Chiefs Whitlock- It’s OK to question Pioli and the Chiefs - Page 8

C-Mac · 03-08-2009, 08:16 AM

It’s OK to question Pioli and the Chiefs

Wednesday afternoon, on my drive on I-70 to watch the Tigers and the Sooners tangle, I passed the time listening to sports-talk radio.

I find one of our local stations unlisten-Neal-able, so you can assume which station and which show entertained me along the highway. And you can guess which host nearly made me drive off the highway.

The New Don Fortune expressed his disinterest in needing access and information from our New Carl Peterson, Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli. The New Don and his trusty sidekick, Mad Jack Harry, spent several minutes telling their listeners that we should trust Pioli implicitly and not waste emotion or energy worrying whether Pioli reveals himself, his plans or his players to the media.

Having worked in sports-talk radio, I’m aware the discipline requires a dramatic and healthy loosening of journalistic standards. But basic common sense and backbone are allowed and occasionally encouraged when hosting a radio show.

Supporting the new regime does not equate to rejecting the primary (and redeeming) role of the media.

It’s our job to acquire information and pass it along to you. Based on what we’ve seen from the Bill Belichick era in New England and our first two months with Pioli, gathering pertinent and enlightening information about the Chiefs is going to be rather difficult.

The Patriots, under Belichick and Pioli, reached the conclusion that too much media access disrupts locker-room chemistry and undermines the voice of the head coach. In New England, Belichick has turned the Boston media into an easy-to-play foil for his players.

He’s brainwashed his players into believing the media are evil, incompetent and stirrers of chaos. Obviously, we are not perfect. A collection of human beings cannot be flawless. There are instances when individual moments of incompetence make the media appear wicked or solely interested in controversy.

But overall, we attempt to be a watchdog of those with power. When we fail to play that role, generally speaking, terrible things happen. The Iraq War is a worst-case scenario. We trusted our president implicitly, led the cheers when we declared war on Iraq and declined to demand answers to difficult questions. Hundreds of billions of dollars later, and with our economy in collapse, we now blame poor, minority homeowners for the fall of our society.

I apologize. I digress.

Let me give you a worst-case scenario in the sports world.

If, in an attempt to duplicate New England’s three-Super Bowls dynasty, we neglect our journalistic, democracy-ensuring duty to challenge Pioli, there’s a far better chance that he replicates Carl Peterson’s Kansas City era than Belichick’s New England one.

Unchallenged leaders are dictators and quickly turn unethical.

For years, Kevin Kietzman and Jack Harry whined on radio that Peterson, in attempts to have them fired, harassed their former television bosses. Kietzman and Harry complained about Peterson’s heavy-handed tactics with players, their agents and their families.

Peterson acquired his nickname, King Carl, the old-fashioned way. We rolled over and gave him a kingdom. When he ushered in an era of winning after years of mediocrity, he treated the media as though his decisions and actions were above question. He became complacent and stale.

Scott Pioli is a human being. He’s capable of making the same mistakes as you, I or King Carl.

Sometimes people misidentify why they’re successful. Belichick and Pioli think the New England locker room is special partly because Belichick and the players have made the local media irrelevant. Belichick and Pioli believe in CIA-like secrets.

I’m sure there’s some value in all of it. But football isn’t all that hard to figure out. Find yourself a tough, talented quarterback who is willing to stand in the pocket and deliver the football under pressure, pray that he doesn’t get injured, and you’ll win a lot of games.

The Sixburgh Steelers won four titles with Terry Bradshaw and two with Ben Roethlisberger. They’ve had three different young coaches lead them to those six titles. John Elway took the Broncos to five Super Bowls and won two. Kurt Warner has played in three Super Bowls. Brett Favre played in two. Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb win a lot of football games. Did I mention Joe Montana, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady?

In his first big decision as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, Scott Pioli traded the 34th pick in the draft for Matt Cassel, a backup in college and in the pros. Because New England slapped Cassel with the franchise tag, Clark Hunt is going to pay Cassel a lot of money in 2009 or give him a big-ticket, long-term contract.

Everyone pretty much agrees the move makes sense for the Chiefs. Pioli still needs to publicly explain it, and it’s our job to seek a detailed explanation. We shouldn’t accept a brief statement on a press release.

It is fun and fashionable to beat up on the media. In our arrogance, we have refused to adequately police, examine and reshape ourselves. We’re paying a heavy price for our failure. We’re losing credibility.

It’s in your best interest to demand better from us. Don’t be fooled into believing we should go away or act as a propaganda machine for some newly-elected, popular-in-comparison-to-Peterson (or Bush) leader.

