SI Rick Reilly brutal hatchet job

[Skkorpion]

Apparently Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly brutalizes Michael Bidwill and the Cards in a long article. Somebody with SI Extra please paste it here.

 

[JPlay]

Remember him when the Cards turn it around.

 

[Mulli]

Bickley read it on the radio this morning.

It rehashes all of the Bidwill's misdeeds. Even Bickley and MJ seemed to think it was gratuitious.

You get the feeling that the Cardinals didn't treat Riley like royalty when he visited camp recently.

 

[40yearfan]

Speaking of Jurecki---what gives? He was on Fox AZ. sports channel Monday and they introduced him as the Cardinal insider. I thought he lost that job.

 

[CardsGuy]

Cardinal Sin*By Rick Reilly

*Cardinal Sin*By Rick Reilly
*
Some people collect medieval torture devices. Others devote themselves to the study of plagues. Me, I just follow the Arizona Cardinals.
*
Every year I circle the day on my calendar when the Cards open camp and really begin sucking in earnest. They have a Commitment to Wretchedness—58 years since they won an NFL title, one playoff win in that time and one winning season in the last 20.
*
All that ´´couldn’t have happened without Bill and Michael Bidwill, a father-son ownership team that could mess up a one-float parade.
*
Since then–Chicago Cardinals owner Charles Bidwill died in 1947, the franchise has been the Pinto of the NFL. Owned until ’62 by Charles’s widow, Violet, and since by his son, Bill, the Bidwills have somehow made the No. 1 sport in America about as popular in the Arizona desert as down ski parkas.
*
How have the Bidwills been able to avoid winning a championship for 58 years in the parity-obsessed NFL? By keeping their payroll historically low, driving off players and being too cheap to sign good new ones.
*
You want skinflints? The Bidwills make Marge Schott look like Jackie Onassis. Rookies had to buy their own shoes. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Cardinals would issue each player one of everything—one jockstrap, one T-shirt, one pair of workout shorts—and dock him for any replacements. “That was the cheapest place I’ve ever been,” tackle Lomas Brown, a Cardinal from 1996 through ’98, told the Chronicle.
*
This is the Cardinal way: In 1999 popular tight end Chris Gedney, who suffered from ulcerative colitis, was cut after the first of two major surgeries. Upon his recovery they re-signed him.
Gedney was teammates with Pat Tillman, the former Arizona safety who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. “We were stretching before a home game,” Gedney recalls. “There were only 15,000 people in the whole stadium, and they had the speakers tuned to some cozy jazz station, and Pat looked at me and said, ‘Man, this place is so bush league.’”
*
Welcome to Bidwillville. “Michael Bidwill is a miserable human being,” a former Cards front-office employee says of the team’s 40-year-old vice president and general counsel. “The old man isn’t so bad. It’s the son nobody in the building can stand.”
*
Even eternally sunny Fiesta Bowl president and CEO John Junker says working with Michael “has had its challenges.”
*
Michael objects. “If people perceive me to be combative, I don’t mean to be,” he says. “Maybe my style is a little tough. But remember my background: I used to be a federal prosecutor [specializing in homicides].”
*
He and his father should do time just for screwing up a sure thing. In 1988, after 28 seasons in St. Louis, they moved the franchise to Phoenix—fifth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. and dying for pro football—and got a list of 122,000 people who wanted season tickets. They immediately gouged customers by charging the highest average ticket price in the NFL. They leased Arizona State’s 73,000-seat Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe and wound up suing the school over signage revenue.
*
Seventeen years later Arizona has been the worst draw in the NFL for five years running—averaging 37,533 in 2004. It seems as if half the crowd is wearing the other team’s jersey.
*
At least Phoenicians don’t have to watch the Cards much. Because NFL games are blacked out locally if they’re not sold out, Arizona fans ´´haven’t seen a home game on TV in five years. The Cardinals can be watched only on the road, where they’re 1–20 since Oct. 6, 2002. That’s one TV success in three years, breaking a record set by Geraldo Rivera.
*
Oh, wait. One game played locally was telecast in 2003—the Miami–San Diego game, which was moved to Tempe during the Southern California wildfires. Hey, at least fans got to see pro football that day.
*
“The Cardinals need new owners real bad,” says Bob Parsons, president of Scottsdale’s ´´GoDaddy.com, the world’s biggest ´´domain-name broker. “Advertising at their games is like advertising in a ghost town. Nobody goes there.”
*
Would the Bidwills sell the NFL’s lowest-valued franchise ($552 million)? “No way,” says Michael. “This has been in our family forever.”
*
And why should they sell, when next season they move into a new stadium in suburban Glendale (a gift from taxpayers, who are footing two thirds of the $370 million cost)? See, kids? Pinch nickels, lose like the French army and cash in!
*
Some people think the Cards are coming around, what with the new stadium and signing quarterback Kurt Warner. This only proves that glue-sniffing is alive and well in this country. Bank on it: The Bidwills will keep making more by doing less than anybody else in the NFL. “You should see the restroom ratios in this stadium,” Michael says. “It’s 190-to-1, person-to-toilet.”
*
Hey, when you’re a Cardinals fan, you need all the toilets you can get.

 

[KingofCards]

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Tough bit of journalism there Rick. It is easy to kick a franchise that has been down for a long time. My question is: Why does he write this article with such vitrol?



Cards and fans can shove this article up his *** when we win the division this year...

 

[Pariah]

Except for the mean remarks about Mike Bidwill, he's pretty spot on in his estimation of the team up until very recently. And, he's entitled to his opinion of the club's future (though I don't agree with it).

