SI Rick Reilly brutal hatchet job

[justAndy]

...

Who can make a smiley of this: "Bulletin board material"?

 

[40yearfan]

I think he was too one sides and I think it's a bad time for it because I think he'll look a little silly after this yr.. he said both the Bidwill's screwed up the franchise and I think that's going to be proven not to be true...

I also agree that Glendale (well at least AZ) is footing two thirds of the bill..yeah we're getting it from people buying rental cars but we could have used that same type of tax for something else..it's still revenue we could use....

If it wasn't for the stadium, the tax revenue wouldn't have been available as the hotel and rental car industries would not back any tax on them that wouldn't further increase their revenues. So your statement that you could have used it for something else is incorrect.

 

[ajcardfan]

If it wasn't for the stadium, the tax revenue wouldn't have been available as the hotel and rental car industries would not back any tax on them that wouldn't further increase their revenues. So your statement that you could have used it for something else is incorrect.

And, I believe, the Cards paying a third of the stadium costs is the biggest chunk of money any team has put forth on a tax-supported stadium. (The Skins stadium was built with all private money.)

 

[duckfallas]

Funny that someone who picked a company name as stupid as godaddy.com would bash the Card's ownership or stadium advertising.

 

[JPlay]

not sure i agree with that. games in miami are pretty gross early in the season. games in chicago, green bay, nyc, etc. are pretty unbearable in december. the stadium gives people a good excuse as an "out," but i don't think that argument really holds much water. they just haven't been putting a good product on the field. that's it.

No you don't understand, it's not just hot here, it's F-ing hot. Pushing 110+ regularly when the season starts. Plus the summer here lasts until mid to late October. Not to mention the metal bleachers. Hardcore fans will come out, but everyone else will only come when the team starts winning.

Cold weather is football weather, plus you can wear jackets and cover up. But there is no escaping the heat.

I don't blame players for not wanting to come and play here. It sucks just walking outside, let alone running and wearing pads.

 

[JeffGollin]

The SI article was, in fact, a hatchet job - among one of the worst I can remember seeing anywhere - sports or otherwise. There was no balance. It didn't take note of recent improvement on several fronts. It was clearly intended to inflame.

I haven't read anything in a long time SI has published (including the few free sample issues they sporadically send to me) because I they lack material that I find interesting, informative or entertaining. The only reason I read this article was because there was a link to it.

This is one of those times where hundreds of flaming letters to the SI editors would be very appropriate.

I sent mine.

 

[Lars the Red]

not sure i agree with that. games in miami are pretty gross early in the season. games in chicago, green bay, nyc, etc. are pretty unbearable in december. the stadium gives people a good excuse as an "out," but i don't think that argument really holds much water. they just haven't been putting a good product on the field. that's it.

I've gone to some pretty unpleasant games in my life, OZC, hot and humid, brutally cold subzero, you name it. The Cards games I've been to rank at the top of the list. I don't know if it's the stagnant air that sits in the bowl, or the freakin' metal bleachers, or the bad football, but it's truly a nasty environment to watch sports in. It's the only time I've worried about health risks by mingling body fluids with strangers. Nothing says quality sports like seeing the sweat puddle coming off your arm magically morphing together with the sweat puddle of the guy sitting next to you.

I never understood why someone didn't put some solar panels on top of the stadium and use the juice to drive a buttload of ceiling fans placed anywhere they could attach them around the stadium. Something, anything to just move the air a little.

 

[nidan]

I hope Michael isn't really a miserable person like the article accuses him of being. They make him sound like a cheap jerk. If this is true, will the Cards have a chance to build a winner if the owners (or their heirs) alienate both management and the players?

Go down to Jilly's during the season, there is a fair to middling chance you might get to meet him. he isn't there every week but he does show up and last time he was very avilable to the fans, to the point that one ASFN member actully spilled beer all over his shoes, and he was cool about that.

 

[Mulli]

I once pestered Mike B. at a Dbacks game. He was pretty friendly and told me not to give up on the Cardinals. He also said wait and see what we do for our new stadium.

 

[SECTION 11]

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.

What a bunch of crap.

 

[40yearfan]

Frankly, I don't care whether this guy is right or not. It's my team and I resent him being so cavalier about this team.

If a Rams fan spewed this at you during a game, would you stand for it?

What if a Raiders fan rubbed your nose in it. Would you stand for it?