Sweet Daddy Hate · 03-08-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

Steve Puellar, Steve Bono, Scott Mitchell, Jeff Hosterler etc... all good NFL back up QB's on good teams who went to other teams as the starter. A NFL hot commodity is nothing more than the flavor of the day. John Elway, Dan Marino, Phil Simms, Peyton Manning etc. were not traded for as back ups. Only Eli was acquired in a trade and I don't think the Chiefs have the #1 pick this year.

Pioli is doing the same thing Carl did. However; now it's the right way to build a team.

I keep hearing "He's the guy"! "He's the guy"! "That's it, and there ain't no more"!

Yet here we sit one week from the announcement, and where is the word on this guy's 4 or more-year deal? We won't get the $$$ count, but we'll know how long he's signed for. Where is it?

And you can bet your ass if his final contract is for 3 or LESS years, his status as "The Man" is absolutely in question.

CaliforniaChief · 03-08-2009, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

Once again...20 Years ago CP was the hottest GM candidate in the NFL. Three teams including the Chiefs were pursuing him. What is different today? Carl had a history of success...Scott has a history of success. Please I just want the freedom to question someone. That is what makes boards fun.

I agree with what you say...other than equating Carl's success to Pioli's. Carl has no rings. The problem is that the way Whitlock presented it was so transparently selfish that it should never have been put in the paper. People wonder why subscriptions to newspapers go down and blame the economy when the real reason is that the quality of journalism (save JoPo and a few others) is ridiculous.

Whitlock writes with an agenda to try and create stories. He wants to be the one who brings down Scott the Legend. The problem is that Pioli's first off season isn't even close to being done yet...so to start calling it into question before the body of work is even complete is premature. The Cassel trade can't be evaluated until the team is brought together.

But I do agree that discussing the moves is fun.

FAX · 03-08-2009, 08:04 PM

The difference between Scott Pioli and Carl Peterson is the difference between Stephen Hawking and an old lady who spends her afternoons driving around in her Ford Fairlane looking for box turtles to run over.

The only thing these two guys have in common is they have both held the title of GM for the Chiefs. That's it.

FAX

Sweet Daddy Hate · 03-08-2009, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

The difference between Scott Pioli and Carl Peterson is the difference between Stephen Hawking and an old lady who spends her afternoons driving around in her Ford Fairlane looking for box turtles to run over.

The only thing these two guys have in common is they have both held the title of GM for the Chiefs. That's it.

FAX

**KcMizzou** · 03-08-2009, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth CarlSatan

Guy's got a way with words.

Extra Point · 03-08-2009, 08:22 PM

...Having failed in sports-talk radio, I’m aware the discipline requires a dramatic and healthy loosening of journalistic standards, like making innuendos at the chicks I worked with/hit on. But basic common sense and backbone are allowed and occasionally encouraged when hosting a radio show, but see the crap I put up on now on msn.com.

Supporting the new regime does not equate to rejecting the primary (and redeeming) role of the media, and bitching about the fact that I'm unimportant in this town is what I really do best.

It’s our job to acquire information and pass it along to you. Based on what we’ve seen from the Bill Belichick era in New England and our first two months with Pioli, gathering pertinent and enlightening information about the Chiefs is going to be rather difficult. Because there's nothing really to report, we like making up junk so there has to be a press release to deny what we make up.

But overall, we attempt to be a watchdog of those with power, and act like junkyard dogs when we just want to watch the game for free, and bitch at the teams for whatever reason we see fit.

Jerk-Lock

Mojo Jojo · 03-08-2009, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

The difference between Scott Pioli and Carl Peterson is the difference between Stephen Hawking and an old lady who spends her afternoons driving around in her Ford Fairlane looking for box turtles to run over.

The only thing these two guys have in common is they have both held the title of GM for the Chiefs. That's it.

FAX

Hey FAX where were you 20 years ago? If you were even born then you thought Carl was that savior. Now you want to change your mind, or admit that you don't know/remember the last time this happened. Let us question the way a team is run without blind followers.

Messier · 03-08-2009, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

Steve Puellar, Steve Bono, Scott Mitchell, Jeff Hosterler etc... all good NFL back up QB's on good teams who went to other teams as the starter. A NFL hot commodity is nothing more than the flavor of the day. John Elway, Dan Marino, Phil Simms, Peyton Manning etc. were not traded for as back ups. Only Eli was acquired in a trade and I don't think the Chiefs have the #1 pick this year.

Pioli is doing the same thing Carl did. However; now it's the right way to build a team.

With the exception of Jeff Hostetler I don't think any of the others started a full season before they went to their new team, and none of those QBs was being pursued by people that were involved with the franchise they came from. Cassel was wanted by Pioli and Josh McDaniels. If there are two people that know what they're getting it's these two. If there is a comparison I'd say Trent Green or Matt Hasselbeck,QB's that were wanted and pursued by people who knew them.

