Whitlock says Motherfuckyou Pioli!

[T-post Tom]

The moral of this story? Never get between Jason and a bathroom.


Repression not good for Chiefs’ players
By JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star

Saturday afternoon, late in the Chiefs’ second minicamp practice of the day, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis screamed at one of his rookies.

I honestly have no recollection of what Weis barked. It was typical coach-speak, nothing revealing or remotely embarrassing. The kid botched an assignment, and Weis warned him to avoid another mistake.

The exchange was so mundane and inconsequential that when a member of the Chiefs’ media-relations staff instructed me and several other reporters that Weis’ comments were off the record and not to be publicized I had trouble remembering that Weis had said anything I could overhear.

But this is the era we live in now. Paranoia rules Kansas City’s professional football franchise. You’ve read my previous complaints about the air of CIA-like secrecy that general manager Scott Pioli brought with him from New England.

The air is growing thicker. And if we take a look at the Dez Bryant-Jeff Ireland controversy engulfing the Dolphins organization, we might find it offers a bit of context as to what is transpiring here.

Ireland is the general manager of the Dolphins. He is Bill Parcells’ top lieutenant. Parcells, of course, is Pioli’s father-in-law and Todd Haley’s coaching mentor. Ireland was in the news last week because it was revealed that in a predraft interview he insulted Dez Bryant by asking the rookie receiver if his mother was a prostitute.

Bryant confided to longtime NFL reporter Michael Silver that Ireland popped the indefensible question.

This is why some NFL executives and coaches despise the media. We, the media, are flawed and make mistakes that we’re sometimes reluctant to admit, but we have proven over the course of American history to be a reliable shoulder to cry on when a human being has been abused by someone or an institution with too much power.

Football executives have too much power. In the name of winning games and maintaining power, some of these men have created work environments devoid of human decency and respect.

Should we be surprised that NFL players seem to have more trouble staying within the laws of society than baseball, basketball and hockey players?

Of all the professional sports leagues, individual NFL teams have the most repressive policies regarding media access to their players.

The rules at Arrowhead remind me of visiting a federal penitentiary. Reporters are locked in a small room and have to bang on a door and ask permission to be given access to the bathroom. Saturday, rather than open up the locker room to the media, the rookies were brought to a podium one by one and allowed to interact with reporters for six to seven minutes while supervised by the media-relations staff. You could tell the players had been prepped to say as little as possible.

The rookies are no different from the veterans. They’re scared of being fined or released for saying anything that might be construed as inappropriate by Pioli. Warden Pioli’s no-snitch policy is as strictly enforced as a gang leader’s.

What is he hiding?

A lack of genuine leadership skills. Fear, intimidation and secrecy are his top leadership tools. Those tactics should support cutting-edge vision and strategy. I don’t see the vision or strategy. And I’m not backing off my earlier columns crediting the Chiefs with a productive offseason. I like the additions of Weis, Romeo Crennell, Ryan Lilja, Thomas Jones and Eric Berry.

But the obvious insecurity bubbling from the general manager’s chair could continue to undermine whatever progress the organization makes.

Let’s take a second look at the draft. I tip my hat to Pioli for acquiring high-character prospects. Upon additional review, however, it’s appropriate to wonder did the Chiefs sacrifice talent and roster needs to get kids willing to blindly submit to Pioli and Haley’s bully-leadership tactics.

Maybe the Chiefs’ draft picks wouldn’t care if Pioli asked whether their mothers were prostitutes. Or maybe they’d have the good sense not to expose Pioli for the transgression.

I don’t care how much money these young players make, they’re still mostly immature kids. A healthy percentage of them are not emotionally equipped to deal with the mental abuse heaped on them by 40- and 50-year-old egomaniacs drunk on power.

The level of secrecy being demanded at Arrowhead Stadium makes me suspect that Pioli is the NFL’s Fidel Castro.



Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/01...#ixzz0mkiS1y9z

[penchief]

Originally Posted by Boris The Great

This column is awful is almost every way.

Whitlock should be fired for incompetence. But I suppose the Star has its reasons for employing such a petty hack to begin with.

