First, disclosure: The hardreading staff has been a New York Giants fan since the days the team was called the New York Football Giants. (Don’t bother sending any abusive comments, splendid readers. Being a Giants fan is punishment enough itself.)
So we’re quite happy that former New England Patriot left tackle Nate Solder is Big Town bound, even at the cost of $62 million over four years, with $35 million guaranteed.
Solder’s feelings about leaving town, however, are mixed, as he mentioned in this full-page ad in yesterday’s Boston Globe.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald there was . . . nothing.
Note to Nate: Some denizens of Patriot Nation actually read the Herald. Apparently you won’t miss them – except with your ad dollars. Maybe Herald scribe Karen Guregian should take back the respectful sendoff she gave you yesterday.
Plenty left still to tackle
Solder loss leaves hole, concerns
The Patriots have a question mark in a place no team wants a question mark. They’re below par in the one position they can’t afford to be, especially with Tom Brady the linchpin to their success.
Uncertainty with Brady’s blind side protector? That’s not been a major storyline heading into a season for quite some time. Left tackle has been a strength for nearly two decades, from Matt Light to Nate Solder.
For the Herald, advertisers present a different kind of blind side: They don’t even see the thirsty local tabloid.
New slogan for the paper: Ad loss leaves hole, concerns.
Despite the Boston Globe’s delivery discombobulation yesterday, the hardreading staff was nonetheless remiss in failing to point out this ad in the lately local broadsheet’s Sports section.
Uh-huh.
Oddly enough, #DontCrackUnderPressure contained exactly zero tweets about Brady’s, well, cracking in Super Bowl LII.
Which says something about either 1) the effectiveness of Tom Brady’s PR machine, or 2) the lack of effectiveness of newspaper ads.
As the hardreading staff thumbed through its Boston Sunday Globe this morning, we couldn’t help but notice this double-truck ad in a special section called The Greater Debate, subhead “Who’s more responsible for this Patriots dynasty: Brady or Belichick?”
Here’s the body copy:
Notice that nowhere in the ad do the words “Bill Belichick” appear. But he’s there in every line, right? (Clever, that “Foxborough-hole,” eh?)
Which got the headscratching staff to thinking – are they paying Belichick? Or is this just an end-around?
So we hied ourselves to the Googletron and learned that this campaign has been in the news for several days now, both the print campaign and this TV spot.
That ad will air just before kickoff tonight. As far as we can tell, Belichick is not being paid.
Is he happy about this? Is he upset? Is he amused at the creativity displayed by ad agency Wieden + Kennedy?
One week after the stunning Super Bowl win by the New England Patriots, the Boston Globe has published its obligatory Special Commemorative Section.
The 26-page celebration of all things Pats is chockablock with advertising such as this ad from Marty Walsh & the People of Boston, which features so many logos you’d think Walsh was Mayor of NASCAR.
All told, there are five full-page ads in the section (everyone from Bob’s Discount Furniture to TAG Heuer) and ten half-page ads (ranging from Tostitos to Rutgers Football). An adstravaganza, in other words.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, meanwhile, there’s no special section, just the regular Sunday Sports.
The not-so-special section features just four Pats-related ads, starting with this must-have.
There are also ads for a New England Patriots Super Bowl LI Commemorative Fan Ring, the New England Patriots Super Bowl 51 Champions Legacy Decanter Set, and the First-Ever Tom Brady Gold Dollar.
Collect them all! Trade them with your friends!
And feel just a little bad for the thirsty local tabloid.
‘Ambassador’ Brady’s timing is just right at TAG Heuer event
Tom Brady was introduced as new “brand ambassador” for luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer at an event in New York this week. What does that mean exactly? Apparently, the Pats QB will be appearing in the company’s upcoming “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” ad campaign.
Poor Jane Rosenberg, the courtroom artist whose drawing of Tom Brady during a Deflategate hearing, well, blew up last month. Rosenberg got her mulligan yesterday, a matter of great interest here in Bradyville.
The Boston Globe’s Namesniks gave her new sketch a thumb’s up.
Artist has second shot at sketching Tom Brady
Everyone likes a good comeback story. On Monday, courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg got hers.
Rosenberg made national news Aug. 12 after her less-than-flattering sketches of Tom Brady from his Deflategate hearing went viral. She told the Globe that day, of her courtroom work, “I don’t tend to flatter people and make them look beautiful.” Later she said she received hundreds of e-mails from fans who were unhappy with the depiction of their quarterback. But on Monday, after Brady left the courtroom, Rosenberg unveiled her new look for the Patriots star. Looks more like the guy we know, right?
Actually, no, according to crosstown rival Boston Herald.
Artist’s 2nd Brady sketch draws different critiques
Courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg got another crack at drawing Tom Brady following a disastrous first attempt that depicted the Patriots quarterback as ghoulish and uncomely, opening her up to ridicule and scorn from Patriots nation.
Unfortunately, her second sketch bears a striking resemblance to the wrong All-Pro quarterback.
Trying to tone down the rigid features she gave Brady’s lower face in the first sketch, Rosenberg ended up extending and stretching Brady’s forehead, creating a figure that more closely resembles his rival, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
Didn’t mince words? Not to get technical about it, but that’s all Belichick does.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, Steve Buckley gave a representative sample of Mr. Hoodie’s evasive maneuvers.
Media member: “Do you believe Tom Brady when he says that neither he nor anyone in the Patriots organization did anything wrong?”
Belichick: “We start training camp today. We’ll get ready for the 2015 season starting today.”
Media member: “Is there something flawed about the system here in the organization that you keep ending up in these cheating controversies? Can you explain why?”
Belichick: “It’s already been addressed.”
