Today at 4:05pm Eastern, I'll be a guest on XL950's The Zone, with their fine host Derek Schultz. We'll be discussing the upcoming game between the Colts and Seahawks, along with some other related NFL goodness. Their call-in number is 317-736-0950, and the email is thezone@XL950.com. I encourage you to call-in or email Derek with questions from 3pm onward. Despite his looks, he's a reasonably smart guy.
And since we are on the subject of media, I'll take this quick opportunity to respond to yet another odd, seemingly schizophrenic article from the Indy Star's Bob Kravitz. There is no need to dissect and pick apart the piece. 18to88 has already done it for us in typical fine fashion, pointing out the laziness and inconsistency that is characteristic of Kravitz's writing and reporting.
To be honest with you, I did not write anything when the article came out because I simply did not feel the need to use this blog space to respond to yet another turd from Kravitz. I have always gotten the distinct impression that Bob writes these kinds of things just so unaccountable losers like me can start ranting and raving about how "dumb" he is. The resulting ranting drives traffic to his page and, thus, makes his editors happy. I'm kind of bored with that little game, and I've made it a point from now on to simply skim Bob's articles for any possible nuggets of truth, ignoring all the opinionated bull that typically oozes from his work.
But, since so many of you seem upset by his comments (again, that is what he wants when he writes them), I'll just quickly re-iterate what 18to88 so effectively highlighted: 48 hours after singing the praises of the Colts and Peyton Manning after they slaughtered the Cardinals on a short week, Bob wrote an article essentially calling them frauds and strongly suggested that Peyton Manning is a playoff choker. This less than three years after Bob stated that Peyton had shed that ridiculous criticism once and for all after the 2006 comeback against the Patriots and the Super Bowl victory over the Bears.
When you go back and look at Bob's continuous body of work, you see a lot of inconsistency and simply laziness when it comes to his opinions. He also likes to throw around funny little catch phrases that don't seem to make any sense, like his "knock" on the Colts being "The Atlanta Braves of the NFL."
What Bob doesn't know (because he is bad at his job) is that most football fans and supposed football experts disagree with his opinions... or, I should say, whichever flavor of the month opinion he chooses to roll with.
How do I, a loser blogger in my underwear, know this?
If you are ever in NY during this time of year, go to any bar in downtown Manhattan on Sunday (I suggest The Village Pourhouse; great spot). You'll walk in and instantly become surrounded by some of the most passionate football fans on the planet. Chiefs fans, Giants fans, Eagles fans, Steelers fans, Patriots fans, Raiders fans, Browns fans, Ravens fans, and fans of every other team (yes, even the Lions) jam that place to maximum capacity every Sunday at 1pm.
Walk up to any one of them and ask them two simple questions, two questions I asked many of them this past Sunday: What team is one of the biggest NFL powerhouses right now? Who is the NFL's best QB the last decade?
Almost all answered "Colts" and "Manning" (Peyton, not Eli... even the Giants fans agreed with that).
Also, go to any one of our fine blogs in this network, and you'll see top quality writers like John Morgan and John Bena consistently refer to the Colts as a powerhouse, a gold standard of this league, etc.
These are the very people sports columnists work so hard to reach. But, for some reason, their opinions are not shared by Bob Kravitz, a man universally loathed both at West 56th Street and by sports fans everywhere. My issue with all all this is if we all agree that Bob is rude, lazy, and just simply bad at his job... why do you folks still get mad when he writes stupid crap that is just so obviously stupid crap?
Tune in later today to hear Derek and I on XL 950. Instead of getting mad at my stupid crap, you can just laugh at it.