Random Commanders Thoughts

[Ax]

There doesn't have to be an announced competition. It's nobody's business, not the media's, nor the fans, what goes on inside Redskins park.

 

[tshile]

There doesn't have to be an announced competition. It's nobody's business, not the media's, nor the fans, what goes on inside Redskins park.

That is true.

If Gruden is lying then that makes me happy. I could care less if the public faces of the organization (Allen, Gruden, Griffin, etc) are all feeding us lies nonstop. They're measured on their record, not how awesome they are in press conferences (at least they should be... i'm convinced there are quite a few people that have that backwards)

But what we have to go on right now is quotes. There are no wins and losses.

So. We'll see.

 

[Ax]

The media, both nationally, and locally, are as worthless as tits on a boar. The 24hr sports "news" world, needs drama. It is desired by them. They WANT controversy. They seek it out wherever than can find it. They fan any ember they might find, hoping to create a 5 alarm fire. And when they can't find anything, they make it up.

The local media DOES NOT WANT things to go well. They will undermine any success as quickly as they can. They will spend the next months, until opening day, trying to create as much angst among the fanbase as they can. Pissed of people call in, facebook, and tweet much more often than any other group. They are the target audience. And, they are an easy target.

 

[Boone]

whelp, we can put the early the vs a controversy to rest, finally...

Gruden says RG3 is the starter | Comcast SportsNet Washington



I'm really, really against there not being competition at every spot on the team. I think there being competition at every spot is a fundamental part of a team being run the way I would like it to be run. I think there's nothing but benefits, generally speaking, from every player competing; many benefits.

But given all the ridiculousness surrounding Griffin the last 5 weeks I suppose this is the only way to handle it.

Do you think Peyton or Tom or Drew or Aaron have 'competition? Of course not. Griffin doesn't have their resumes obviously, but he is clearly the franchise QB and was ROY just a season ago. Putting his starter status 'in question' when he rushed back from a huge injury and had a down year, and when even his supposed 'competition' openly acknowledges 'I'm the backup' would serve no purpose. Smart move by Gruden.

 

[tshile]

The media, both nationally, and locally, are as worthless as tits on a boar. The 24hr sports "news" world, needs drama. It is desired by them. They WANT controversy. They seek it out wherever than can find it. They fan any ember they might find, hoping to create a 5 alarm fire. And when they can't find anything, they make it up.

The local media DOES NOT WANT things to go well. They will undermine any success as quickly as they can. They will spend the next months, until opening day, trying to create as much angst among the fanbase as they can. Pissed of people call in, facebook, and tweet much more often than any other group. They are the target audience. And, they are an easy target.

While that's true of majority of them, it's not true of all of them.

There are good, solid reporters out there who's interest is in being a respected reporter. You just have to know they exist and be willing to go out and find them.

Not every reporter is a hack. A lot are though.

 

[tshile]

Do you think Peyton or Tom or Drew or Aaron have 'competition? Of course not. Griffin doesn't have their resumes obviously, but he is clearly the franchise QB and was ROY just a season to go. Putting his starter status 'in question' when he rushed back from a huge injury and had a down year, and when even his supposed 'competition' openly acknowledges 'I'm the backup' would serve no purpose. Smart move by Gruden.

When Griffin has a super bowl ring then I'll be fine with that.

There are multiple ways to handle that without putting his starter status 'in question.'

It's a personal opinion. I think competition at all spots is important to the type of team I want. For many reasons.

I don't think worrying about the drama the media will create based on a press conference quote is an important decision factor the head coach of the team should be worried about. I don't think that leads to or away from winning.

I think whether or not there is true competition at all spots does.

I think putting people on the field because of their contract, their name, or their draft status is the type of mickey mouse horse shit football this franchise has been engaging in for 15 years.

edit: to be clear, I understood why he said it. and as Ax said, what he says to the camera is inconsequential anyways, it's how he is at redskins park that matters. i also don't think anyone on the team, currently or in the near future, would actually beat out griffin for the spot, so it doesn't really matter. i was just commenting on the quote and saying what i personally think about the way a football team should be run. that's why i posted it in here instead of making a thread about it. it's just not that big of a deal.

 

[Boone]

Tshile - what a coach says and what he believes and does are not always identical. There is NOTHING to be gained by saying or implying Griffin is not the starter. If he were to be awful and costing the team wins, I'm pretty confident Gruden will do something about it. We don't need anything stated that opens the door for media drama fests. I think I'm right here.

