More On The Vrabel/Russini Matter …

There is a common aphorism that asserts:

Great minds run in the same channel.

My father often pointed out:

And so does sewer water.

Earlier this week, I presented here a list of college football players who I thought should be taken in this year’s NFL Draft.  Remember, I only saw these guys on TV, and I may have only seen them in one game; so, what did Round One last night say about “great minds?

I will postulate that NFL scouts and coaches and GMs know a lot more about what it takes to be in the NFL than I do and they spend thousands upon thousands more hours evaluating and measuring prospects than I do.  But my mind and some of theirs seem to resonate a bit.

Thirteen of the thirty-two players taken in Round One last night were included in my Draft Preview presentation earlier this week.

Truth be told, I did not expect to have identified about 40% of last night’s selections; but I will spend a moment here basking in the sunlight of that good fortune.

Moving on …  I had hoped not to have to extend my comments on the Mike Vrabel/Dianna Russini situation, but I am afraid I must.  So, before I begin, let me state explicitly that I don’t care at all about what the depth of their relationship is or was and the fact that both are married to other people is of no concern to me.  There are professional standards that either or both may have ripped to shreds here, but I have no interest in balancing any moral dimensions here.

Mike Vrabel faced the press earlier this week and gave responses to questions that did not exactly reek of credibility.  After first telling the NY Post when the “incriminating” photos were first published that their meeting was a “completely innocent transaction” and that any conclusion other than that was “laughable”, he said this week that the interaction was a “personal and private matter”.  Those two characterizations are not congruent.

Later in the press event, Vrabel said that he has had some difficult conversations and that he has been apologizing.  He never said with whom he has had said “difficult conversations” or what he has been apologizing about, but if this is all a “completely innocent transaction” and nothing more than a personal/private matter why the need for difficult conversations and apologies in the first place?

And later it was announced that Mike Vrabel will not be in the Pats’ Draft War Room for Day 3 of this year’s Draft because he will be seeking counseling.  Ah yes, counseling – – the panacea for any and all “bad decisions” or “unfortunate circumstances” that might befall any/all public figures.  Just that announcement raises more questions than it answers:

• If counseling is important here, why wait until Day 3 of the Draft, which is a Saturday?
• Do therapy venues not admit new clients on Wednesdays or Thursdays or Fridays?
• What counseling is relevant here:
  • Marriage counseling?
  • Discretion counseling?
  • Public relations counseling as to comments on a potential scandal?

And then there is the question as to how long the sessions will take.  Team OTAs start in about 4 weeks, do not expect Mike Vrabel to miss even a moment of those activities because the NFL has announced that it will not discipline him in this matter and there is no way in the cosmos that the Pats are going to have him miss those sessions.  Interestingly, here is the language in the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy that nominally applies to everyone involved with the league:

“We must endeavor at all times to be people of high character; we must show respect for others inside and outside our workplace; and we must conduct ourselves in ways that favorably reflect on ourselves, our teams, the communities we represent, and the NFL.”

Hmmm …

One other point here …  Dianna Russini resigned from her job with The Athletic and perhaps may have been fired had she not resigned.  We will never know about that.  Mike Vrabel may just skate on this one with some public opprobrium and “counseling sessions”.  And that is NOT a double standard or an expression of malignant misogyny.

• Dianna Russini’s job was to get inside info on the NFL and NFL teams; she was in her position as a journalist.  Her journalism credibility took severe – perhaps fatal – damage in this matter.
• Mike Vrabel is a football coach; his job is to win games; while there may be credibility issues within the Pats’ locker room over his behavior not matching what he would want from his players, there is no obvious reason today to believe he cannot be a winning coach in the future.

If that sounds transactional, that’s because it is.  And with those remarks, I hope I need not return to this matter again.

Finally, this from Elanor Roosevelt:

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………