"Holding your line" by Joanna Weiss | Globe Columnist, January 19, 2013
You’ve goT to hand it to Oprah. She has established herself as America’s confessor, which, in a way, makes life easy for her interviewees. Oprah’s not going to absolve you or coddle you. She’s going to raise her eyebrows with majestic skepticism and speak grandly, for the nation....
Related: The Boston Globe's George Bush Book Tour
Yeah, she really grilled him!
The substance of his confession isn’t really news: He doped for years, lied about it, and vilified anyone who told the truth....
I think all you readers and fellow bloggers can relate to that feeling vis-a-vis the AmeriKan media, 'eh?
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Related: A young man’s mistakes
Globe Finally Lances the Lies
UPDATE: Lance Armstrong and the art of lying
Also see: Corporate settlements deny accountability
It is related when you actually think about it.
Well, let the $elf-$erving, front-page fun begin:
"Patriots to enhance stadium experience" by Callum Borchers | Globe Staff, January 19, 2013
FOXBOROUGH — .... Possible coming attractions at Gillette Stadium include streaming audio of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels relaying play calls to quarterback Tom Brady, and locker room video at halftime that ticket holders can view on their smartphones. New apps could soon direct fans to ideal parking spots and allow them to buy food and drink from mobile devices so they can pick up their orders without waiting in line.
Patriots spokesman Stacey James said the NFL would have to approve the streaming of locker room video and on-field audio, and the media would be edited or delayed — by 15 to 20 seconds, Kraft suggested. If the league introduced such features, James stressed, it would be sure to do it in a way that protects information Bill Belichick and other coaches closely guard.
A former Patriots player, who requested anonymity to speak about the team’s internal workings, said play calls are so complex and varied that opponents likely wouldn’t gain an advantage by hearing them, anyway — especially after the play has happened....
But professional coaches with nothing else to do can match up the plays with the formations after watching films.
Patriots president Jonathan Kraft, who cochairs the NFL’s digital media committee, said the club began to seriously consider upgrades in 2009, as high-definition television became ubiquitous in homes. HDTV, in many cases, offers a better view of the field than a seat at the stadium. Plus, there is no line at the bathroom or refrigerator, and it’s never 15 degrees and snowing on a sofa.
I thought global warming took care of that last one.
Then there’s the expense: This season, a family of four could expect to pay about $607 in tickets, parking fees, and concessions to see the Patriots play, according to Team Marketing Report, a sports industry tracking firm in Wilmette, Ill.
“One of the advantages of being at home is that second screen experience you get with your smartphone or tablet, which gives you some of the interaction you can get at the stadium without dealing with the weather, other fans, and exorbitant prices,” said Jeff Joseph, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association, an industry trade group. “For a lot of people, that’s a compelling reason to stay home.”
It $ure is.
In ESPN’s latest annual fan poll, 41 percent of fans said they would rather watch a game on television than in the stands.
Though it remains robust, NFL attendance is trending downward. After peaking in 2007, gate counts declined in each of the next four seasons. They rebounded this season, but....
Who can afford to go?
“When somebody asks me to go to a game now, I’m reluctant,” said William A. Sutton, director of the sport and entertainment management program at the University of South Florida and an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan. “I’ve got the NFL Sunday Ticket package, my feet up on the La-Z-Boy, and beer is $3.99 for a six-pack at my house.”
On the rare occasions when Sutton does attend a live event, he finds himself trying to mimic the at-home viewing mode, despite his best efforts to keep his eyes on the field....
Traditionalists lament the advancing march of technology in sports. Dave Zirin, author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love,” said the Patriots’ initiative represents a widespread attempt “to turn stadiums from places where you get together with 50,000 of your closest friends and scream your head off to an environment where you have 50,000 people staring at their phones all the time.”
“I hate it,” Zirin said. “It makes me physically nauseous.”
But the Patriots and other local sports teams have concluded the best way to keep fans coming through the turnstiles is to cater to contemporary habits.
The Bruins and Celtics are working on a high-capacity Wi-Fi network at TD Garden. The Red Sox this season will test a loyalty program using mobile technology to track fans’ attendance at Fenway Park and then reward them for coming. One goal is to reduce no-shows, which have made a mockery of the team’s 793-game sellout streak and caused a drop in game-day revenue.
Related: Globe Reporter Scored Sox Tickets
“We make money if people watch on TV, but when people come into the park, our per-cap [spending] is about 20 bucks a person,” said Heidi Labritz, the Red Sox’s director of business applications and a panelist at the technology summit in Foxborough this week. “So if we have 4,000 people that don’t show up for a game, even though they bought a ticket, it’s a lot of money [lost].”
No-shows haven’t been a problem for the Patriots, but the team’s push to make a stadium visit more attractive, like the Red Sox effort, is partly about maximizing game-day spending. For instance, Fred Kirsch, Patriots vice president of content, said apps that make it easier to buy concessions and merchandise will boost revenue.
“We’re going to give our fans opportunities to do things they couldn’t do just sitting in their seat,” Kirsch said. “Of course, that means more money for us.”
Then they aren't really doing it for you, are they?
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Can we just watch the game now?
Related: Smaller players fill vital roles for Patriots
Sunday Globe Special: Field of Dreams
Getting Ready For the Game
Be careful out there in those parking lots:
"Foxborough’s drinking problem" by Lawrence Harmon | Globe Columnist, November 17, 2012
Game days and concerts at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough unearth some sloppy drunks. That is not sufficient cause, however, for police officers to get sloppy with the law when dealing with intoxicated people.
