The Boston Herald Is Suspending Ron Borges’ Column after a Tom Brady Story Was Proven False
Borges was reportedly duped by a WEEI listener via text.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) warms up during NFL football practice, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Boston Herald has pulled an article from veteran sportswriter Ron Borges and suspended his regular columns, the paper announced on Friday, after a story about a money-hungry Tom Brady turned out to be false.
Borges had reported that Brady was pressuring his team to pay him as much money as his former protégé Jimmy Garoppolo is being paid in San Francisco (which, we’ve learned, is more than Brady), and was threatening not to take part in offseason practices. Borges had credited “sources” for the information. It was a juicy scoop, and contradicted our assumptions about championships-over-everything Brady, who is believed by some to have taken a lower salary for the benefit of his team. It also fed into an overall narrative that Brady is no fan of Garoppolo after ESPN’s reporting on an alleged power struggle between Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft.
But conflicting reports came quickly, and then the facts came out: It wasn’t true.
Friday morning, the Twitter account for WEEI sports radio show Kirk & Callahan published texts it says a listener identified as “Nick in Boston” sent to Borges, claiming to be Brady’s manager Don Yee and offering the juicy, and untrue, details.
Nick in Boston told Ron Borges that he was Don Yee and @RonBorges ran with it. Here is the evidence. pic.twitter.com/xKc4e5XGOy
— Kirk & Callahan (@KirkAndCallahan) February 9, 2018
The Herald released a statement Friday afternoon apologizing to Brady and the Pats, and saying Borges’ regular column in the paper had been suspended. “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 statement says. “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.”
Boston Herald statement on Ron Borges’ column https://t.co/veZPGahQ8u
— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) February 9, 2018
