FanHouse RobertKraft

The Dalai Lama, I suppose, is a sports fan. That's really the only way to explain why he was kicking it at the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium on Saturday.

Either that or Robert Kraft has given up on installing a soul into Bill Belichick and just decided to convert him to Buddhism. But either way, there he was on Saturday, the big hitter himself, speaking to a big crowd in Boston while rocking out a bright red Pats baseball cap.

Last week, the NFL clarified an existing rule to protect quarterbacks from the kind of hits that sidelined Tom Brady for virtually the entire 2008 season. The clarification "specifically prohibits a defender on the ground who hasn't been blocked or fouled directly into the quarterback from lunging or diving at the quarterback's lower legs."

The NFL seems determined to continue its downward spiral toward becoming a two-hand touch league, as it has adopted a clarification on the rules for hitting quarterbacks.

This comes after New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady missed almost all of the 2008 season -- he played one quarter of the opening game -- following a hit from Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Bernard Pollard. If the same play were to take place during the 2009 season, Pollard would be flagged.

As the Patriots continue to rebuild their front office and coaching staff following another offseason exodus, the team has announced the hiring of former Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese as a senior football advisor. According to the team's official press release, he will work alongside director of player personnel Nick Caserio and head coach Bill Belichick in "various football-related assignments, including contracts."

Here's what Patriots owner Robert Kraft had to say on the hiring:

"We consider ourselves fortunate to have the opportunity to add someone with Floyd Reese's NFL experience and expertise to our staff," said Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft. "Floyd will be a tremendous asset serving Coach Belichick in an advisory role."

Speaking publicly for the first time since his season-ending knee injury way back in Week 1, New England quarterback Tom Brady appeared on Toronto's Fan 590 with Bob McCown Wednesday evening. Why he was appearing on a Toronto radio station is a mystery -- and kind of bizarre -- but, whatever, it's Tom Brady and when he talks, people are going to listen.

After answering a few questions about his political interests and relief work in Africa with Bono in 2007, Brady was asked what it was like to be a spectator for the entire season. His response: "Sh*t happens, so to speak. The reality is it happens ... I'm in a new part of my career, and a different process that I'm excited about. Rehabilitation has different challenges. The tough part is you're not experiencing stuff you love to do. Once you get over that, you focus on whatever you have to focus on."

This is the front page of today's Boston Herald, and when a newspaper issues a front-page apology, you know it seriously screwed up.

And when newspapers seriously screw up, sometimes they get sued. But while there's a lot of speculation that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft will sue the Herald over its February 2 story claiming the team videotaped the St. Louis Rams' last practice before the 2002 Super Bowl, such a lawsuit would be a bad idea. David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch explains:

we'd have to guess that the Herald is begging The Krafts for such action. Nothing sells papers or draws web traffic like a good lawyers-on-lawyers scrum involving a media entity and a professional sports franchise. Even if it would be costly for Pat Purcell to fend off the Krafts, the resulting documents from discovery and the potential depth into which Spygate could be dissected should be more than enough for the Patriots to talk tough now and slink away quietly, shortly.

That's exactly right. It's extremely difficult for public figures like Kraft to win libel lawsuits against newspapers, and even if they do win, they often find that so many embarrassing details come out over the course of the lawsuit that they regret filing it in the first place. The Patriots should accept the Herald's apology and move on.

Bob Ryan is Boston's most prominent sports journalist, and on ESPN's The Sports Reporters today, he had some surprisingly harsh words about the New England Patriots, the Patriotgate controversy, coach Bill Belichick and even owner Robert Kraft, who for the most part has escaped criticism in this story:

Said Ryan of Belichick, "When this thing broke in September, the day of the Jets game, from that moment on, he has never fessed up, he has stonewalled it, we all know what his punishment was, but he has never addressed it, he has tried to pretend that it never happened, and that 'I just misunderstood the rules.' His day of reckoning, I think, is going to come, and I think that this whole thing that New England has built in seven years is in jeopardy.

For a prominent Boston writer to call the Patriots dynasty "in jeopardy" is rough, but Ryan didn't stop there. He also had something to say about the Patriots' owner:

"The person who has to take the initiative here is the owner, Bob Kraft. I cannot believe that Bob Kraft was pleased, during the course of this season, with the image of his team," Ryan said. "They are the most vilified team in sports, and I can't believe he likes this. He has allowed this coach to do it his way to this point and I don't see how he can allow him to do it his way any longer."
Sorry, No Photos

Just after last night's 17-14 Giants win, J.J. Cooper reported that Amazon.com was still selling a book celebrating the undefeated New England Patriots. A quick check sees that it's still for sale this morning and still ranked 15th on the list of bestsellers which is a pretty good sign that Patriot fans didn't do a good job of adhering to the policy of not counting your chickens before they hatch.

They certainly didn't get any leadership from their team in that respect. Tom Brady mocked the very notion that the Giants defense had a chance. The Patriots applied for a trademark on the phrase "19-0" so that they could maximize profits on a win that would never come. Even their owner Robert Kraft, a savvy businessman who knows that no deal is done until the money has changed hands, was crowing during a golf tournament on Saturday.

Pats owner Bob Kraft, in the CBS booth with Jim Nantz during the PGA's FBR/Phoenix Open, Saturday, said jokingly, "We promised Fox we'd keep it close for a half."

Heck, even Bill Belichick toyed with some god or another by switching from the gray hoodie to the Tiger Woods-ish Sunday red. One of the most impressive things about New England's regular season run was the way they took care of each game before moving onto the next one. The Giants deserve all the credit in the world for their win. If you're a karmic sort, though, you can't help but think the Patriots did their fair share to help them along.

We're less than two hours away from kickoff and Spygate: the Sequel is still the story. In addition to questions about more cheating allegations leveled against the Patriots, and what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell knew and when he knew it, some folks, especially those living in the greater Foxboro area, have a question of their own: why are these rumors surfacing now, just days before the Patriots try to cap a perfect season?

Hashmarks' Matt Mosley is on the case:

I just talked to one of my Patriots sources who said several members of the organization were furious with the timing of the report in the Boston Herald indicating a club representative filmed the Rams' final walkthrough before the 2001 Super Bowl.

Mosley also points out that team owner Robert Kraft, who advocated loudly for Andre Tippett's Hall of Fame candidacy, was a no-show at yesterday's HOF press conference. Apparently, Kraft wanted to avoid answering questions about the team filming the Rams prior to Super Bowl XXXVI.

Can't say I blame him.

The bigger issue, though, is what Kraft will do if Bill Belichick is eventually found to have withheld evidence from the league. When the story first broke in September, Kraft said "This isn't what we're about ... I can tell you this: It won't happen again in the future."

We'll see.

Who the hell knows the status of Tom Brady's mild ankle sprain, but it's good to see he took time out of his busy schedule of spending time in New York with his supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen, to address the Patriots supports who braved snowy conditions to see the team off to Arizona.



Man, that Brady sure does paint a handsome picture, even in inclement weather. And the conviction! I don't think he could sound less persuasive if he were using Bill Belichick's robot voice: "This is Foxboro faithful right here ... We can just go ahead and play the game today ... thank you guys for coming out ... we're going down there for one reason, and one reason to win and bring a title back to Foxboro. Go Patriots."

And then team owner Robert Kraft rolled a wheelchair-bound* Brady off the stage. Fortunately, there were no Gary Bauer moments on the way to the limo. And don't worry, Brady's playing on Sunday, even if he currently can't be bothered to walk*.

* scenario fabricated by author