This coach-reporter scandal is far from “laughable.”
Most people don’t care if Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel has an affair with whomever, but it’s an insult to say one with former Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini is amusing.
It’s sickening. It’s insulting. It’s infuriating.
Russini worked for the sports arm of the elitist New York Times and was known for her “Scoop City” and “Coaching Carousel” coverage. Nobody cares any longer.
She just set back sports reporters — especially women — a decade. Tireless journalists, this paper is filled with them, cringe at this behavior. Go ahead and love whom you choose, but if it crosses an ethical barrier, step away. Don’t cover the Patriots. Don’t nudge your side piece for inside nibbles. Don’t stomp on our craft.
The New York Times looks foolish. At the risk of being a told-you-so, they should have ferreted this out long ago.
We’re totally aware that professional athletes and diva coaches can make or break a reporter on the beat. That forces beat reporters to be as fair as the day is long, but our eye is always on the reader.
You count on us to dig for the news, seek all sides of a story, and tell it clearly. We don’t want to waste your time — and we won’t sleep with anyone to get a scoop. We may nod off on the couch occasionally after a long day, however.
Vrabel is a good coach and a smart guy, but he’s dead wrong about how we go about doing our jobs. We don’t seek favoritism, just fairness.
The Times, we assume, will discover that some of Russini’s so-called NFL “Insider” scoops was likely pillow talk. Instead of sweet nothings whispered in her ear, she was receiving Xs and Os from the coach.
Journalism is under attack, and this mess is just more mud in our face.
Mike Vrabel comes across as a tough guy, but he’s been savvy enough to pop in and out of unannounced press conferences as the beat reporters are bracing for draft picks and trade rumors. He’s going to counseling and trying to be his “best self.”
How about establishing a level playing field? The fact that we still need to defend our jobs is regrettable, but it comes with the territory.
We’ll let Thomas Jefferson have his say: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Or, as George Orwell is quoted as saying, “Freedom of the press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.”
The Patriots like to kick Bill Belichick around now that he’s gone, and we’re not saying he’s any role model, but at least he got it right when he urged everyone to just “Do your job!”
That’s what’s missing in this sordid affair. Mike Vrabel has failed to do his job, and he should be man enough to admit it. How can he discipline a player who, let’s say, holds an impromptu strip show in the basement of a Boston restaurant? Oh, that already happened.
How about allegedly choking a live-in chef? Oh, that already happened.
The Patriots need better from their leaders. This entire episode just smells rotten. Yet, the team will rise above this scandal, and journalism will, too. It’s what we do. We’re here to stay and dig for the truth, no matter who wants to blindside us.
Editorial cartoon by Joe Heller (Joe Heller)
