Times Columnist Implies Glazers Are Liars
March 18th, 2010
"Bryan, Gimme Five reasons not to ban that guy from the press box buffet."
Joe is left speechless by this video from ill-informed columnist John Romano, of the St. Pete Times.
(No, Joe can’t bear embedding it here for all to see. You’ll have to follow the link.)
Stale as the six-week old bagels in Joe’s refrigerator, Romano attempts to inform fans that Team Glazer now cares what you think because Team Glazer has sought high-profile help with finding a new Bucs media relations chief.
“Fifteen years into a relationship, the Glazers now care what you think. Never before have the reclusive owners of the Bucs seemed to worry about the feelings, opinions or desires of their fan base,” Romano proclaims. “…The team is suddenly interested in positive spin.”
First, last year Team Glazer told the whole world they fired Chucky, in large part, because of fan dislike of the head coach. Romano’s own freaking newspaper delivered that story headlined, “Glazers Took Pulse Of The Fans Before Firings.”
“We talked to a lot of people, but we not only talked to the players, but (also) out in the community getting a feel for the team,” Glazer said. “We get opinions and we mix them all together. We just took our time making that decision.”
Asked further about the community feedback, Glazer said, “Our fans are our stockholders. They’re what we play for — the people in our stadium and the ones that watch on TV. That’s what it’s all about: winning and how they feel about the team. If they don’t feel good about the team, then there’s something wrong. . . I think you all know the sense that’s out there. It was time for a change.”
Which is it, Romano? Did the Glazers care about the fans before now or not?
Are you callling the Glazers liars when they explained why Chucky was fired? How do you explain the lack of blackouts and handing out free preseason tickets?
Joe’s not here to defend the Glazers. But Joe just can’t give Romano a pass on such a ridiculous take — on video no less.
And for the record, Joe’s quite certain the Glazers haven’t morphed into some overly fan-friendly owners who want to please the fans to a fault (See Michael Clayton and Antonio Bryant).
The Glazers care to the extent they want to and feel they have to. Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes it stinks.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Joe, you are wrong sir….Mr. Romano is SPOT ON
March 18th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I wish the Glazers would just sell this team already and go back to jolly old England so we can get some real owners in here who want to put a winning product out on the field.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Joe, I wish that the Bucs would re-interview the players and fans that they polled before firing Chucky. I would love to hear what they think know.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Nobody ever asked me!!!!!!!!!
March 18th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
The Times and Romano aren’t going to admit they were hoodwinked last year, buying into the notion the Glazerhouse’s polled the fans. Did ANY of the people visiting this site get polled? I think not, so if there was a poll, it wasn’t very scientific.
What the Glazerhouse’s did was strickly a business decision — get rid of the big mouth coach who would have publicly blown the whistle on “the plan” that they currently have in place.
Now, the fans are getting fed up with “the plan”, so they hired a PR firm to help them figure out how to make us buy into “the plan”.
Liars — No, but sneaky — YES!
March 18th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I really hope they don’t listen to some of the fans around here. I’ve always said I would take a couple seasons of losing as long as that came with development of young players and some continuity on the team. Something that lacked with Chucky.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
If it means getting rid of the dream, im ready to pay Zogby to do some polling right now!
Its all about “winning and how they feel about the team”???????????????????
outageous/rank/fraudulent BS
I also want a list of the sell out players.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Joe, that’s quite a stretch to say that Romano is calling the Glazer’s liars. You’re arguing that because the Glazer’s said they polled fans and fired Chucky that they care about what their fans think. Just because you say a thing doesn’t make it true… Shakespeare would say something about how a rose smells. A thing is what it is, no matter what you call it. Or how it stinks.
What I got from Romano is that the Glazer’s are now actively working on managing PERCEPTION, so they hire a Spokesman. And I agree with him. After all the smoke and mirrors, the dangling in the breeze of Raheem the Dream in January, the complete lack of visibility with the team or the community they just need to get the heck out of their holes and talk to people. Offer an opinion. Be more than a stupid grin.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Louie:
Romano got hoodwinked (again) just a few weeks ago when he wrote Len Barrie was going to take over the Lightning and Oren Koules was going to be pushed out by Gary Bettman.
Two days later it came out Barrie was basically broke and he was “this close” to being indicted on running a scam in Canada.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Joe here,
factoid boy – Hardly a stretch. Columnists typically interpret the news. Point here is that Romano’s own newspaper trumpeted news of the Glazers reaching out to fans and making a fan-focused decision to fire Gruden.
Yet despite that reporting in his own newspaper, Romano says the Glazers haven’t cared what fans think in 15 years. …THat’s just blubbering jibberish, and ridiculous considering his own paper did the reporting.
THis just in. The Bucs just like every other team have a spokesman. And you and I and Romano don’t know if they give a crap about managing perception, since you and I and Romano haven’t talked to them. …Just because they ask Ari Fleischer to screen candidates doesn’t mean a darn thing.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
factoidboy:
January? Raheem the Dream, by some accounts, is (still) being hung out to dry.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
The Glazerhouses ARE liars.