[Epic Fail 007]

jason`s just mad,i mean really who the **** cares?whoever said haley was an asshole ur way off base these young athletes today need a kick in the ass im so sick of seeing crybaby immature player...urrrrrr lebron james/such a ****in asshole.then you have all these athletes today crying oh my coach was too hard on me ....well tough shit/im sick of seeing these spoiled crybaby pussies,just stfu and play.as far jason/what makes him an expert on anything,nothing.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

Hilarious. Not like you have any ax to grind.

I have met Carl before and from the some of the Chiefs front office staff I know its the true. Pioli is your typical asshole New Englander.

[KCrockaholic]

Fatlock sucks ass in this article. What a little bitch.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by kysirsoze

I do not follow him for that very reason. I figure anything so bad that it's funny or inflammatory will make it onto here. Everything else will just piss me off.

He's awesome on Twitter. Definitely worth following.

[prhom]

That's no different from a regular business. Employees aren't supposed to talk to the press as a representative of the company. Only PR and executives get to do that. If you give an interview to the press without approval you're going to get fired. Sports teams are more the exception than the rule when it comes to "employees" giving interviews. We just take it for granted because it's always been like that with athletes.

[DaneMcCloud]

I normally enjoy reading Whitlock's columns but Jason, this was horrible. You can't have it both ways.

You say that Weis yelled at a rookie, yet it was so utterly forgettable you don't even know what was said.

You can't state that Pioli is adhering to the Parcells Philosophy of a quiet, tight and secretive organization, then turn around and claim that they're following that said philosophy because Pioli's lost and confused.

And, comparing a question asked at The Combines by Jeff Ireland in no way, shape or form related to Scott Pioli and the Chiefs.

You're being intellectually dishonest pretending that you didn't read Jim Trotter's piece (of SI & San Diego Tribune's) on Jeff Ireland and the Dolphins, where Bryant stated that his mother worked for his father, who just happened to be a pimp, to further your agenda.

And finally, who did Jeff Ireland work for before joining Parcells in Dallas?

Oh yeah, Carl Peterson and the Kansas City Chiefs.

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by Adam

He's awesome on Twitter. Definitely worth following.

Good enough for me.



Following.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

I have met Carl before and from the some of the Chiefs front office staff I know its the true. Pioli is your typical asshole New Englander.

You've never met Pioli, but want to generalize based on what you read in the media? Just because Carl Peterson shook your hand once doesn't mean he's a "nice" guy.

I know a lot of people who have connections to Pioli and they insist he's a really great guy.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

You've never met Pioli, but want to generalize based on what you read in the media? Just because Carl Peterson shook your hand once doesn't mean he's a "nice" guy.

I know a lot of people who have connections to Pioli and they insist he's a really great guy.

I've heard the same guy. Very nice guy and surprisingly very shy.

[milkman]

I'm going to echo what others have said.

I don't care if he's a bigger asshole than I am, as long as he wins.

And I pride myself on being the best asshole I can be.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

You've never met Pioli, but want to generalize based on what you read in the media? Just because Carl Peterson shook your hand once doesn't mean he's a "nice" guy.

I know a lot of people who have connections to Pioli and they insist he's a really great guy.

**** the media I went straight to people I know personally in the Chiefs front office. And I know the majority of them. Hell I have met Peterson and the Hunts on numerous occassions. Vermeil was the biggest one who sucks the penis of all time though. I could really give a rat's ass to what Whitlock or whoever else in the KC media think of him.

[Sam Hall]

This article would have been better if it were written by someone other than Jason Whitlock. It's an interesting topic if you're in the media. However, the average fan doesn't care. Journalists and PR people have a healthy disrespect for each other.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by penchief

Whitlock should be fired for incompetence. But I suppose the Star has its reasons for employing such a petty hack to begin with.

He has played both sides of the fence lately, so he will stay employed.

Same old shit, different day.

[JD10367]

Saturday afternoon, late in the Chiefs’ second minicamp practice of the day, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis screamed at one of his rookies.

For those unfamiliar, Weis has the mouth of a drunken sailor, reportedly.