Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins
Forum Rules and Guidelines

La Canfora says ES guys "picked a fight" with Lenny P in Tampa...

wilbur58z

By wilbur58z
in The Stadium

Recommended Posts

MichStateFan

MichStateFan

Posted
Posted
Guy, maybe you're missing something, but, this was WELL after the game. Lenny's story was already filed. He was browsing the internet and waiting on his editors to ask him questions, while nibbling on post-game chow. I don't know what time he arrived at the stadium, but, Die Hard and I were the first two in the press box that day, as most days we attend.

The story is written up in full detail here in this thread, fresh from it happening, so, you can rely upon the accuracy. No one said anything untoward toward Lenny. He got a quick ribbing with a line from one of his articles and he went off. He did so even as I repeatedly tried to let him off the hook :).

Jason, I suspect, knows all this, but, something about being a bit of a tool might prevent him from openly admitting it :).

As someone who knows Jason from way back in the day :

Don't question Jason's view of events. Jason knows everything. Just ask him. :laugh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
slackermike

slackermike

Posted
Posted
As for fearing 'losing the privilege', we were fans before this, we'll be fans afterwards. Whats to fear? Its a privilege we earned, and gave up a lot to experience. And we've done a hell of a job covering this team from a fan's point of view the past 2 years - again, something no one but you guys has EVER bothered saying to us.

You guys have done a great job. :applause:

I don't think really that anyone needs to defend Lenny P or Art, they seem quite capable of holding their own. :)

You said that you guys "gave up a lot" to experience this. I'm just curious what sacrifices you guys made to get this privilege? Not being an ass, I'm just curious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
themurf

themurf

Posted
Posted
An alternative take...

I haven't met Jason directly, but from my very limited interactions with him in the press box, he's been a perfectly respectful guy. As has pretty much every other person I came across.

Expecting a professional environment in a working environment (such as a press box) is a reasonable expectation. We all say that we can do the same thing that the professional journalists do, that we know more, etc. And that's fine for each of you to say, but it's not an easy job. As much as I've cherished every second I've been in the press box, I've also realized what a difficult job these guys have. There's tons of pressure, and you always have to be the first to break "big" news. Think about what it'd be like if you had 40,000 (or more) people reading everything you wrote and critiquing it. It's what these guys have chosen, but that doesn't mean it doesn't take talent and hard work.

Consider if you had spent the better part of 10 years working toward a goal of professional accomplishment only to arrive there and have people that have short-cut the line have access to the same amentities and exclusivities that you've worked so hard for. I can't speak for each of you, but I'm not sure I would have welcomed the guys who got the free* pass to the top. Now I wouldn't go out of my way to be rude to them, but it has to be a little tough to have such people with the exact same access, especially when they don't behave in the way that all are expected to behave.

And I'm not making a comment about how Art and Tony behaved. I'm just saying that you have to realize that the Press Box is an EXTRAORDINARILY quiet place, it's spooky-quiet. Like a masoleum. And when people, especially those that might not have "street cred" in the eyes of the other professionals in attendence, break the silence, it's not going to be met with glee on the part of the regulars.

And read what Jason wrote: he found fault on both sides. This isn't an attack on ES or on the fans. There are sports journalists out there that do that, but Jason isn't, in my opinion, and certainly not in this instance, attacking any of us.

Just my thoughts on this.

*Free meaning, no J-school/working for crappy papers before making the move to a major media outlet. Tony and Art have worked tremendously hard for the success of this site. Just so we're clear.

You're just a media fanboy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
aqq

aqq

Posted
Posted

I'm still trying to figure out who started this site....So its Art?...i thought Blade was one of the owners. I think the 1st person i disagreed with on this site was Art. wow that was very poorly chosen.

I agree that the comment to Lenny P was harmless. he has been killing the team and its fans since synder took over and if a little comment like that hurts his ego than tough.

The guy got bent out of shape over a Stinkston comment and actually made a big deal out of it over a LIVE radio show. i guess we cant be surprised that he made a stink out of this comment in the pressbox. sounds like he is mentally unstable to me. As for Jason i thinks its strange that he would bring this up again on sept 26th in a blog. He sticks up for Len P now when the incident happened in january. I think he still unhappy about u guys catching him on the ES website or maybe u took is favorite seat at Fedex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sebowski

Sebowski

Posted
Posted

And yes, I wish we could find that originial Pastabelly article from January of 2004

Wednesday, January 7, 2004

By Len Pasquarelli

ESPN.com

As the O.J. Simpson trial demonstrated, once they add the bronze to the statue and spit-polish the bust, it's difficult indeed to get booted out of the Hall of Fame.

