By Ron Borges
Sportswriters and fans never cease to amaze me. Troy Brown’s visit to the New York Jets last week reminded me of that once again.
Apparently based on nothing but air, some media folks in these parts assumed that, as one person put it, Brown “would not ever consider teams that would be slated to play the Patriots this season.’’ What was that based on?
A week later Troy Brown had run a down and out to Long Island to meet with the Jets, a logical choice actually based on his knowledge of Eric Mangini and many of his assistant coaches and the team’s proximity to his home in Massachusetts. Obviously, Brown would rather finish his career in New England but if he has been told to look elsewhere, as has been widely reported, why would he exclude anyone?
More to the point, why should he?
Loyalty?
Please.
Loyalty anywhere but in professional sports is a two-way street. Brown has played admirably and courageously for 15 years in New England. He has done everything and anything he was asked and been well paid to do it. Fair deal. Loyalty had nothing to do with it.
But was it really necessary for Bill Belichick to leave him in street clothes for what may well have been the final two games of his career in New England? If Belichick had any thought that he would not bring Brown back in 2008 – and since he thinks of everything months ahead of everyone else on the planet except for the proper use of a video camera one has to assume he at least had an inkling of what was coming for Troy Brown. So would it really have been too much to ask to dress the guy for the Super Bowl?
Spare me the nonsensical “doing what’s best for the team’’ jive. There is nothing Troy Brown would do on a football field, or in the locker room or on the practice field, which would not be good for his team. Anyone who tries to argue otherwise is an idiot in all capital letters.
Belichick has the right to make whatever personnel decisions he wants but after not being allowed to dress for what likely was to be his final game as a Patriot just why should Brown then exclude any potential future employer? Out of past kindnesses? What past kindnesses?
Having not spoken with Brown for a while I have no idea if he will end up with the Jets, or Bill Parcells’ Miami Dolphins (who could surely use his character and locker room presence as well as his still evident, though slipping, abilities) or elsewhere or back in Foxborough or out of football all together. If he’s not going to play for the Patriots the Jets certainly would seem a smart choice because it’s a short train ride or car ride from home and he knows well what they are trying to do offensively.
Seeing Brown in Jets’ colors would be stomach curdling for Patriots’ fans and understandably so except for one thing – his team not only has told him it has no use for him but chose to deny him one last chance to wear their uniform in the biggest game of the year. If you think that’s sentimental, it’s because it is. So what? It’s not like one is advocating benching Randy Moss (not that it would have mattered the way he disappeared in the playoffs) in favor of Troy Brown. What we’re talking about is letting the guy stand with his teammates for one more National Anthem in the nation’s biggest football game of the year.
The message from all this should be clear to fans, media types and players alike. It’s the same message that has been coming out of Foxborough for over seven years now and it’s simple to understand: You want to find loyalty buy a dog or a dictionary because that’s the only place you’re going to find it these parts.
All sides of the sporting equation should understand this by now, which only makes reports speculating that a long-time fan favorite like Brown would not consider playing for one of his former employer’s rivals is absurd and nonsensical. Any athlete unwilling to explore all his options in this day and age will soon find himself out of them.
And out of the league.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Danny Boy® // Mar 22, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Ron, please….I’m with ya most of the time but lets get real…BB and the Pats were very loyal when they gave Troy a roster spot and about a million bucks last year as a retirement thank you. Are they suppose to keep a spot open for him again until he decides to hang ‘em up?
2 strazzerj // Mar 24, 2008 at 9:39 am
Mr. Tomase seems to be having ongoing problems with his sources.
He wrote “Brown has also made it clear that he won’t play for a team that faces the Patriots next year, which rules out the Jets and Dolphins, who have expressed cursory interest.”
I wonder if this came from the same source that indicated the Patriots had filmed the Rams walkthrough prior to the Super Bowl?
3 Ron Borges // Mar 24, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Danny boy,
Not saying they should have given him a roster spot for next year. What I said was the idea that he would not consider any and all future employers out of some sort of loyalty to the Patriots - who make clear every year that their players are little more than well-paid disposable part - was ridiculous.
In addition, are you saying you disagree that the right thing to do in that Super bowl would ahve been to dress Brown, especially since by then BB had to have a pretty good idea he wouldn’t be bringing Brown back. The way his OL played, he could have put Brown there. He wouldn’t have done any worse.
4 Ron Borges // Mar 24, 2008 at 10:25 pm
How can you say tomase has a problem with his source on the Rams’ Super bowl story. Seems to me the only thing that’s sure is the NFL is bending over backwards to make sure Walsh doesn’t get a deal that lets him talk, as Sen. Specter accused them of again last week on rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Why not make all that correspondence public and let the public decide how much the NFL wants to talk to Matt Walsh? I continue to wonder if this is such a flimsy story why the NFL doesn’t have the guts to let the guy talk and reveal whatever he has or doesn’t have.
5 strazzerj // Mar 25, 2008 at 5:41 am
Of course if you read my comments again, you’ll see that I never said Tomase has a problem with his source on the Rams’ Super Bowl story. I just wondered if his Rams source is as trustworthy as his Troy Brown source.
Arlen Specter + Rush Limbaugh - now that’s comedy!
Walsh’s lawyer let’s Specter see the letters “on a promise of confidentiality”. So he goes and talks about them on Rush’s show. Funny stuff!
6 Danny Boy® // Mar 26, 2008 at 5:15 pm
BB dresses the players that can help him win that particular game, that particular week. There is nothing I saw from Troy in 2007 that would make me dress him for the Super Bowl. Did you see differently?
Can I pimp a new Patriots Usenet group for members only? I’m trying to become the group bartender…with a bit more studying, I think I got a shot!
http://groups.google.com/group/asfpnep-2
7 cblooz // Mar 28, 2008 at 7:28 am
Ron,
You take the comments of a few all the time and use them as gosple. So some media folk (why not name them Ron what is the harm?) say Troy would never leave the Patriots to go to a division rival and you get yourself all wound up over it? C’mon Ron the majority of all sports fans-not just the ones in this area know full well that all players and coaches are cattle-they are bought and sold at the drop of a hat and that is true of college and professional athletes.
You hear a couple of callers and hosts on WEEI and all of a sudden all fans feel this way. Were you muttering “Stupid Boston fans…” too Ron.
8 rational one // Mar 28, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I was upset when the dictator didn’t dress Troy. Does anyone think he doesn’t know the routes? Wasn’t his strength that he always could get open? And also that Brady always knew where he would be?
Who did they dress who helped the team more?
Is it true that Kraft has offered him a lifetime job?
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