Tomasegate, perfectly explained by John Tomase: It was an urban legend too good not to believe
Boston Herald reporter John Tomase attempts to explain how he went wrong in reporting Tapegate, a hoax that should now be known as Tomasegate (or Tomasequiddick, if you prefer). Tomase’s explanation for his misstep is basically that he was told an urban legend so many times that he pretty much had no choice but to believe it was true. Whatever gets him through the day. The bad news is that he intends “to continue covering the Patriots to the best of my abilities, and that means pursuing every storyline, good or bad.” And also:
I have relationships to mend within the organization and with my readers. The process of regaining your trust will not be an easy one.
I think Tomase is one of “the people who preserve the … fantasy world that justifies their own sorry existence,” as one of Tomase’s loathsome colleague’s put it.
Howie Carr rips John Tomase and Tony Massarotti
Boston Herald columnist laid into Tomase and Massarotti on his afternoon drivetime talk show on WRKO (AM 680). Sample snippets:
I was not terribly impressed by the story… he was basically relying on hearsay…I expected there would be a better explanation… we [The Boston Herald] look like amateurs.
He practically yelled in disgust when he noted that Tomase had “assumed” and “believed” that the story was correct.
When a caller compared Tomase to Mike Barnicle, Carr responded:
I don’t think he’s as bad as Mike Barnicle, Mike Barnicle knew what he was doing.
That’s probably not something Tomase will want to put on his resume.
Carr reiterated his position from Wednesday that Tomase shouldn’t be fired, but it was hard to believe him. He really sounded disturbed by how flimsy Tomase’s sourcing was.
Carr also took shots at Tony Massarotti, the Herald scribe who, in my opinion, rendered the newspaper’s apology worthless with a juvenile attack on Patriots fans. Carr called it “kinda nasty” and criticized Masarotti for not understanding that he is as dependent on fans as athletes are. He also indirectly called Masarotti “dumber than the fans.” (The Coffin Corner has an excellent dissection of Massarotti’s piece) It’s worth noting that Carr has very little interest in sports and really only covered the topic because it involves his newspaper.
Carr pointed out the obvious, that Tomasegate has boosted the newspaper’s profile and sales. According to Carr, Tomase’s Friday article had drawn 170,000, far more than the site’s second most read story, Carr’s column on a State judge, which had pulled in 20,000 hits, and also far more than the 100,000 hits that the Herald’s apology had racked up by the same time last Wednesday.
But the Herald’s desperate attention whoring has become comical. Hours after posting his explanatory article Tomase posted an apology on the Herald’s Point After blog. What’s next? A Peter Gelzinis column apologizing for Massarotti’s outburst?
Timely and topical joke
On Tomase: “You can call him Chubby Checker, but you can’t call him Chubby Fact Checker.”
Seamheads united
All seamheads in Boston media seem to agree that Patriots fans should accept their fellow seamhead Tomase’s explanation and move on. Their rationale goes something like this: 1) Tomase is our friend. 2) He said he regrets being wrong for chirssake. 3) Who cares about football anyway?
To paraphrase one prominent Beantown seamhead: They’re taking a principled stand, they’re right and Pats fans are wrong.
Where Bill and John see eye to eye
What does New England Patriots head coach have in common with Tomase? Neither apparently cares much for their respective unions. Belichick has declined to join the NFL head coaches association and Tomase reportedly doesn’t like the Herald’s union much.
