Bob Kravitz tries to backtrack on his deflategate comments, trips over his words
Bob Kravitz. You might have heard of him. He's the guy that broke the whole deflategate story wide open the night of the AFC Championship game. He's also the one that went on a twitter rant demanding Bill Belichick be fired. Yeah, that guy.
Now, more information has started to come out that is making it look more and more like the Patriots did nothing wrong. He has decided that maybe it would be in his best interest if he backtracked on his hardline stance a bit. Well, sort of. It can be compared to someone apologizing then saying "if I had to do it all again I would".
His big thing in his mea culpa is that he essentially didn't "say" that the Patriots were cheaters or that Belichick should be fired but he "implied" that if they were found guilty then that's what should happen.
WTHR.com
I am not in the least bit sorry about breaking DeflateGate, even if it's cluttered my Twitter timeline and included vicious shots at me and my family. I got it from a great source. I confirmed it with another great source. I knew with 100 percent certainty that it was right, that there was an investigation into the possibility the Patriots had deflated their footballs, although, until the NFL officially confirmed the investigation the following Monday morning, I wasn't able to relax. That's part of my job, breaking the occasional story.
New England fans can take issue with the Colts for having called out the Patriots on this issue; that's their prerogative. They can scream sour grapes, sore losers, whatever they choose, but the facts were immutable: I wrote there was an investigation. There WAS, and IS, an investigation. It's my job to get it right, and I got it right.
End of story.
Here, though, is where New England fans are right to be angry with me, where some media are correct in criticizing me.
I tweeted that if ESPN's Chris Mortensen report was right – if 11 of 12 footballs were two pounds-per-square inch deflated below the number mandated by the NFL – then heads should roll, specifically the one belonging to Bill Belichick.
No problem there. That's my opinion. I'm entitled to it, just as you're entitled to rip me.
In ensuing tweets and a column or two, I wrote that if owner Robert Kraft had an ounce of integrity, Belichick would be bounced immediately, draft picks should be forfeited and the Pats should be fined. What I failed to do was make it abundantly clear, “IF the Patriots are found guilty of having tampered with the footballs…'' I failed to understand, at least at the time, that each tweet, taken by itself, is an independent organism, not a part of a continuing narrative.
I thought it was implied, quite strongly, that penalties should only be levied if the Patriots were found guilty of toying with the integrity of the game, but I failed to establish that clearly in those tweets and in my columns. Thus, it appeared I was calling for Belichick's head and other penalties before any investigation was completed. Clearly (or maybe not so clearly), I would never call for Aaron Hernandez to get a life sentence before he got his day in court, and I did not mean to suggest that Belichick and the Patriots should be penalized before an investigation was complete. But that's the way it came out, and for that, I apologize.
I am a professional communicator, and as a professional communicator, I failed miserably there. I'm not one who blames the reader for a misunderstanding; it's incumbent upon me, as a writer or broadcaster, to use my words wisely, whether in a column or a tweet. I have to wear that one. I own that one. .
So there you go.
The classic misunderstanding excuse. Personally I think he should have gone with the "I was hacked" defense. That's all the rage now a days.
But does his claim that people misunderstood what he was implying hold up? Here is a look at some of his tweets on the matter.
If morts report is on target, and I'm sure it is, belichick should be suspended from the Super Bowl. My opinion.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 21, 2015He starts off alright by saying "if the report is true" but then he starts to go off the rails and suggesting that Kraft fires Belichick without an investigation even being completed.
If bob kraft is a true man of integrity he will take it out of the leagues hands and fire belichick. Not holding my breath
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 21, 2015A fine and picks aren't enough for a repeat offender.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 21, 2015Ok so he is still in the gray area of saying he is implying this is what should happen if they are found guilty. But with this next tweet, his whole defense goes out the window.
Pats fans: give up the fantasy. Your brilliant head coach is also a cheat. 11 of 12 balls deflated. Must be the ball boys fault right?
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 21, 2015He blatantly calls Belichick a cheat. No mincing of words there. No way to misunderstand what he is implying. To him, the verdict was in. Belichick was guilty and there was no way Kravitz was wrong about this.
Now that more information is coming out that raises doubt to the whole validity of deflategate he realizes that he was out of line with his accusations. He used his job as a reporter to level accusations without proper evidence instead of just reporting the facts. Which jeopardizes his whole career as a journalist.
Just as another member of the media, Brian Williams, is under fire for misrepresenting the truth, so should Kravitz be under fire for his unethical reporting.
If the investigation comes back and finds the Patriots innocent of any wrong doing, then you can add Bob Kravitz to the list of people who owe a personal apology to Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
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