Ben Volin sits down with Bob Kravitz
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AP/File
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Here's the full transcript:
Q: So, quiet couple of weeks for you?
Bob Kravitz: I think it would be fair to say the last week to week and a half has been the most insane period of my professional life. Radio shows, TV shows, everybody keeps calling for interviews. I can barely find time every day to read my hate tweets. Other writers keep jokingly coming up to me and saying, “This is all your fault,’’ but I’m quite sure this story would have gotten out whether I reported it or not. An NFL investigation into allegations of cheating is a big thing; surely, someone would have caught wind of it. As it happened, I’m the one who heard about it and confirmed it and reported it -- accurately, I might add.
Q: What kind of feedback have you received from your report and your columns? From Patriots fans and non-Patriots fans.
BK: Feedback? Hell, it’s been a tsunami of hatred. My office voice mail is full. My emails are overflowing from New England fans. The tweets are just out of control. It’s gotten very personal, very mean-spirited, some anti-Semitic remarks, some threats to my well-being, but, then, I didn’t expect otherwise. I’ve been in the business for over 30 years and I’ve developed some very thick skin over the years. I’m a big boy; I can handle it. I’ll say this: New England fans are among the most vocal and passionate I’ve ever seen, which is a good thing.
Q: You’ve been in this industry for a long time. Is this the most explosive story you’ve ever broken?
BK: Been in the business 32 years. Far and away the biggest story I’ve ever broken. Nothing comes close.
Q: Anything about the reporting process you would like to share?
BK: I got a tip, called a source, got the information, confirmed it with a second source and that was it. I knew it was true, even if the NFL didn’t confirm it until 7 the next morning.
Q: Any regrets about reporting the story, now that you see what it has mushroomed into?
BK: No regrets about reporting the story despite the heat I’ve received. You don’t get into this business if you want to be universally loved. Sometimes you have to report or say things that are unpopular. Part of the job. I knew it would be big when I tweeted it. Not sure I knew that it would lead the evening news for several nights in a row, but I thought it might hit a little bit like SpyGate.
Q: What do you think of the theory that this story was “sour grapes” from the Colts for getting beaten?
BK: My sense is the Colts want to sit back and see where this investigation goes. I haven’t spoken to a single member of the organization who believes the footballs, deflated or stuffed with chicken feathers, had anything to do with the one-sided outcome. I sense some of the players are downright embarrassed this came out, simply because it makes them look like poor losers.
Q: How has social media impacted the response to this story?
BK: I’ve seen both the beauty and the ugliness of social media. It’s not like the old days when people sent you letters through snail-mail. Now it’s instantaneous and very visceral, often vicious and wrong-headed. People can reach you in the time it takes to hit “send.’’
It's certainly interesting to get his take on the whole thing, but not entirely surprising. I admit it - initially, I thought this whole thing was sour grapes, but after 11 of the Patriots balls were found to be under-inflated (although we don't know how yet), it turns out there was something in it. Granted, I still think this has been way overblown and that this all much ado about nothing, but it's still interesting to read a different perspective on this whole thing. If the NFL's investigation does find that the Patriots were in the wrong, it's likely to be a minor punishment, no matter what ESPN and other outlets might say.
We'll see where this all leads, but in the meantime, there's still a game to be played on Sunday.