I say HELL NO!!!!

TIME TO FIGHT!!!!

GIVE UP!!!!

NEVER!!!!!

WE DIDN'T QUIT WHEN FRANCE ATTACKED US AT THE ALAMO AND WE WON'T GIVE UP NOW!!!!

I SAY WE STORM SI AND TEAR DOWN THEIR GOALPOSTS!!!!

THAT'LL LEARN EM!!!!!

 

[Doc Cardinal]

""WE DIDN'T QUIT WHEN FRANCE ATTACKED US AT THE ALAMO AND WE WON'T GIVE UP NOW!!!!""


Actually some of the cannon the Mexicans used were "borrowed" from the French.

Let's send those flaming letters....just not literally.


Here's to you SI:

 

[JPlay]

I remember when the Rams were the crappeist team in the NFL forever along with Indianapolis, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati. Those teams turned it around, and we're on the verge.

Look at SF, they are the crap of the league. It all goes in cycles. This new stadium is gonna be the shiznit.

 

[BigRedMO]

I have no problem with the article. The long history of poor management is absolutely true. I can imagine the amount of stuff he had to cut out because there was too much info to back his story. Why shoot the messenger just because he tells you the truth but it is a truth you dont want to hear.

I am not willing to accept on faith that the Cards are the new and improved Cards. I have heard it many times before. Green has not put a winning team on the field yet. However I am more excited about this coming season at any tiime since 1999. For me to believe the Cards have changed their feathers they must put together 2-3 consecutive winning seasons, make it pass the first round of the playoffs, retain their talent, be one of the teams that major free agents visit, and be a team that fans of other teams and commentators talk about in other than scorn. Once ALL that is accomplished then I will believe.

 

[Billy Flynt]

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)

Hey Koolaid!

 

[Billy Flynt]

Yolu can't blame Reilly for stating the obvious. I am surprised by the "cheapness" of the franchise with the provision of equipment. That's pretty bad. I'm also surprised that Michael B is not as well received by the insiders as he is by us outsiders. We all seem to think that he will be the one who turns the team around in spite of his father.

I have always found Reilly to be on target with his columns. I can't say he's too far off base her either. Hopefully he can write an article in 9 months saying how the organization has turned a corner and won two playoff games in a season.

 

[RedViper]

Purely a hatchet job. No one should assume it will be anything to this guy if we have a smashing breakthrough this year. He'll be busy working on his next hatchet job. 5 years ago this article would have been about Cinci, ten years ago Tampa Bay, etc.

The thing about Tillman tells you everything you need to know about this pundit. He takes what is most sacred to the Cardinals and tries to destory it, portraying it as though Tillman were trapped here. He doesn't tell you, StL came in and offered Tillman more money to play on a Superbowl team and Tillman turned them down. Tillmans decision to turn down more money to stay here, tells volumes about whether he believed he was trapped and withering away on a bush team. Obviously it just wouldn't fit anywhere in this hit piece to talk about that so instead this jackass instead inserts some ambiguous throwaway comment without any context to imply Tillman hated the team. Skewering facts like that is what you do when you are a world class hack. End of story.

 

[Doc Cardinal]

I've grown accustomed to these hatchet jobs.

My college alma mater hasn't been to a bowl gamne since the 60's so they get the same crap.

The only way we can diffuse this dung is by winning.

 

[JeffGollin]

The extent to which you can agree with Reilly's comments or not isn't what gripes me. It's the context.

The Cardinals - after a season in which they played respectable football in just about every game (won or lost), an off-season which according to most observers was one of the best in the NFL and considered by many to be a legitimate playoff contender next season - are about to open what appears to be an exciting training camp.

Sports Illustrated decides to fill some of its space with commentary on the Cardinals.

But instead of providing its readers with a cogent take on "whazzup with the Cardinals lately", they opt to rehash the Big Bad Billy (& Son) saga.

As my psychoanalyst wife is prone to say: "Thanks for the inflammation!" (i.e. "who asked you?")

That's what bugs me most about the article.

 

[BigRedMO]

The extent to which you can agree with Reilly's comments or not isn't what gripes me. It's the context.

The Cardinals - after a season in which they played respectable football in just about every game (won or lost), an off-season which according to most observers was one of the best in the NFL and considered by many to be a legitimate playoff contender next season - are about to open what appears to be an exciting training camp.

