NEW ORLEANS — Bob Kraft is the benevolent, all-powerful NFL owner, overseeing an infinite string of sellouts and success. Bill Belichick is the strategic mastermind, drawing comparisons with Vince Lombardi. Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the league.
They are the holy trinity of New England football.
Comments
Why do you always take a shot at the Krafts ? You never miss a chance to say something negative about them. Sure Parcells deserves a lot of credit, but when you look at the buffoons that owned the Patriots since their inception you have to acknowledge their importance.
As a longtome season ticket holder I can tell you that the Krafts are great owners and better businessmen. Also as a longtime season ticket holder I enjoyed going to the games more 19-25 years ago . The old stadium had natural grass and much better sightlines. I did not need a video screen to tell me what was going on. The holy trinity of the early 90's was Parcells, Kraft and Bledsoe and together, as a team, they changed the success of the franchise and the success of the team brought great profits to one third of that holy trinity. That is why people take shots at the Krafts. BTW I do have to give the Krafts credit for putting the natural grass at the old stadium as while they didn't own the team they did own the stadium and it was a way to get world class soccer to Foxboro.
Dan takes shots at the Krafts because nobody else ever does. They've been great owners but they take themselves VERRRRRY seriously. Parcells doesn't get nearly enough credit for saving this franchise.
On the one hand you say the Krafts want credit for everything. On the other you have the Krafts on record saying otherwise. Hey, you know we haven't had a good reference to Tebucky Jones and the stopwatch in awhile, why don't we revisit that?
The well-known saying in sports that “you are never as good as you look when you’re winning or bad as you look when you’re losing” applies to people as well as to teams. All of us have our good days and our bad days; and when it comes to public figures their believers emphasize the good days while the detractors emphasize the bad days. Bill Parcells did a lot for the Patriots but, at the same time, it was Bob Kraft who had the wisdom to hire him. Since then it’s been the Kraft’s who are continuing to pursue the Parcells’ legacy by supplying us with quality football year after year. The fact that Bob Kraft and Bill Parcells didn't depart on the best of terms does nothing ot diminish the accomplihments of either man.
Orthwien hired him and THEN Kraft bought the team. Don't comment if you don't know much of the facts
I have been a season ticket holder since 1985 and went to about 95 % of the games during the rod rust, jankovich, Mcphearson, Orthwein, Kiam eras. It was the only way you could see the games as they were never on TV. I remember when the Giants came to Foxboro to play a meaningless game at the end of the season and the place was sold out and more than half the fans were wearing Giants blue ( Parcells and Belichek were coachiong for the opposition ). Dan, while you seem to have lost your fastball in recent years, this is a great piece. Parcells is the man who changed the view and success of the franchise. I forget who the player was but Parcells cut a starter within days of the first training camp and everyone else knew they had to be in shape and be a team player or they would be gone. His press conferences were just as entertaining as the games and if it wasn't for Parcells , the Krafts and Pats fans would never have gotten to know Belichek. Parcells does have his imperfections and his ego did get too big but if I could vote, I would put him in the Hall of fame
I remember that Giant game too. One of the lowest points of the pre-Parcells era in Foxborough.
Bob Kraft didn't hire Bill Parcells, James Orthwein did. Orthwein if memory serves correctly was trying to burnish the image of the organization to make it attractive to investors in St. Louis.
Dan is right, Parcells image is too far in the rear-view mirror for many of the bandwagon jumpers. I've had season tickets since 1988. I've sat through 1-15 and 2-14 seasons. Sat through Ray Berry, Marc Wilson, Sam Jancovich, Rod Rust etc. etc.Bill Parcells brought a serious football image and gravitas to the place.
By the same token Bob Kraft gets my thanks for stepping up and forcing Orthwein to blink. He waved the stadium lease in his face and said "not so fast" Mr. Orthwein.
Another great column by Shaughnessy. Parcells deserves to be in Canton, and some day Bob Kraft will be there too.
Going to Pats games before Parcells is something we have in common and I like your post but one thing I disagree with is that I felt that Raymond Berry was also a great coach. Maybe not so much in the late 80'3 but remeber in the last exhibition game before the 1-15 season the Pats lost 3 key starters for the year to injury, Andre Tippet, Garin Veris, and I believe the third was Ronnie Lippett , all defensive starters. Raymond Berry was, to me, a vital asset to Pats success in the mid 80's and deserves more credit
You have the names right but that happened in 1989, Berry's last season, when they went 5-11. They were 1-15 the next year under Rod Rust.