Diss the organization (Kraft) on this if you want, though the school should know what they are getting. I'm pretty sure Belichik has little or nothing to do with this stuff.
It's a lot more fun to blame Bellichick though... But common sense would dictate: why would a school want to have some crappy video intern like me talk to kids? So ats_suck::gpc:
Message boards, yeah! A two-second google search yielded this: The school said the letter the Dairy Association sent them gave them the impression that an NFL player would be at the school because it said a celebrity coach would be coming to their school and it featured a picture with a Patriots player. Fabry said, “There was nobody there to unfortunately represent anyone who resembled a celebrity. It was an intern.” The Patriots, NFL and Dairy Council said they never promised a player was coming. However, they now promise they will try to make that more clear in the future. In a statement, the New England Dairy and Food Council said, “we are so embarrassed and mortified and apologize...we're so upset such a positive experience was taken negatively because we wanted to reward the kids for their fantastic job.” The Patriots also released a statement that said, “We will ask the dairy council to change the letter. The expectation of what schools are receiving has to be clear in the letter.” The school said it was turning this negative into a positive by using this as an opportunity to teach letter writing. http://www.wfsb.com/news/23466194/detail.html Or how about this one: A group of kids in Lebanon, Ct. are upset because, they say, the New England Patriots were no-shows at an event celebrating the students' participation in an NFL-sponsored fitness program. But Pats flack Stacey James says players never show up at such events, and he faulted the New England Dairy and Food Council, which administers the program for the NFL, for not making it clear that neither Tom Brady nor any member of his gridiron gang would be attending this week's event. "This is not our program. We never said a player would be there," said James. The event was a reward for students who participated in the Fuel up to Play 60 program, which encourages kids to be active. In exchange for participating, an email from the Dairy Council promised kids a video presentation and a session led by "celebrity coaches." There is no mention of players. A Dairy Council rep told us she "feels awful" about the misunderstanding. http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/more_names/blog/2010/05/patriots_faulted_unfairly_for.html
ROFL but seriously its the fucking offseason. send out like 3 or 4 players and get some good publicity. otherwise dont fucking agree to participate. ive seen this program a million times and its always legit players from the team in agreeance.
That's bullshit man. I'll bet the team didn't even inform the players and you can bet there'd be guys ont hat team who would be more than happy to attend.
I laugh at the Pats answer.... "We will ask them to change the letter" No mention of "In light of all this, we will send a few players at a later date, for the kids".
We should send a bunch of Jets players to hang out with them and convert them all to Jets fans. Judging by the Twitter postings, maybe these kids could teach a few NFL players how to write in the process.
So if a partially accurate article came out saying the Jets seemingly blew off a group of schoolkids, you'd trade in your seats for Giants season tickets, throw out your Sanchez jersey, and pick a new team to root for? If the team said they would send players and didn't it would be more despicable, but clearly they didn't. http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/05/06/middle-school-students-disappointed-by-patriots-no-show/ "This miscommunication is not the Patriots fault, it's our fault. We are so embarrassed and feel awful about this misunderstanding and apologize to the kids and school," a statement from the Dairy Council says. Look, I get it... people hate the Patriots. That happens to teams that do well, in any sport. You become a target for everything from handshakes to charity events. But there's plenty of ammo without having to essentially fabricate stories about disappointing kids. And it wasn't like this was some urban, under-privileged group of students... it was a CT school in a town with a mean income of about $70K/year. I'm sure all the little Travis'es and Noahs and Ashelys and Madisons will get over it pretty quickly once they find out they'll be summering on the Vineyard with their families. I'm also betting this story isn't over. If the Patriots feel badly and send some players down, does that absolve them?
It has nothing to do with whether or not they said they would ever send anyone. It comes down to the fact that it seems all other teams DO send players or coaches or whatever, and the Patriots DON'T. Why? Because they're classless and arrogant. They're above making public appearances because they're the faaaaaaahkkinn Patriots, right?
You're actually complaining about Jets fans bashing the Patriots on a Jets message board? You don't really know how to pick your battles, do you?
Complaining, no. I'm not delusional. And I actually think I pick my battles pretty well, given the number of times I opt to just lurk. This one's different. People bash the Pats for everything and that's cool, but they don't deliberately disappoint children. C'mon.
Patriots screw over kids from my hometown Patriots disappoint some wide-eyed youngsters By MJD A bunch of kids at Lebanon Middle School in Connecticut got fired up to participate in the NFL's "Fuel Up to Play 60" program -- more than half of the kids at the school, in fact. And because their participation rate was so high, they thought they won the right to have some real, actual New England Patriots come to their school. I imagine the youngsters thought they'd be mingling with Tom Brady(notes), Randy Moss(notes), Wes Welker(notes) ... at the very least, a Tully Banta-Cain(notes) or a Julian Edelman(notes). Nope. They got an intern. He brought some exercise videos. Enjoy, kids! From NorwichBulletin.com: The Fuel up to Play 60 Web site stated if enough students participated in the program, they would be rewarded with a gym session complete with New England Patriots, said [health and physical education teacher Alyssa] Fabry. The students ended up with one of the highest participation rates in the state. Instead, the hour featured a registered dietitian giving them tips on healthy eating and a communications intern from the New England Patriots playing kickboxing workout videos. “The event was fun,” said seventh-grader Tom Bergamo, who won a (Patriot’s running back) Fred Taylor(notes) jersey for being the most dedicated student to the program. “But I was hoping to see a Patriot. I even brought pens and notebooks so I could get autographs.” I was willing to give the Patriots the benefit of the doubt and believe that there was an honest mistake here ... until I read that they gave the kid a Fred Taylor jersey. Fred Taylor? Fred Taylor and his 269 yards last year? That's really the best you can do for the kid? What, was Zoltan Mesko(notes) too busy to sign a jersey? The kids seemed to take it in stride, though. "I thought it was fun,” student Levi Duharme said. "I like the videos; they were cool." Well, it probably still beats science class. The young fellow is being a better sport about it than I would've been. If they were just going to send a random intern and some videos, I'd have at least demanded to see the video of the Rams practice before Super Bowl XXXVI.
Why is it so hard to post a link? http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/sh...oint-some-wide-eyed-youngsters?urn=nfl,239155