The Town of Foxborough and its police chief, Edward T. O’Leary, face a civil rights class action suit for “establishing a policy causing police officers to unlawfully take and hold people in protective custody.’’ Four plaintiffs — including a physician and an off-duty police officer — claim they were unjustifiably confined in a holding compound connected to the stadium. The suit also alleges that more than 1,000 people have been subjected to similar treatment by the Foxborough Police.
Related: Does the NFL Have a Drinking Problem?
All the more reason to stay home.
It’s not illegal to be intoxicated in Massachusetts. In 1971, the Legislature decriminalized public drunkenness, replacing it with the more beneficent concept of protective custody.
Being drunk used to be a crime until 1971 in this liberal, Democr.... ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm sorry, I thought I could get through it without laughing.
Police were instructed to look beyond intoxication for signs of incapacitation, which the statute defined as someone who is in need of medical help, disorderly, or likely to cause physical harm or damage property.
As their friends try to get the asshole to calm down.
In such cases, police are authorized to detain subjects for up to 12 hours. But the mere act of being intoxicated is not sufficient reason for detention.
Foxborough, by virtue of its 68,000-seat stadium, is in a class by itself when trying to cope with drunks. Many in this town still have vivid memories of the Patriots games of the 1970s and ’80s when the stands took on the feel of slaughterhouse battles during World War I.
:-)
Ah, the memories (or not) come flooding back.
Subsequent crackdowns on drunken louts went a long way toward restoring order. But Foxborough remains deeply wary of drunks. So wary, at times, that it clouds the judgment of the police and town officials.
Isn't that what alcohol does?
In March 2011, Foxborough Town Meeting — buoyed by the support of Police Chief O’Leary — approved a $200 fine for public drunkenness. But the attorney general’s office immediately shot down the bylaw, citing its conflict with the 1971 state statute. It was clear that the Town Meeting was overreaching.
The town looks to be overreaching again. The suit alleges that Foxborough police are instructed “to take people into protective custody if they appeared to be intoxicated by alcohol, even if they were not incapacitated.’’ For one plaintiff, stumbling in her cowboy boots opened the door to detention. The suit also cites suspiciously high numbers of detainees, such as the 467 people placed in protective custody during the New England Country Music Festival last August. That’s a lot of incapacitated people, even for a Kenny Chesney concert.
Is that a shot at country music lovers? All a bunch of drunk rednecks, 'eh?
Last year, a police officer observed concertgoer Michael Burgess stumble and asked him to take a Breathalyzer test. Burgess, an off-duty Concord police officer, had been partying and tossing horseshoes with friends in the parking lot prior to being confronted by the officer. Burgess complied with the request, which revealed a blood alcohol level above .10 — the legal standard for intoxication under the protective custody statute. Burgess found himself handcuffed to a bench in a holding compound at Foxborough Stadium for six hours before being taken to the police station, where he was finally allowed to make a phone call.
Maybe living life on the other side will give him some perspective.
Burgess admits he was drinking but vigorously denies he was incapacitated. And he’s disappointed that he wasn’t provided a chance to perform any of the common coordination tests that he routinely offers people whom he suspects are drunk and may be in need of protective custody.
Some concertgoers, such as Maine physician Timothy Dutton, charter buses to Foxborough, which removes the potential danger of driving under the influence. Last August, Dutton spent an evening in the stadium lockup instead of in his seat at a Bruce Springsteen concert. According to the suit, officers refused to release him from custody even when a breath test indicated that he was not intoxicated.
He is, I mean, they are the boss.
Attorney Douglas Louison, who is representing Foxborough, said the town will aggressively fight the suit and defend its “lawful constitutional procedure’’ for placing people into protective custody.
Places of public entertainment would be more enjoyable for everyone if some people didn’t feel the need to drink to the point of intoxication. But drunkenness alone is not a crime. The police and people of Foxborough don’t have to like it. They must accept, however, that depriving someone of their freedom for scant cause is a lot more dangerous to a society than a bunch of lurching drunks.
Will we ever learn in the face of agenda-pushing government and it's mouthpiece media?
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:-(
Among a long list of items being negotiated were eight new liquor licenses for Patriot Place on Route 1, and new zoning rules that would allow a second hotel and 300 condominium units near Gillette Stadium. The sides were also trying to resolve a dispute dating to 2006 over water and sewer enhancements in the town, and to determine how to share revenue from a pair of billboards along Route 1....
While the Krafts had asked to move the talks behind closed doors because of competitive business concerns, town officials said communication and transparency with residents is more important than ever after the pandemonium that resulted from the company’s ultimately unsuccessful effort to build a casino resort across from Gillette Stadium.
Related:
Kraft Casino Not a Fan Favorite in Foxborough
Just a little too clever by half, huh?
Lately, representatives of the company, which also owns the New England Patriots, have reappeared before the Planning Board looking for long-requested zoning changes for that parcel in order to develop it, stirring new anxieties in the town....
Go here if you want to play anymore sports.
Maybe you shouldn't have that drink s
o early in the morning.
I think we need to talk....
"Kraft Group breaks off talks with Foxborough" by Michele Morgan Bolton | Globe Correspondent, November 02, 2012
The Kraft Group has walked away from negotiations with Foxborough on an economic development agreement, saying it is convinced the parties are no closer to accord than they were three years ago, when talks began on shared opportunities for growth in the town.
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Related:
And guess who I saw in his booth at the game last weekend.
Go here if you want to play anymore sports.