FAX · 03-08-2009, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

Hey FAX where were you 20 years ago? If you were even born then you thought Carl was that savior. Now you want to change your mind, or admit that you don't know/remember the last time this happened. Let us question the way a team is run without blind followers.

20 years ago ... 20 years ago ... let's see ... oh, yeah - 20 years ago I was in the Amazon helping indigenous tribespeeps overcome their poverty by building a factory to make exportable little dolls out of alligator belly skin and piranha teeth. It would have worked, too, had we not kept losing our best workers in raw materials acquisition.

Anyway, I think I know what you're saying Mr. Mojo Jojo, and I subscribe to the concept of healthy skepticism. Certainly Pioli isn't perfect and he'll make mistakes. My point is simply this; we Chiefs fans have a very poor standard with which to measure Pioli. That's what makes Whittle's article so silly.

Carl Peterson kept his job - not due to the quality of his work product or outcomes - but because of the loyalty of a great man. To sit around and compare Pioli (who has three SBs to his credit already) to Peterson is absurd. That's all I'm saying.

FAX

Sweet Daddy Hate · 03-08-2009, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

20 years ago ... 20 years ago ... let's see ... oh, yeah - 20 years ago I was in the Amazon helping indigenous tribespeeps overcome their poverty by building a factory to make exportable little dolls out of alligator belly skin and piranha teeth. It would have worked, too, had we not kept losing our best workers in raw materials acquisition.

Anyway, I think I know what you're saying Mr. Mojo Jojo, and I subscribe to the concept of healthy skepticism. Certainly Pioli isn't perfect and he'll make mistakes. My point is simply this; we Chiefs fans have a very poor standard with which to measure Pioli. That's what makes Whittle's article so silly.

Carl Peterson kept his job - not due to the quality of his work product or outcomes - but because of the loyalty of a great man. To sit around and compare Pioli (who has three SBs to his credit already) to Peterson is absurd. That's all I'm saying.

FAX

And box turtles.

Mojo Jojo · 03-08-2009, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

I agree with what you say...other than equating Carl's success to Pioli's. Carl has no rings. The problem is that the way Whitlock presented it was so transparently selfish that it should never have been put in the paper. People wonder why subscriptions to newspapers go down and blame the economy when the real reason is that the quality of journalism (save JoPo and a few others) is ridiculous.

Whitlock writes with an agenda to try and create stories. He wants to be the one who brings down Scott the Legend. The problem is that Pioli's first off season isn't even close to being done yet...so to start calling it into question before the body of work is even complete is premature. The Cassel trade can't be evaluated until the team is brought together.

But I do agree that discussing the moves is fun.

I am with you...FYI Carl did win a NFC Championship ring as well as two USFL rings and that is three more rings than any poster on this board will ever win in pro football.

Sweet Daddy Hate · 03-08-2009, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

I am with you...FYI Carl did win a NFC Championship ring as well as two USFL rings and that is three more rings than any poster on this board will ever win in pro football.

Messier · 03-08-2009, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

I am with you...FYI Carl did win a NFC Championship ring as well as two USFL rings and that is three more rings than any poster on this board will ever win in pro football.

Huh?

CaliforniaChief · 03-08-2009, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojo Jojo

I am with you...FYI Carl did win a NFC Championship ring as well as two USFL rings and that is three more rings than any poster on this board will ever win in pro football.

I won three spider rings at Chuck E Cheese a couple of weeks ago.

Mojo Jojo · 03-08-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

I won three spider rings at Chuck E Cheese a couple of weeks ago.

So you are saying it takes nothing to win a ring. Thanks, and I'm sure Scott agrees.

