Col. Jessep: [from the witness stand] Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?
Col. Jessep: [from the witness stand] I did the job I…
Kaffee: [interupts him] *Did you order the Code Red?*
Col. Jessep: [directly to Kaffee] *You’re Goddamn right I did!*-Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, A Few Good Men (1992)
I love movies. A Few Good Men is probably one of those “If I had to be marooned on an island with one film” type deals for me, hands down. So watching the Bills’ end of season press conference with Doug Whaley was a flashback to the iconic Jack Nicholson/Tom Cruise cross-examination.
One difference with this one: Jessup (Whaley) didn’t break.
I applaud the media collected there – with one exception I’ll mention in a minute – for their zeal and for fairly putting the Bills on the spot. However, the need to make Whaley break down his reporting structure wasn’t going to elicit the “You’re goddamned right I did” moment that happened in the movie; rather, he rather continually returned to the refrain of “I was not privy to that conversation/decision”. Much has been made of those answers and how little decisions he makes, which need to get called to the carpet. But making him the surrogate punching dummy for the Pegulas was a bit much to me.
Here’s my issue with this whole thing. We’ve seen a head coach (interim) mention he didn’t make some decisions. We’ve just heard the general manager say he wasn’t privy to some of the decisions made himself until after the fact. The owners are running the show, folks. Take a read at the piece Michael Silver did on the Pegulas, Kim in particular, in November – because I think it opens up the door far better than that press conference did on how things are run in Buffalo. The Pegulas seem to be more in line with Jerry Jones than say Robert Kraft, which is their prerogative as owners of the team. However, because they did not get in front of these questions and the issues folks wanted answered about the team, it became quite clear the people put there were going to catch additional shots as a penance.
Which leads me to Bucky Gleason’s question – the “what do you actually do then?” shot across the bow. I saw a lot of folks chuckle and chortle at that line and even my dude Michael said it was the question of the presser. I wholeheartedly disagree because the question could have been great, if he followed up Whaley being taken aback with another more pressing question that allowed a more honest response from the Bills general manager than his prepared statements. Instead, Gleason backtracked to Whaley’s face, apologizing if he was “crass” when asking the question. However, Gleason then hopped on twitter and dropped the below tweet:
Whaley's presser confirmed what I believed for some time: He's in charge of nothing. More to come on 1270 The Fan starting at 5 pm.
— Bucky Gleason (@ByBuckyGleason) January 2, 2017
Confirmation bias was more important for him than breaking “Jessup”. Bravo, good for you bud. And to apologize in one hand and have it as the prepared sting for getting folks to listen to a radio show is just adding more to his account than the discourse in my opinion. Either be the tough talker you’re putting yourself out to be or don’t; but being in the middle and demurring to twitter to take the shots? That’s weak.
Listening to the press conference, I heard several reporters drop outstanding questions or at least attempt to get a line of questioning that would elicit responses that would be productive and get to the heart of what fans want. I also heard over the course of the 30 minutes a little bit of the issues between Bills (Berchtold and comms staff) and media not getting access to key decision makers, outside of really good things (purchase of team, extensions) or non-team related events (716, Ice rink built). He’s not making a comment like that to Terry or Kim Pegula.
Having your ownership or key figures available for those events and prefacing any presser with “we’re going to only focus on x” is really unfair to the local media trying to do their jobs. Trying to take that out on general manager, or head coach, or players? Not so much. But again, I get it. You only have so many minutes in front of anyone from the org – so you want to make it count.
Also, as much as it is a national perception that the Bills are fail whales extraordinaire, the contentiousness of the Bills/Local Media dynamic is starting to become clear as crystal.
Doug Whaley repeatedly says he wasn't "privy" to conversation that led to Rex Ryan's firing. Most contentious 7-9 presser I've seen.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) January 2, 2017
Finally, I’d challenge the Bills in 2017 to figure out what their communication path is going to be in terms of getting things out. When their own website has to re-print the AP interview Terry Pegula does with John Wawrow instead of say, Chris Brown? Looks weird y’all.
And as an aside, I’m hoping that vim and vigor the TBN sports staff brought to this can be given by osmosis to the city beat folks because the below is far more important for the future of Buffalo than the Bills.
In the midst of all this business about Whaley being #bad and the Pegulas being #bad, Carl Paladino retains responsibility for kids.
— Large Adult Dubs (L.A.D.) (@theycallmedubs) January 3, 2017
Have a good one and I’ll chat with you all later in the week on my first love, wrasslin – in particular the January 4th New Japan show. Get excited.
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