The local beatwriters in this town are unprofessional morons.
Both accusations are true.
Any questions??
March 18th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Roses smell pretty.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Wow, if we are all Stockholders I guess we should be expecting dividend checks eh? And, we have the right to remove the Board of Directors.
You mean we can’t do that?
Oh, I guess that means we arent really stockholders are we, Glazer punks, you lying sacks of crap.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Ok, ok, they’re liars AND they’re sneaky! 🙂
March 18th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Joe,
Do you really believe that the Glazers actually cared about what the “fans” thought last year when they fired Gruden? Does it appear to you that these people have the slightest bit of care or concern about what their janitors, personal assistants and butlers think of them? I don’t.
I don’t believe they cared then and I don’t believe they care now. I believe they fired Gruden because the guy wanted to win and was screaming at them to get him the financial assets to acquire good players to do so. The Glazers looked at the savings from 2004-2008, by being the cheapest team in the league, and thought better of it. Gruden was a fairly confident fellow. The Glazers by all accounts want meek people running their ship when it comes to handing down decisions they otherwise would not like. The Glazers likely realized that a Gruden, Parcells or Cowher type would not stand for the limitations they would enforce financially. Luckily, the fans were frustrated with the coach’s hyperbole and wanted him out. On cue, in comes “The Dream” and Dumbinik and things are settled.
“This one’s for you!” the Glazers likely chanted as they smiled to the unsuspecting pedestrians below their city-funded stadium. I’m sure they had a glass of wine or champagne to mark the new era of “fiscal responsibility” which was not anything unlike the last four years, but a little more obvious.
Of course, that isn’t to say one way or another about Romero. It’s just what I think.
March 18th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Joe,
I was probably one of the most die hard Gruden fans ever and even I was pissed after the 2008 season. We dropped four in a row (after Monty announced he was leaving) either because Monty threw games to get Gruden canned or the players mailed it in to get Gruden canned. Either one, it was a sorry excuse. I was tired of being an 8-8 team. But Gruden took the fall for it. If they had polled me, I would have voted to replace Gruden, but I am not sold on Morris. He made too many rookie mistakes last year. To me, his first mistake is being the player’s friend. He and Clayton hanging out at the Blue Martini together has got to stop…..
March 18th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
BucFan South Tampa:
Did Raheem the Dream trust Clayton to bring drinks to the table unscathed? Or was he fond of how Clayton could create a path through the crowd by blocking other patrons?
Wasn’t area those two guys swilled ales together?
March 18th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
IMO Gruden’s record of two division titles and another 9-7 season post super bowl were remarkable achievements given the limitations he was under.
That team was NOT the most talented roster in the NFC South on those occasions, yet he miraculously pulled it off. I look at nine wins in 08 the same way, even though they ran out of gas at the finish line. I dont think any other coach could have gotten more than nine wins with that team.
We have already seen what the dream can do with similar talent. Perhaps the poorest play in buccaneer history.
And, I believe it is only gonna get worse this year. Whatever motivates the Glazers (as if we do not know), it certainly is not a desire to put the best possible team on the football field for their beloved shareholder/fans.
March 18th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
This is off topic but a number of people asked about Sapp’s Ghost Move and I finally found a shot of it where you can almost see what he’s doing. Even though its in slow mo you probably still won’t catch everything he is doing with his hands but you will notice him beating the guard before the center comes over to double team him (still got a sack though)
Relevant replay starts at about 1:25 of the clip
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBucsareawesome1#p/u/13/p2OPIj6-bns
March 18th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
If the Glzers realy are listening to the fans (some of the most ignorant in the NFL) then that explains the lunacy that is going on now. By the way, I get an $18 dividend check every year since I am a season ticket holder. That is unknown fact to many of the moronic fans who are to lazy to get off the couch and go to a live game.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
An $18 dividend check!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Man, your breaking their backs with that baby!
Classic.
Just when I thought we had reached the depths of stupidity, someone takes it a little lower.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
LOL!
March 19th, 2010 at 12:55 am
LOL!
March 19th, 2010 at 8:16 am
$18, LOL! Wow you can’t even park at one game for that!
March 19th, 2010 at 8:47 am
This just in….
All NFL team owners lie to the public, just like CEOs in the business world. Many times it is a necessary evil
I also did not get that Joe was saying anything about the Glazers in his piece. He was pointing out that the Times were contradicting themselves.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Joe here,
Chuck gets today’s reading comprehension award.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:52 am
WOO HOO! I love winning!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:21 am
I have an idea on how to solve this Glazer issue.
Find out the identity of the MAnu season ticket holders. Everyone buy and then donate their tickets to the first home game this year to them.
Voila, 65K Manu fans appear at Rah Jay.
That might shake things up.