Asshole Of The Week: The Boston Herald

Welcome to Asshole Of The Week, where every Friday your trusty Foul Balls editor picks out the one person from the previous seven days who makes him think, "Man, what an asshole." It could be anybody from an athlete, an owner, someone in the media, or just anybody who happens to catch my ire.

Another first in the short history of Asshole Of The Week here on Foul Balls: instead of naming a person as the Asshole Of The Week, I'm naming an entire newspaper. Or at least their sports department.

Though, if this week's honor were to be bestowed upon one individual, that individual would be John Tomase. Who the hell is John Tomase, and why should you care? Well, Christ, give me a minute and I'll tell you. Have some god damn patience.

Tomase is the New England Patriots beat reporter for The Boston Herald, and he's also the guy who wrote the original story (which I would link to, but the Herald charges you for that type of thing) that the Patriots had taped the St. Louis Rams walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. His story led to a year's worth of "Spygate."

Before I get into what Tomase did, though, I want to just say how happy I am that the NFL has finally put this entire Spygate debacle to bed.

There has never been a bigger non-story to get so much coverage. A professional sports team trying to gain a competitive advantage over another professional sports team!? Oh, the humanity!

But since this story involved the New England Patriots - and ESPN loves the Patriots and runs the world - we were all forced to deal with it.

So when Roger Goodell came out and said that there was no tape, I was relieved. Though it did beg the question, if there's no tape, then why was the Herald running stories saying there was?

The complex (read: fake) answer is one that has to do with an inferiority complex reporter Tomase has suffered since early childhood, when he was always picked last in pick-up games at the park and in local canasta tournaments with his grandmother (she wanted John's older, smarter, and better looking brother Joe).

The simple answer is, they were wrong, and they finally apologized for it on Wednesday.

On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots’ video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.

Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification

The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots’ owners, players, employees and fans for our error.

What's that? Did a major newspaper just admit to running with a story it really had no real reason to believe was true? Did it just publish something in hopes of selling papers?

I thought publishing poorly researched, incorrect stories is something only bloggers do. Now I find out that the mainstream media do it too, and...well....I...

My world has been turned upside down. I don't know what to think anymore.

Thankfully for everyone involved, major newspapers only fire their writers for swearing on web sites that aren't affiliated with the paper. If you make up stories, your job is secure.

This, from the Herald's Editor in Chief, Kevin Convey:

"Nevertheless, I continue to stand behind the work of the Herald sports department and John Tomase, a talented journalist who has dealt with this difficult matter professionally while continuing to do his job under intense pressure.

In the end, as editor in chief of the Herald, I take full responsibility for the publication of this story, and I offer my own apology to our readers and our staff.

In tomorrow’s Herald, you’ll hear from John Tomase directly. And I hope that you’ll see, as our coverage of this story and others goes forward, that our dedication to accuracy remains unchanged, and that our first priority will always be maintaining that bond of trust with our readers."

Yes, maintain that bond of trust which you just admitted to breaking. It's always nice to see newspapers holding themselves accountable to the standards they seemingly only set for others.

So, Boston Herald, for forcing me to have to hear about Spygate for so long, then finding out the article your paper published that started the whole thing was bogus, and finishing up by not even firing the bastard who started it, you're the Asshole Of The Week.

Enjoy it while you can. The rest of us irresponsible publishers are coming for you.