In Case You Missed It: Hog Hannah Speaks

Yesterday the greatest pre-Brady Patriot in franchise history was on local radio speaking his mind about a variety of Patriots-related issues. So obviously when John “Hog” Hannah speaks, I listen. Hannah was extremely complimentary of the Kraft family and how they are fans first and want to win. He talked of how they have given the Pats first rate facilities, including Gillette Stadium itself. He also talked about the “previous owners” (though I did not hear him refer to Billy Sullivan by name) and how the previous owners were out to make money, not to win. He said when he arrived in Foxboro the facilities were worse than at his high school and there wasn’t even a weight room. He talked of how they let talented free agents walk away in order to save money regardless of how it affected the team. He basically made Robert Kraft sound like a man who does not care about making a dime, while Billy Sullivan was basically the first-coming of Jeremy Jacobs. With all due respect to Hog, I don’t think this is completely fair, or accurate, in either case. If Kraft didn’t care about making money then attending a Pats game wouldn’t annually be the most expensive sporting event of any team in any sport nationally, which it is. And to say the Sullivans did not care about winning just because they didn’t want to lose their shirts while trying to win is ridiculous. Like Kraft, Billy Sullivan was also a businessman, and he came into professional football at a FAR different place in time for both the sport as a whole and specifically how it was received in this part of the country. I am all for acknowledging the great work of the Krafts, but I do not believe it needs to be done at the Sullivans expense. To do so makes Hog seem more like a bitter ex-athlete than a beloved all-time great, which is how I’d prefer to think of him.