility hurting your employment elsewhere. Reporters have to go with the sources if they have if those sources seem credible and there is some evidence to back up the claims. By your reasoning, Woodward and Bernstein never should've published the Watergate story bececuase the Nixon White House denied it. Obviously not comparing Armando Salguero to those guys either in talent or importnace of what is being reported on.
There is also a blurb in another story about Joe Philbin losing his cool and dressing down one of his assistant coaches in front of the players in practice. If this is all true, then he's got a very tenuous hold on things right now, and if things go south, they will go south in a hurry. I'm also curious if the resentment among players story is true, and how much of this stems from the performance of certain players with big contracts by players who are performing better but don't make as much, as well as resentment towards players who are playing but probably shouldn't be playing.
Honestly.... I think EVERYONE is frustrated with the situation. We are so close..and for some reason..just cant get over the hump. This team needs a winning streak in the worst way. It needs to believe again. Honestly...I think it comes down to the players. If they can win tonight...and get some confidence, we can start a roll. Its like this team wants to demolish something...you can just feel the pent up aggravation. I think it happens...with the running game. I think it becomes our identity...and it starts tonight.
If the team wants to play the hardass "no comment" and combative card with the media, then expect the agents and reporters to frame the narrative. The team just lost 4 straight games. They've lost the benefit of the doubt here. If you want the media to sing kumbaya, don't treat them like crap and lock them out. It's football, quit taking it so seriously. It's the media. Their job is to find the story. If the team makes it hard for them, they're forced to find other channels.
This is not made up and this 'revelation' by Armando is nothing new. I've been saying this for a long time. Anyone that thinks Jeff Ireland has any type of grand authority within the organization is way off base. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
If Jeff Ireland is good at anything, it is self preservation. If he can shift the blame to Aponte/coaches then it only helps him in the long run
That makes no sense. All the team had to do was give him a minor punishment. Problem solved. The media on the hand, need these stories to exist. That's why they're turning on Philbin, he's not giving them anything juicy to report. Seriously, man, do you know anything about how the media works at all? These isn't the days of Murrow. They use their own Twitter accounts to create and spread rumors that funnels hits to their paper's sites. Since its their own Twitter handle they don't need to worry about journalistic integrity. They expand on those rumors by hiding no committal words like "may" or "possibly" so they can keep talking about the story as if it were true. Then the national media gleams through the local stories, and run with the interesting ones.....like Starks flipping off his coaches because he's just so angry at them. Now its a national story that references a local story that was based on a hunch and the truth no longer matters because apparently a middle finger is so goddamned detrimental to a team that they all lied about it.
I'm not sure what evidence there is that there is any blame being levied, never mind the blame being fabricated by Jeff Ireland?
I don't necessarily disagree with how the media works and the ways they can create / inflate stories. But it's not a cover for every negative story. Is there anything we've heard so far that seems unbelievable? Are there more of these stories this year than in mediocre years' past? This feels more like '07 than anything to me. And I don't think the media is what made that Cam Cameron year fall apart.
This is an important point and one of the reasons why signing guys like Mike Wallace almost never pans out. When you have overpaid players, there is going to be resentment from undperaid players. It usually leads to dysfunction.
And I think this is what is being done right now, and Philbin, with his attitude is playing right into his hands. It's like watching someone prepare a noose and the victim saying can I help with that ?
I'm not saying it is a cover for every negative story. I am saying the narrative is being dictated by the media. Go back and read the article in the OP. There are absolutely exaggerations and half truths throughout the entire thing and they are used to create an overall narrative of chaos. All of this happens AFTER a reporter wanted Philbin to comment on a legal matter and was then told, in no uncertain teams, that its his job to tell the media anything they ask.