Media member: “Could you elaborate a little?”
Belichick: “No.”
Media member: “Why not?”
Belichick: “Because it’s already been addressed.”
And Herald columnist Karen Guregian gave the Globe a bit of an English lesson.
Robert Kraft’s on-again, off-again war with Roger Goodell and the NFL is back on . . .
There was no mincing words. Kraft believes he got screwed when he put his reputation on the line with Patriots fans by standing down and choosing not to fight the league’s unprecedented punishment of his team.
The newly minted girlfriend of New England Patriot tight (usually) end Rob Gronkowski hit the highly coveted dailies double today: Inside Track in the Boston Herald, Names in the Boston Globe.
Begin with the stately local broadsheet.
She’s cheering for Benrus (and Gronk) now
Former Patriots cheerleader Camille Kostek has had a busy week on the Internet.
On Monday, TMZ broke the news that the Connecticut native was dating Patriot Rob Gronkowski. Meanwhile, it was also announced Monday that she’d been named the new ambassador for the Rhode Island company Benrus. By Tuesday afternoon, the military-inspired fashion brand had launched a new website with Kostek all over it.
And how does she feel about putting away the pompoms?
“I kind of relate myself to Vince Wilfork,” she said, of her last big gig being the Super Bowl. “There wasn’t a better way to close it out.”
Wonder if Wilfork is feeling like the Camille Kostek of Houston?
Probably not, eh?
Crosstown at the frothy local tabloid, the former communications major at Eastern Connecticut State showed that she has her priorities straight.
Former New England Patriots cheerleader Camille Kostek would like to be known as more than just the girl who has been out on a few dates with Pats one-man party Rob Gronkowski!
“I know the stuff about Rob has been in the headlines, but I’m super excited to talk about myself and my career,” Camille told the Track. “I’ve really been working hard and was working hard before I was ever able to meet him.”
Absolutely.
In contrast to the Globe, the Herald associates Kostek with the polar opposite of Vince Wilfork.
So does she take inspiration from the most famous supermodel of all: Mrs. Tom Brady?
“Oh my goodness, do I aspire to be like Gisele?” she said. “I just turned 23, I’m enjoying being young and focusing on my career. This is a super-exciting moment, but I’m just starting to blossom.”
Ouch.
So it’s not just the boyfriend who knows how to hit.
Boston GlobeSox owner John Henry gets batted around in the Boston Herald’s Inside Track today, thanks to this Eric Wilbur piece on boston.com.
Boston is Still a Red Sox Town Even if Tom Brady is King
Who rules Boston: the Red Sox or Patriots?
Ultimately, there is no clear front-runner in the debate over whether Boston has ultimately become a football town, or if it maintains its long-time status as a bastion of baseball devotees.
The correct answer is both. It’s a Red Sox town. And it’s a Patriots town.
And boston.com is a Henry town, although the piece never mentions that. Which led Track Gal Gayle Fee to mention this:
SURPRISE! GLOBE SITE CITES SOX #1
Stop the presses: “Boston is Still a Red Sox Town Even If Tom Brady Is King.”
That’s according to Boston. com, the digital arm of the Boston Globe. But nowhere in the commentary by sports blogger Eric Wilbur does he mention that the Red Sox, the Globe and Boston.com are all owned by the same man — John Henry!
Which makes Wilbur’s conclusion — that without Brady, the Patriots would be chopped liver, fanwise — somewhat suspect, don’t cha think???
Full disclosure: The hardreading staff believes that any publication owned by Henry should disclose the connection every time it reports on the Boston Red Sox or the Liverpool Football Club or Roush Fenway Racing or Fenway Park or anything Henry has purchased since we started this post. Some people we greatly respect believe we’re over-fastidious in this matter (hi, Dan!), but we’ve learned to live with that.
Then again, some have learned to live without.
Boston.com editor Tim Molloy, who has been on the job just under a month, said he has not even met John Henry, let alone been told what to write by the Sox boss. And Molloy said he saw no problem in Wilbur’s not disclosing the boss’s mutual ownership in the piece.
“I think that’s pretty well known,” he told the Track. “It’s not anything we disguise or try to keep secret. And I’ve had absolutely no contact with Mr. Henry in terms of anything editorial.”
That last, of course, is entirely beside the point. Regardless, Molloy told the Track that “if Henry’s ownership of the paper, the website and the team were disclosed in Wilbur’s piece, it should be disclosed ‘every time we write about the Red Sox.'”
The Broncos are going to beat the Patriots Sunday.
Sorry, that’s just the way I see it. I am not rooting for the Broncos. I am not into Satanic worship. Please do not kill my whole family. I am often wrong (remember the 2013 Red Sox, destined for last place?) and hopefully for New England fans, I will be wrong again.
The Patriots have proven folks wrong time and again. Overcoming doubters is the foundation of the Patriot franchise.
Doubting the Patriots this weekend is hardly a daring position. They are significant underdogs in Vegas. Most of the national TV panel guys will pick against New England. Some of the handicapping local car dealers will pick the Broncos. There might even be a footy-pajama fanboy or two with doubts about the Patriots’ ability to beat Peyton Manning.
So I am a doubter . . .
A doubter? Not in Denver, Danny Boy. There you’re a hero. You even made the homepage of the First-and-Orange BroncoBlog (look lower left).
You don’t see the Boston Herald being fêted in the Mile High City, do ya Danno?
No.
Final word goes to Roger Bournival at Dan Shaughnessy Watch (“We read him so you don’t have to”):
For what it’s worth, Tom Brady is 10-4 in head-to-head matchups with Peyton Manning. If Shank thinks the Patriots are going to lose, that’s all I need to take the Patriots.
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 