New England isn’t the only Patriots unit hiring newcomers. The Boston Herald just announced Ian Rapoport as the new Patriots beat reporter.
He sounds like an outsider, but it shouldn’t take him long to get fully immersed in the high intensity coverage of the Pats.
The young buck cut his teeth in New York and Mississippi and at the tender age of 29 he will get his eyes opened to elite reporting in one of the top media markets in the nation. Best of luck, Rapoport.
Ian replaces John Tomase, as Tomase now covers the Red Sox. It was a move that was expected, as Tomase nearly committed professional suicide by coming out with the 2007 accusation of the Patriots recording a St. Louis Rams walkthrough just before Super Bowl XXXVI. The story, which was printed just before the Pats lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, was not true, and Tomase has to live with the consequences.
To his credit, Tomase is a good writer, but for a moment he lost sight of his responsibility. John needed confirmation of that tape. He needed to see it, watch the contents, match the handwriting on the label to a Patriots staff member, test it for Bill Belichick DNA to make sure it really was the real thing. Rapoport could learn from Tomase as what not to do.
Another fine example at the Herald is Ron Borges. He was fired from The Boston Globe for plagiarism.
Hopefully the two veterans share their experiences and lessons with Rapoport. With those two tough experiences as his cornerstones, Rapoport should be just fine working in Boston.
Keywords: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
