Ah the old conspiracy piece. Just as other reporters are re-tweeting quotes about a jaded ex-kicker calling Frazier a "man of integrity" and how well respected he is by his players, Reusse inadvertently (most likely, because he's an ignoramus) throws Frazier under the bus.
Frazier reneged on all those midseason quotes in which he claimed to be starting Christian Ponder because he was the quarterback who gave his team "the best chance to win.''
Reneged is an interesting choice of words. If you look it up in the dictionary it means, to "go back on a promise, undertaking, or contract." Hmm... that doesn't sound like a man of integrity to me. Maybe the article will clear this up by the end.
Here's what I don't believe:
I don't believe that Leslie Frazier meant it when he said for six weeks in midseason that Ponder gave his team the best chance to win.
So... you don't believe Frazier was telling the truth when he said Ponder gave the team the best chance to win. So, basically Frazier is a liar. And a habitual liar at that. Huh.
See that's the problem with the conspiracy that Frazier had a gun to his head in these decisions. He was emphatic in his statements, ones that often came
right after the conclusion of a loss. Ponder is the starter. He gives us the best chance to win. We heard it, not once, not twice, but over and over again. So now we're to believe he was lying to us all along? A spineless coach bending to the whims of the evil GM?
Here's what I believe. I believe Frazier
is a man of integrity and a man of his word. If he says it, he believes it. So when he said Ponder gives the team the best chance to win, I think he meant it. Which of course is a strike against him in terms of his coaching ability but the alternative to me is a lot worse. To think that he was lying to the fans week after week sounds a heck of a lot worse than a guy who just lacks the ability to identify talent.
Reusse as usual paints himself into a corner. Frazier was either telling the truth to us all along, a case against his coaching ability or he was lying to the fans on a regular basis. It's either or in my book, a half truth is still a lie, so which one is it? Personally I think Frazier would rather go out as a man of integrity than as one whose word cannot be trusted. I'm sure Reusse thought he was helping Fraizer with this piece but he would have been better off not writing it at all.