 

[tshile]

Tshile - what a coach says and what he believes and does are not always identical. There is NOTHING to be gained by saying or implying Griffin is not the starter. If he were to be awful and costing the team wins, I'm pretty confident Gruden will do something about it. We don't need anything stated that opens the door for media drama fests. I think I'm right here.

All of which I agree with.


Hopefully we won't get to find out whether or not Gruden would do something about Griffin costing us wins.

 

[Boone]

I hear you, wasn't trying to browbeat you. You are the one who brought it up though

 

[Ax]

While that's true of majority of them, it's not true of all of them.

There are good, solid reporters out there who's interest is in being a respected reporter. You just have to know they exist and be willing to go out and find them.

Not every reporter is a hack. A lot are though.

Of course not all of them are. But I would say most are. They almost have to be, in order to advance in their profession. It's why I don't usually get too worked up over their reports.

 

[Boone]

While that's true of majority of them, it's not true of all of them.

There are good, solid reporters out there who's interest is in being a respected reporter. You just have to know they exist and be willing to go out and find them.

Not every reporter is a hack. A lot are though.

True, but for every Keim there are dozens of others whose only motivation is to get noticed, hone in on (or even create) the slightest controversy, etc...or who in some cases simply harbor an intense dislike of Snyder (deservedly so probably in some cases) and have no reserve of good will towards him or his organization.

Mike Wise has already started his snark campaign...did you see him proudly telling his story about asking Gruden if he'd seen ''Good Will Hunting'? His point was the 'it's not your fault' scene as if he were doomed from the start. Honestly, that's not just bad manners, it shows a level of scorn and unprofessionalism that is embarrassing to observe. As you noted, you don't have to treat the subject of your stories as the enemy to be objective and unbiased.

Don't forget tshile - I have been up close and personal with many of these folks that cover the team and I've seen how they operate - I'm not saying that in a 'look at me' fashion, just to say I'm not clueless on the topic. And of course you are right as well.

 

[tshile]

True, but for every Keim there are dozens of others whose only motivation is to get noticed, hone in on (or even create) the slightest controversy, etc...or who in some cases simply harbor an intense dislike of Snyder (deservedly so probably in some cases) and have no reserve of good will towards him or his organization.

Mike Wise has already started his snark campaign...did you see him proudly telling his story about asking Gruden if he'd seen ''Good Will Hunting'? His point was the 'it's not your fault' scene as if he were doomed from the start. Honestly, that's not just bad manners, it shows a level of scorn and I professionalism that is embarrassing to observe. As you noted, you don't have to treat the subject of your stories as the enemy to be objective and unbiased.

Don't forget tshile - I have been up close and personal with many of these folks that cover the team and I've seen how they operate - I'm not saying that in a 'look at me' fashion, just to say I'm not clueless on the topic. And of course you are right as well.

Yup. I agree with both you an Ax. It's cable-news like these days in the sports arena. The 24/7 coverage, and the people that follow it on ESPN NFL Network et al, force it to be the standard.

I guess I get all uppity about it because I would like to believe I put in quite a bit of time in trying to figure out who is legit and who is not. In addition to that, I know two people that work for the Redskins (and have for a long ass time, i've tried on their super bowl rings, well 2 of the 5 they have between the two of them) and they've taken their time out to tell me who is legit and who isn't.

Which is why I get into the back-and-forth with people when I post something from Kevin Sheehan, or Jon Keim, and people write it off as typical media BS. Just because someone is a reporter, or a show host, doesn't make them a worthless news source. Likewise - just because someone like Sally Jenkins is known for antagonizing the redskins organization doesn't mean there's not something worth noting about her articles when she has a close relationship with the coaching staff (whether that's what certain people think, or whether it's something a certain someone put her up to, etc.)

It's just like twitter. It's easy, and lazy, to write off everything on twitter as being nonsense. It's much harder to figure out who is worth listening to and who isn't.

I'm sure you've heard a lot of the same things I have from the people you worked with. It's a different world behind the scenes over there. There's a lot of really smart people, with access to very important people in the organization, sayings lots of things behind the scenes. It's not always cut and dry who is worth listening to and who isn't. If you're interested in what is going on behind the scenes - that is, in addition to what happens on the field - then all these relationships and people and knowing this stuff all the sudden matters.

And no, I didn't see what Mike Wise said. He's a blithering idiot with literally no access to anyone of any importance in the organization (because he's burned so many bridges, you can actually find him crying about it in certain articles now how he's being treated because of his antics.)

