The Herald Suspends Ron Borges
The Herald’s official statement on Ron Borges getting punked:
A column by Ron Borges in today’s Herald regarding Patriot Tom Brady’s salary discussions was based on information which proved to be false.
The Herald apologizes to Brady, his agent Don Yee and the Patriots, and to our readers for this erroneous report. Borges’ column has been suspended pending further review.
And so there we have it. The day that began with Borges’s abject humliation ends with it. His column is not only suspended, but the paper is supposedly up for auction this coming Tuesday, it’s probably the end of the line for ol’ Ctrl+C Borges.
A little while ago, Dave suggested the best thing for Borges would be to throw himself off a cliff. And while I agree that would resolve a lot of issues for him, I have a hard time going that far, mainly because I’ve met the guy a few times personally. It’s slightly harder to hope for the terminal velocity, splattering death of a guy when you’ve looked into his eyes and made idle chatter. That said, the times I have talked to the Old Plagiarizer, he was … wait for it … accusing the Patriots of being lying, cheating weasels. Once I remember Another time I spoke to him was months earlier, at Super Bowl week in Phoenix, when Deflategate was still in its larval stage. The exchange went something like this:
Borges: “You tell me, what do you think he [Dorito Dink] was doing in that bathroom? In there, with those footballs for 90 seconds?”
Me: “Peeing, Ron. I think he was peeing for 90 seconds.”
Another time I remember being on Comcast NE Sports Tonight, the very day the Wells Report dropped. I debunked it as much as a could on a panel of Journos including Borges and Mike Felger who swallowed every punctuation mark of it whole. But a few minutes after we got off air, Ron and I were in the green room talking about boxing or whatever. So yeah, it’s a little more problematic for me to root for his bone-crushing death at the bottom of a cliff.
That said, it’s hard to justify him keeping his job. Guys like Ed Werder can call him “an innocent” in all this. But this wasn’t some slip of the tongue by a guy trying to speak extemporaneously to entertain a live audience. This wasn’t an error. It was a concerted effort to finally nail the Patriots who have been the bane of his existence like he’s the Gargamel to their Smurfs.
He’s more than just a contrarian. He’s hated this franchise since the day Belichick took over 18 years ago and it’s clouded his judgment to the point he can’t be taken seriously. Which is why he was so quick to publish something on the basis of three texts. Do the Ed Werders of the world think that article would’ve gone to print if the catfisher claimed to be the Foxboro fire chief passing along that they had a fire in a pet store and Belichick raced into the flames to rescue all the puppies?
This suspension can’t be the extent of the punishment. Last year the Herald suspended Chris Villani – a full time politics and legal reporter and part time WEEI host I’ve worked with who’s a good guy – two weeks for the crime of Tweeting out a breaking news story. One that was 100 percent accurate. But they embarrassed the guy in public and took away a paycheck because he didn’t run breaking news through his editors in an instant-information world before he reported it. If they can suspend an employee for being right, how do they possible give Borges the same treatment for making the paper in a laughingstock just to satisfy his own thirst for blood?
They can’t. But part of me hopes he survives somehow. Because in a weird Batman-needs-the-Joker kind of way, the Ron Borgeses of the world complete me. And as long as they have a voice, the rest of can know what they’re thinking. Plus the blog fodder they provide is the gift that should never, ever stop giving.