Lucky thing for Joe Gibbs.

While a jury acquitted Simpson, there's no way Gibbs isn't guilty of at least dubious judgment, and he'd do well to plead nolo cotendere to charges he has taken leave of his senses. Makes you wonder if Gibbs, 11 seasons removed from the NFL sideline, has inhaled too many fumes while standing behind his fleet of NASCAR entries.

The first reaction upon hearing that Gibbs has accepted the proposal of Redskins owner Dan Snyder was to wonder if the coach had suffered what heretofore will be known as a Britney Spears Moment. The second was to consider that, if he really wanted to coach again so badly, Gibbs could have inherited the Atlanta Falcons, a team in which he was a minority shareholder. The third was, well, to wish Gibbs good luck.

Because he is going to need it in industrial barrel-sized measures.

Make no mistake, just because Gibbs knows more about restrictor plates than he does running backs right now, his pride and work ethic will allow him to play catch up. Still, there will be days when Gibbs might confuse Patrick Ramsey, his quarterback, with a quarter-turn on some wing-nut that controls downforce.

Closing the knowledge void won't be as easy as Tony Stewart trying to make up a lap after having a flawed right front tire blister up on him. The learning curve gap that Gibbs faces could be every bit as treacherous as the third turn at Talladaga. Clearly, the great coach has been able, however, to mentally rationalize away all the negatives.

Then again, once you've been engaged in an undertaking where you huckster off every inch of the product for more sponsor's decals, it's apparently not quite as hard to auction your soul to the devil, as Gibbs has done.

Gibbs retired after the 1992 season, a three-time Super Bowl champion, a man at the top of his profession. That 1992 date is significant because it means that Gibbs never worked under the restraints of a salary cap and never had to deal with free agency as we know it now. It is meaningful, too, because 11 seasons is a lifetime in the NFL, as Gibbs will soon find out, and the players have changed.

Notice, we didn't say the game has changed that much because, as Dick Vermeil demonstrated after returning from a 15-season hiatus and Bill Parcells keeps proving in his various reincarnations, the same principles that he taught in his first coaching life still apply. His game-planning and preparation brilliance aside, though, Gibbs will discover that, if he tells LaVar Arrington to not freelance so much, the results won't be the same as they were with, say, Monte Coleman.

The Redskins are a team who, scouts will tell you, has enough quality personnel. But just because there's a guy named Champ on the roster doesn't mean Washington is going to a Super Bowl anytime soon. And bringing back venerable assistant coach Joe Bugel won't guarantee that the guy who tutored The Hogs can make a silk purse from an offensive line unit that in 2003 had all the movement skills of bumps on logs. Led the past two years by a man who loved to refer to himself as The Ol' Ball Coach, the Redskins are now shepherded by a man who is old, hasn't been a coach in over a decade, and may not fully understand how ball is played in this millennium.

And then, of course, there is the matter of ownership. Some credit to Snyder, who began the courtship of Gibbs on New Year's Eve at a tiny airfield in Concord, N.C. When we got an anonymous tip that Redskins One was parked there -- sorry, Dan, it's a private jet and not a Stealth bomber -- team officials responded to the query by insisting the imperial owner was "on business."

Yep, monkey business, with one of The Daniel's minority partners, a buddy of Gibbs for many years, brokering the deal. All the posturing afterwards -- the trip to the West Coast, the interviews with three other candidates, questioning media acquaintances about what the best age is for a head coach -- was little more than a diversion. Long before Tuesday, when word began to leak that the Redskins little man was up to something big, we all should have seen the light.

The Daniel, after all, is a product of the Beltway Mentality. He frets far too much about buying success than developing it, obsesses about how he is perceived, covets the lineage of his franchise instead of figuring out a new world way for inventing his own heritage. He surrounds himself with links to the Redskins past, counseling with old school types, instead of trying to uplink to the future.