He's a clown. Not figuratively, literally.

I don't have time for clowns.

Sorry for this unnecessarily long response

 

[Boone]

I 100% agree with you. One of the guys I got to know during my coverage years was Bram Weinstein. Not only was he the best local Skins coverage guy at the time, one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Zero ego. Even now, as a major employee of the four letter network, if I were to message him on Facebook or contact him some other way, he'd reply. Just a great, great guy. He doesn't make reporting about him.

I think Gruden is going to charm and disarm a lot of the hostile media types with his basic honesty and no-bones-about-it style and with his sense of humor, which will be about as stark a contrast to Shanahan's tight-lipped control freak act as possible.

 

[tshile]

That's what I was telling my wife last night.

Gruden has charisma.

Not the Hollywood star charisma. The 'football guy' charisma.

I have a feel fans are going to really grow to love him. If he wins a SB here he'll be revered like Gibbs was; not just for winning a super bowl, but because he's a guy the fans genuinely can root for and get behind.

He just needs to have enough early success to ward off the pitchforks... they come out early around these parts.

 

[tshile]

By the way, every time Gruden says "everybody" it makes me laugh.

Listen for it if you haven't noticed yet.

I love his dialect.

 

[CounterTrey]

Keim and Tandler both fit that mold as well Boone. Having talked extensively with both em more than a few times it's a refreshing oasis in terms of journalistic integrity and quality. Too bad that seems to be virtually non existent on a National level. Those hacks read another hack's story and just regurgitate it verbatim without doing any source work at all. Jenkins and Jla are among the worst. As an aside HTF does Sally Jenkins still have any credibility at all after the Lance Armstrong garbage? I loathed her long before that, but you'd think that would have been enough to make her poison for anyone looking for journalistic backup, yet she still gets quoted nationwide when she posts garbage like her latest hit piece.

 

[CounterTrey]

Best moment of the PC was when Gruden was asked if he'd be calling plays and about his coordinator choices and the report that Sean McVey (sp?) was being promoted to OC. His response was pretty amusing. In a sarcastic tone he said: "Really? Good for Sean! That's fantastic!" and then announced that no no coaches had been even interviewed yet and that they (among others) would be.

 

[Bulldog]

The most uninformed comment I have heard among critics is that Snyder hired another Zorn.

First of all Snyder on his own did not pick Gruden. I think that was reasonably clear from the fact Snyder was a spectator at the press conference rather than a participant as he was at times in the past.

Second, in terms of the two men Zorn was NEVER seen as HC material by any other organization. He had never even been a coordinator. In fact he came here after Holmgren refused to promote him from position coach to OC. Meanwhile, Gruden was set to interview with 4 of the 5 teams that have HC vacancies.

Lastly, I don't know why the national media refers to Zorn as being young! The guy was 54 years old when he came to DC. By age 54 Gibbs had already won 3 Super Bowls.

Gruden is 46 which squares with the trajectory of guys like Harbaugh and other recent hires.

It seems clear to me that a lot of people who make a living off reporting on pro sports know precious little about the history they are commenting on.

 

[CounterTrey]

Yea BT I'm with ya. I think that Sports Journalism has become a much lazier profession than it used to. Reporters used to actually interview people and went to the Team facility before writing these types of scathingly critical articles Sally J has become known for. Now it's just do a little reading of someone else's work or full on re-report something someone like LaConfora has written. It then "goes viral" and is in every two bit rag in the country before someone bothers to point out that everyone is regurgitating rumor as if it is fact without even bothering to check the source. Get it first has far outreached get it right and seems to coincide with the Internet. The print press wasn't this lazy.

 

[Neophyte]

Do you think Peyton or Tom or Drew or Aaron have 'competition? Of course not. Griffin doesn't have their resumes obviously, but he is clearly the franchise QB and was ROY just a season ago. Putting his starter status 'in question' when he rushed back from a huge injury and had a down year, and when even his supposed 'competition' openly acknowledges 'I'm the backup' would serve no purpose. Smart move by Gruden.

I don't know, Boone. Supposedly, every job on the Seahawks is open for competition every year. Every job. And right now they are arguably the best team in the league. I don't want any guy getting too comfortable and I want every single dude on the roster to know that if he is the best at his position he will play so that he will strive to be the best. I really don't see a down side. It isn't a lack of respect for anyone as long as everyone is treated the same way. If Griff's ego can't take it maybe he isn't the right guy.