Sports Illustrated decides to fill some of its space with commentary on the Cardinals.

But instead of providing its readers with a cogent take on "whazzup with the Cardinals lately", they opt to rehash the Big Bad Billy (& Son) saga.

As my psychoanalyst wife is prone to say: "Thanks for the inflammation!" (i.e. "who asked you?")

That's what bugs me most about the article.

In my opinion what he is doing is reminding the people who are projecting a turn around is that this team has had a history of figuring out how to make great potential into cow dung. Remember '85, 77, 99 and countlless other seasons. A splash of cold water is needed. There has been some coverage of the positve changes in various media. However, those changes are not considered significant by other fans unless it results in wins on the field. Potential counts for squat. The Cards could turn this around and use it as inspiration to play well. However I dont think that article will be remebered by the players next week because it is a comment about management and not them.

It is all talk. The only way the Cards are going to change their laughing stock reputation is to win. You can get mad about the articles you can boycott the writers. It makes no difference. "Just win, baby"

 

[Renz]

I think this is one of those articles that writers keep stuck in a drawer for those times when they are at a loss for ideas. I mean really. Quoting Lomas Brown, who has been gone for more than 5 years?

Reilly writes for a weekly magazine. You would think this piece would be more timely, but whatever. As has already been stated, nothing will change until we win. I've learned to just close my eyes and count to ten and then move on without getting upset.

There really is no way to argue with articles like this until the team turns it around on the field.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I think this is one of those articles that writers keep stuck in a drawer for those times when they are at a loss for ideas. I mean really. Quoting Lomas Brown, who has been gone for more than 5 years?

Yeah. Maybe he's on vacation and just needed to pull something from his files.

You know, the more I thought about the article, the more it bothered me. Here you have a team trying to change things, a team (like Jeff said) had a decent year last year. Plus, by all counts, the Cards' draft was rated very high. Drudging up old news is what this guy is doing.

Whatever. Over the past few weeks I have come to the conclusion that Sports Illustrated is not the magazine for real sports fans, just fans of those teams that SI feels are worthy enough to cover. When my subscription runs out, I'm moving to The Sporting News.

 

[Redheart]

Yeah. Maybe he's on vacation and just needed to pull something from his files.

You know, the more I thought about the article, the more it bothered me. Here you have a team trying to change things, a team (like Jeff said) had a decent year last year. Plus, by all counts, the Cards' draft was rated very high. Drudging up old news is what this guy is doing.

Whatever. Over the past few weeks I have come to the conclusion that Sports Illustrated is not the magazine for real sports fans, just fans of those teams that SI feels are worthy enough to cover. When my subscription runs out, I'm moving to The Sporting News.

Nice call on SN over SI.

Also, nice point on teams changing in the league, from worst to play-offs in one year (see San Diego for recent example), quoting someone who played on a team over 5 years ago is obscenely wrong.

 

[BigRedMO]

Yeah. Maybe he's on vacation and just needed to pull something from his files.

You know, the more I thought about the article, the more it bothered me. Here you have a team trying to change things, a team (like Jeff said) had a decent year last year. Plus, by all counts, the Cards' draft was rated very high. Drudging up old news is what this guy is doing.

Whatever. Over the past few weeks I have come to the conclusion that Sports Illustrated is not the magazine for real sports fans, just fans of those teams that SI feels are worthy enough to cover. When my subscription runs out, I'm moving to The Sporting News.

There is no doubt that the Cardinals, my favorite team, are one of the most inept sports teams in history. To expect a national writer to proclaim the Cardinals as something other than that is not looking at the facts. The team had a losing season last year. That is not "decent". They have not had a winning season since 1998. They have not won double digit wins in a regular season since 1976. I think some people need to regain their objectivity. Even the Bengals have shown some promise but I am not aware of any national praise of them in this off season. Potential does not count for squat. Sports and football are so great because they are the opposite of politics. Politicians can "spin" a pile of horse crap into the greatest thing since sliced bread. There have been many coaches come and go over the years with the Cards who tried to "spin" the Cards as the new Cards. At his point in the year the fans of every NFL team are convinced their team has made huge improvements and they are "it". They want the same coverage of their team that you want of yours. In football like other sports "spin" means nothing. At the end the team still standing earned it. They did not talk their way to it. The Cardinals have to earn it.

 

[RedStorm]

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.

Articles DO NOT win or lose games. This will have no affect.