New England Patriots: Bob Kravitz Offers “A (sort of) Mea Culpa on DeflateGate”

Deflate-Gate firestarter and Patriots agitator extraordinaire Bob Kravitz took to his trusty keyboard on Tuesday to pen “A (sort of) mea culpa on DeflateGate”, which you can, and should, read on Indiana’s WTHR Sports.

Kravitz clearly isn’t to blame for reporting that sources told him the NFL is investigating the possibility that the Patriots deflated footballs in the AFC Championship. Writers talk to well-connected sources, sources tell writers what they hear, reports get published whether they turn out to be correct or not. That’s not just sports media, it’s media in general. To borrow a phrase, it is what it is. And as it turns out, his source nailed it.

Where Kravitz did royally screw up was proceeding with the story as if the Mortenson report was as etched in stone as gravity, and then pouring gasoline on the bonfire of accusations and witchhunting that followed.

And as such, Kravitz’s “(sort of) Mea Culpa” on WTHR on Tuesday was intended to clear the air and set the record straight, to elaborate on not only what he had written and tweeted, but also to bring some objectivity and common sense to everything.

So.

Being that Kravitz clearly is concerned about people reading his work not only in a literal sense, but in spirit as well, let’s go through this mea culpa line by line. All quotes are verbatim.  And here…we…go.

“As you can imagine, the last two-plus weeks have been pretty intense, filled with torrents of mean tweets and general hatred toward your Humble Correspondent (that would be me). New England fans are among the most vocal and spirited I’ve ever encountered, and I’m relatively sure I’ve heard from roughly 75 percent of them.”

Already off to quite the passive-aggressive start here, as Kravitz has slyly inserted a dig to accompany his backhanded compliment. Calling a region “vocal and spirited” and proceeding to mention that ¾ of the fan base has responded to your work, after saying that his past few weeks have been filled with mean tweets and general hatred, amounts to saying “75% of you guys are belligerent homers and have sent your belligerent homer opinion to me to talk about your belligerent homerism.”

Now, for the meat and potatoes:

“I am not in the least bit sorry about breaking DeflateGate…”

Fair enough. You had a story confirmed by multiple sources that there was going to be an investigation, and sure enough, there was. *golf clap*

“I tweeted that if ESPN’s Chris Mortensen report was right – if 11 of 12 footballs were two pounds-per-square-inch deflated below the number mandated by the NFL – then heads should roll, specifically the one belonging to Bill Belichick.”

“No problem there. That’s my opinion. I’m entitled to it, just as you’re entitled to rip me.”

Okeydoke. So in the space of a paragraph, Kravitz goes from stating that he’s reporting cold, hard, immutable facts, to “Well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man”, which is kind of important when your article’s entire premise is that you’re REPORTING FACTS and making assessments based on said facts.

Then, after calling for Belichick to be fired if “…Kraft had an ounce of integrity”, and for the Patriots to lose draft picks and be fined, Kravitz goes ahead and blames Twitter for misrepresenting his opinion.

“I failed to understand, at least at the time, that each tweet, taken by itself, is an independent organism, not a part of a continuing narrative.”

Wait. Twitter isn’t the same as a 1,000-word self-contained Indianapolis Star column? You don’t say!

Dude, you have 18,000 tweets. Claiming that you didn’t understand how people would react to bunches of tweets about a story that, at the time, was only substantiated by anonymous sources and based almost entirely on the premise of sources being correct, which, as we know, they ALWAYS are, and then saying “People just don’t understand what I’m saying because Twitter” is more Kanye West than Adam Schefter.

“I thought it was implied, quite strongly, that penalties should only be levied if the Patriots were found guilty of toying with the integrity of the game, but I failed to establish that clearly in those tweets and in my columns.”

Oh. Well, he did say “if” once in the original column, so, there’s that.

“Thus, it appeared I was calling for Belichick’s head and other penalties before any investigation was completed.”

Yes, yes it did. Because you did. That’s how accusations work. It didn’t “appear” that you did, any more than it “appeared” that Kanye said Beyonce should have won Album of the Year instead of Beck.

“I would never call for Aaron Hernandez to get a life sentence before he got his day in court, and I did not mean to suggest that Belichick and the Patriots should be penalized before an investigation was complete. But that’s the way it came out, and for that, I apologize.”

Couple of things…

Comparing a source reporting that a dozen footballs are under the league minimum air pressure that you’re “100%” confident in” (even though Kravitz never goes on to explain how or why he’s so confident in his sources) to a homicide investigation that requires arrest warrants, police reports, subpoenas, indictments, witness testimony, expert testimony, forensic evidence, and…you know what? Screw it.

Perhaps a more apt comparison could be “I would never call for the Indianapolis Colts to be punished by the NFL for being accused of pumping crowd noise through their stadium speakers while an opposing team was on offense before an investigation was complete. But that’s the way it came out.”

“As far as the investigation, which still continues, let’s just say it’s a hodgepodge of conflicting reports.”

From sources, no doubt.

“Everything else has been weirdness and general nonsense.”

Go on…

“My favorite is the recent talk that the Colts were part of some conspiracy to deflate the ball, or balls, in an effort to embarrass the Patriots.”

Ooooh, juicy. Tell it, Bob!

“Let’s put it this way: If the Colts are found guilty of having tampered with the footballs in an effort to undermine the Pats, I’ll be vicious in my criticism of the Colts…”

Kind of like how you were vicious in your criticism of Jim Irsay when he was pulled over and arrested for DWI and had enough prescription pills in his car to stock a pharmacy, along with enough cash to buy an F-150?  Wait, there’s more…

“…I’ll also be shocked beyond words.”

Because it’s entirely logical to believe that one team that’s been accused of cheating in the past that’s being accused again, by you and others, is clearly in the wrong, whereas if your hometown squad is accused of cheating, that’s inconceivable and would shock a columnist that makes his living writing words “beyond words”.

“What all of this shows me that even after 32 years in this business, you can always learn, always grow. I should have chosen my words more precisely, should not have assumed anything, especially while in the vortex of a major story.”

So, sorry you all read my story and tweets wrong and interpreted the words that I wrote as something I didn’t say. President Clinton would be proud.

“That was my error.”

Doesn’t sound like it. It’s a poor carpenter that blames his tools.

“We move on. And wait.”

Did we? Sounds like you’ve moved on about as well as a post-breakup Taylor Swift.

Is this putting words in Kravitz’s mouth? Absolutely. But since Kravitz doesn’t seem to have a problem jumping to conclusions himself, surely he’d be understanding.