03-08-2009, 08:16 AM
C-Mac Lurker Extraordinaire Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Wally World Casino cash: $-1146301	Whitlock- It’s OK to question Pioli and the Chiefs It’s OK to question Pioli and the Chiefs Wednesday afternoon, on my drive on I-70 to watch the Tigers and the Sooners tangle, I passed the time listening to sports-talk radio. I find one of our local stations unlisten-Neal-able, so you can assume which station and which show entertained me along the highway. And you can guess which host nearly made me drive off the highway. The New Don Fortune expressed his disinterest in needing access and information from our New Carl Peterson, Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli. The New Don and his trusty sidekick, Mad Jack Harry, spent several minutes telling their listeners that we should trust Pioli implicitly and not waste emotion or energy worrying whether Pioli reveals himself, his plans or his players to the media. Having worked in sports-talk radio, I’m aware the discipline requires a dramatic and healthy loosening of journalistic standards. But basic common sense and backbone are allowed and occasionally encouraged when hosting a radio show. Supporting the new regime does not equate to rejecting the primary (and redeeming) role of the media. It’s our job to acquire information and pass it along to you. Based on what we’ve seen from the Bill Belichick era in New England and our first two months with Pioli, gathering pertinent and enlightening information about the Chiefs is going to be rather difficult. The Patriots, under Belichick and Pioli, reached the conclusion that too much media access disrupts locker-room chemistry and undermines the voice of the head coach. In New England, Belichick has turned the Boston media into an easy-to-play foil for his players. He’s brainwashed his players into believing the media are evil, incompetent and stirrers of chaos. Obviously, we are not perfect. A collection of human beings cannot be flawless. There are instances when individual moments of incompetence make the media appear wicked or solely interested in controversy. But overall, we attempt to be a watchdog of those with power. When we fail to play that role, generally speaking, terrible things happen. The Iraq War is a worst-case scenario. We trusted our president implicitly, led the cheers when we declared war on Iraq and declined to demand answers to difficult questions. Hundreds of billions of dollars later, and with our economy in collapse, we now blame poor, minority homeowners for the fall of our society. I apologize. I digress. Let me give you a worst-case scenario in the sports world. If, in an attempt to duplicate New England’s three-Super Bowls dynasty, we neglect our journalistic, democracy-ensuring duty to challenge Pioli, there’s a far better chance that he replicates Carl Peterson’s Kansas City era than Belichick’s New England one. Unchallenged leaders are dictators and quickly turn unethical. For years, Kevin Kietzman and Jack Harry whined on radio that Peterson, in attempts to have them fired, harassed their former television bosses. Kietzman and Harry complained about Peterson’s heavy-handed tactics with players, their agents and their families. Peterson acquired his nickname, King Carl, the old-fashioned way. We rolled over and gave him a kingdom. When he ushered in an era of winning after years of mediocrity, he treated the media as though his decisions and actions were above question. He became complacent and stale. Scott Pioli is a human being. He’s capable of making the same mistakes as you, I or King Carl. Sometimes people misidentify why they’re successful. Belichick and Pioli think the New England locker room is special partly because Belichick and the players have made the local media irrelevant. Belichick and Pioli believe in CIA-like secrets. I’m sure there’s some value in all of it. But football isn’t all that hard to figure out. Find yourself a tough, talented quarterback who is willing to stand in the pocket and deliver the football under pressure, pray that he doesn’t get injured, and you’ll win a lot of games. The Sixburgh Steelers won four titles with Terry Bradshaw and two with Ben Roethlisberger. They’ve had three different young coaches lead them to those six titles. John Elway took the Broncos to five Super Bowls and won two. Kurt Warner has played in three Super Bowls. Brett Favre played in two. Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb win a lot of football games. Did I mention Joe Montana, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady? In his first big decision as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, Scott Pioli traded the 34th pick in the draft for Matt Cassel, a backup in college and in the pros. Because New England slapped Cassel with the franchise tag, Clark Hunt is going to pay Cassel a lot of money in 2009 or give him a big-ticket, long-term contract. Everyone pretty much agrees the move makes sense for the Chiefs. Pioli still needs to publicly explain it, and it’s our job to seek a detailed explanation. We shouldn’t accept a brief statement on a press release. It is fun and fashionable to beat up on the media. In our arrogance, we have refused to adequately police, examine and reshape ourselves. We’re paying a heavy price for our failure. We’re losing credibility. It’s in your best interest to demand better from us. Don’t be fooled into believing we should go away or act as a propaganda machine for some newly-elected, popular-in-comparison-to-Peterson (or Bush) leader.
Posts: 5,661

03-08-2009, 08:04 PM	#108
FAX testing ... 1, 2, 3 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Tennessee Casino cash: $6753759	The difference between Scott Pioli and Carl Peterson is the difference between Stephen Hawking and an old lady who spends her afternoons driving around in her Ford Fairlane looking for box turtles to run over. The only thing these two guys have in common is they have both held the title of GM for the Chiefs. That's it. FAX
Posts: 44,492

03-08-2009, 08:22 PM	#111
Extra Point MVP Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Prairie Village, KS Casino cash: $10004900	...Having failed in sports-talk radio, I’m aware the discipline requires a dramatic and healthy loosening of journalistic standards, like making innuendos at the chicks I worked with/hit on. But basic common sense and backbone are allowed and occasionally encouraged when hosting a radio show, but see the crap I put up on now on msn.com. Supporting the new regime does not equate to rejecting the primary (and redeeming) role of the media, and bitching about the fact that I'm unimportant in this town is what I really do best. It’s our job to acquire information and pass it along to you. Based on what we’ve seen from the Bill Belichick era in New England and our first two months with Pioli, gathering pertinent and enlightening information about the Chiefs is going to be rather difficult. Because there's nothing really to report, we like making up junk so there has to be a press release to deny what we make up. But overall, we attempt to be a watchdog of those with power, and act like junkyard dogs when we just want to watch the game for free, and bitch at the teams for whatever reason we see fit. Jerk-Lock __________________ "Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." --Satchel Paige
Posts: 7,845