Build through the draft? Why bother when you can open the coffers and buy a bunch of veterans? Actually hire a coach who can grow with your franchise? C'mon, this is all about a big name guy coaching bigger-name players. Marty Schottenheimer. Steve Spurrier. And now Joe Gibbs.

For years, Gibbs worked under the notoriously meddlesome Jack Kent Cooke, so maybe he thinks he is prepared to have an owner peering over his shoulder. Jack Kent Cooke might soon look like an absentee owner to Gibbs, though, given what awaits him. Good thing for Gibbs he's got a history, after all these years in NASCAR, of working the pits.

People in the business like to refer to Arizona as the elephant burial grounds for head coaching careers. Well, now Gibbs is headed into the Beltway Vortex, and here's hoping he has thought this thing out.

Maybe we'll be wrong about this but, for the heck of it, here's a bet: Three years from now, the guy who accepted the Redskins job as a Hall of Fame member will be viewed as just another ordinary Joe.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

----

Found here:

http://extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46289

..and a bigger thread on it I found here:

http://extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46229

Edit: Put the blatant slams in raised font.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

Posted
Posted
By Kilmer17 "Im glad he's stated his position on this with NO room for wiggle. When we win, we need to remember this."

I think we remembered.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

We will never forget this article.

Like I said, I hope when we do win the first Superbowl, the answer at the press conference by anyone to a Pastabelly question is "he isn't an ordinary Joe now is he?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dcoles11

dcoles11

Posted
Posted

Don't understand members of the media looking down at or disliking fans.

Fans are the reason they have a job. Fans are the reason the NFL exist.

Pride and passion for a team is what drives the NFL.

If there were no fans nobody would hire you or give a damn about what you have to say about the NFL.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spanishomelette

spanishomelette

Posted
Posted
Don't understand members of the media looking down at or disliking fans.

Fans are the reason they have a job. Fans are the reason the NFL exist.

Pride and passion for a team is what drives the NFL.

If there were no fans nobody would hire you or give a damn about what you have to say about the NFL.

Because it is their subjective opinion that their own objectivity (criticizing and assuming the worst) makes their powers of observation superior to the tinted glasses that fans wear.

I would say that they're wearing glasses also, and while they may not be colored they do seem to be poorly made :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tarhog

Tarhog

Posted
Posted
You guys have done a great job. :applause:

I don't think really that anyone needs to defend Lenny P or Art, they seem quite capable of holding their own. :)

You said that you guys "gave up a lot" to experience this. I'm just curious what sacrifices you guys made to get this privilege? Not being an ass, I'm just curious.

We gave up ownership of the site. We gave up creative and absolute control over what happens here. While saying that, I'll also give the Redskins major props for living up to their word. They've never once instructed, steered, encouraged, or otherwise pressured us to muzzle an opinion or influence the dynamic of the board. Thats shockingly true, and really, considering they could easily have done so, they've shown almost super-human restraint.

But ultimately, we gave up the site in return for what we felt was an unprecedented opportunity (directly so for us, and indirectly for our membership) to peek behind the curtain of our beloved NFL franchise and see the team and experience the NFL in the most intimate possible way.

The 'sacrifice' I refer to is that the 'baby' has grown up and will soon leave the house, and while proud, its also a little sad. Thats just my opinion though :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TD Riggo

TD Riggo

Posted
Posted

These guys enjoyed "the good old days" when they were lords over the snivelling fan, just because the snivelling little weasel fans like us didn't have a platform to make our own observations about sports.

Well now it's two-thousand-freaking-six and snivelling fat blathering morons whose opinions have never really mattered but have the "credentials" to sit in the press box and form complete sentences worth of drivel are all upset that "a little message board" (whose members probably never bother to read Lenny the Hut's worthless opinions) get representation in the press box. Well, guess what Pastabelly? The ES'ers have more of a right to be in that press box than you because the message board is now owned by the Redskins!

Idiot! (and that goes for La Canfora too!)

This is the same nonsense that members of the old guard press (like say, a Washington Post, NY Times., or CBS News) use to try and invalidate new media like Drudge. Well, guess what main street media? The world has changed, and more people read Drudge and similar websites than do the morning paper! Handle it, Losers! If your opinions are considered so worthless that no one reads your drivel, then don't get jealous of the internet media that people DO read!

And I read Art or Tarhog's post regarding that incident back in January, and they had every right to question his motives!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...