I'm okay with the article.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

until they put something good (not better, but actually good) on the field i see no reason to bash a writer who is reporting what he is seeing. his facts seem all spot on. the tone is harsh, but y'know, when a team has sucked for so long and players make those quotes, it's hard to argue with harsh.

 

[Mulli]

Except for the mean remarks about Mike Bidwill, he's pretty spot on in his estimation of the team up until very recently. And, he's entitled to his opinion of the club's future (though I don't agree with it).

I'm okay with the article.

I agree that most if not all of what he wrote happened. But what is the point of the article? Why pile on? In my opinion, it was gratuitous.

I can't help but think that Riley is getting back at the Cardinals for not kissing up to him when he visited here.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I agree that most if not all of what he wrote happened. But what is the point of the article? Why pile on? In my opinion, it was gratuitous.

I can't help but think that Riley is getting back at the Cardinals for not kissing up to him when he visited here.

what's more likely to sell? a piece about how mediocre the cards have been or a slam? it's about selling.

 

[Redsz]

I don't mind when someone points out the obvious. As the Cardinals have not been good for years. But there is a tone to the article that sticks out like a sore thumb if you just read a couple of paragraphs.

 

[Pariah]

I can't help but think that Riley is getting back at the Cardinals for not kissing up to him when he visited here.

And that's how the game is played. You want favorable media coverage, you need to make friends in the media. Denny seemed to go out of his way to NOT make friends. No big deal. This article won't hurt the team.

If anything, it'll help loosen the purse strings.

 

[Mulli]

what's more likely to sell? a piece about how mediocre the cards have been or a slam? it's about selling.

I suppose that makes some sense. I am just so used to nothing about the Cardinals selling.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

Except for the mean remarks about Mike Bidwill, he's pretty spot on in his estimation of the team up until very recently. And, he's entitled to his opinion of the club's future (though I don't agree with it).

I'm okay with the article.

Article is actually on the money and good, Except for the Michael Bidwill bashing. Cards can cure this all pretty easy by winning and this season will start shutting people up. Look at the Bucs, they were a complete joke of a franchise, then they started winning and now they are a legitimate Franchise in peoples eyes. even if their team blows almost as bad as some of the recent bad Cards teams, this year

 

[clif]

I agree that most if not all of what he wrote happened. But what is the point of the article? Why pile on? In my opinion, it was gratuitous.

I can't help but think that Riley is getting back at the Cardinals for not kissing up to him when he visited here.

Exactly.. what is the point of stating the obvious?? If you don't like the team or the owners get the **** out!! Get your facts straight...the taxpayers are not footing 2/3rds of the bill. Pointless article

 

[Pariah]

Exactly.. what is the point of stating the obvious?? If you don't like the team or the owners get the **** out!! Get your facts straight...the taxpayers are not footing 2/3rds of the bill. Pointless article

Riley's a columnist--all of his articles are pointless.

 

[Pariah]

I really thought the line about losing like the french army was pretty funny. I'm gonna use it and not even give Reilly credit.

 

[clif]

I can't wait to see the look on this jack hole's face when the cards start winning and challegining for the division every year. Isn't this the guy that had the big problem (among many) with barry bonds?

Anybody else have a problem with the supposed Pat Tillman comment? I mean who is to say that he actually did say that... since he is not here to refute it. His piece would have been ok without it.

 

[Pariah]

Anybody else have a problem with the supposed Pat Tillman comment? I mean who is to say that he actually did say that... since he is not here to refute it. His piece would have been ok without it.

He's quoting Gedney. It's Gedney you should have a problem with, not the author of the article.

I don't think Gedney would put words in Tillman's mouth, though.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Most of what he reports is true. The Cardinals have sucked for many years and the fans don't flock to the Cardinal games anymore. IMO the people in the Cardinal organization who don't like Michael are the ones who knew their jobs were safe when his dad was in charge.

However the past is the past. Clearly this guy hasn't done his homework on the new Cardinals. He acts as if Kurt Warner is the only piece of the puzzle that was added the last couple of years.

Yet he neglects to mention:
Bertrand Berry (Got for Average Price with Probowl Production)
David Macklin (Low price Big Contributer)
Larry Fitzgerald (Solid Rookie Contributer)
Karlos Dansby (Solid Rookie Contributer)
Darnell Dockett (Solid Rookie Contributer)

Chike Okeafor (A Top DE Free Agent)
Oliver Ross (A top RT Free Agent)
Antrell Rolle (Great Value Draft Pick)
JJ Arrington (Great Value Draft Pick)
Daryl Blackstock (Great Value Draft Pick)
Elton Brown (Great Value Draft Pick)

 

[JPlay]

I think the Bush League comment is more in lines with the Stadium they played in and the technology. I'm sure the new stadium will play updated rock and hip hop.

 

[clif]

He's quoting Gedney. It's Gedney you should have a problem with, not the author of the article.

I don't think Gedney would put words in Tillman's mouth, though.

I know he is quoting Gedney, but my point is that the whole quote could have been left out and he would have made his point ( however meaningless). I just have a problem with a second hand quote from someone who is no longer hear to admit or deny he ever said it. In every interaction that I have seen or heard of from Pat.. he always seemed to have high regards for MR B, so to throw this in kinda smacks that in the face. Who knows he could have said it, but he can't say one way or the other now.

 

[clif]

I think the Bush League comment is more in lines with the Stadium they played in and the technology. I'm sure the new stadium will play updated rock and hip hop.

I think so too, but it just seems a little unneccessary.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I think so too, but it just seems a little unneccessary.

Not really, SDS is Bush league compared to any other NFL stadium. Now in about a year all of this stadium talk will be the exact opposite!