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

[ForeverChiefs58]

I liked the idea of the article, but I think he should go more with how it negativly affects the fans or players or someone other than the media. I mean, I understand that it sucks, but he needs more meat and potatos on why communism is bad, or something. Remember, you will never hear the people that live in Cuba complain about Castro. Just a thought.

[BigChiefFan]

Whitlock must have been dropped on his head. What a crap article.

[LaChapelle]

A disgruntled player can photocopy his playbook and sell it to the enemy
they're not locked in a cell or trying to escape from an island

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

Honestly, and I have no basis for this, I don't think Pioli gives a **** one way or another about what the media says or writes about him.

Then why make a point of telling the media they can't report what's happening at practice?

Personally, I agree with most of you - the article is stupid.

Then again, so is inviting the media to practice and telling them what information they can and cannot provide their readers.

[stevieray]

...Weis screamed at a rookie, but it was mudane?

....the anguish of mental abuse?

...so many victims, so litlle time.

[BigChiefFan]

Carl was bigger prick than Pioli and I never saw an article that threw Carl under the bus, such as the PERSONAL nature that Whitlock has decided to do with Pioli. His work comes off like a crybaby. Grow up, you freakin' whiner. Boo ****ing hoo.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by BigChiefFan

Carl was bigger prick than Pioli and I never saw an article that threw Carl under the bus, such as the PERSONAL nature that Whitlock has decided to do with Pioli. His work comes off like a crybaby. Grow up, you freakin' whiner. Boo ****ing hoo.

Might be true...might not.

[BigChiefFan]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Might be true...might not.

Sorry, Carl's one of the biggest douche's on the face of the Earth. Pioli isn't even close.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by BigChiefFan

Sorry, Carl's one of the biggest douche's on the face of the Earth. Pioli isn't even close.

Do you have any greater knowledge about Carl other than what you've received via the media?

[LaChapelle]

Jared Allen's drinking problem stopped when he left town
conclusions can be formed he was acting out -bottomless can of worms

[mlyonsd]

What a bizarre article.

Tying (by including) the Bryant thing into his issues with the organization is a definite reach.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Do you have any greater knowledge about Carl other than what you've received via the media?

I've met King Carl on numerous occasions. Sometimes at charity events. He use to come almost every Sunday home game right by my tailgate. He took a groups of friends, visitors etc to see the tailgating in the lot and I always tailgated by the tee-pee gang. I never gave him chit or yelled asshole etc at him. Didn't want to spoil my good time. One time he told the group that had stopped to talk to us that the Chiefs could use me on the DL, give him a call. He was always jovial and likable when I saw him in public.

[BigChiefFan]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Do you have any greater knowledge about Carl other than what you've received via the media?

Yes. His ego in the media is well-documented, no need to further substantiate it.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

He was always jovial and likable when I saw him in public.

That's what I'm saying, BRC. Now, of course Carl was trying to put on his best public face for these types of interactions, but...

The simple fact is that the vast majority of us can form our opinions about professional sports folks only via the media, so we're always getting a second-hand rhetorical construction.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by BigChiefFan

Yes. His ego in the media is well-documented, no need to further substantiate it.

Exactly my point.