New Colts coach Jim Caldwell called his first day of rookie mini-camp "productive," calling his 2009 crop of rookies "attentive" and "pretty efficient." And while the coaches claim they are not evaluating players at this time, just helping them better transition to the Colts from college, Caldwell did not shy away from praising his first round pick in 2009, RB Donald Brown.
"We were not disappointed," Caldwell said, adding, "It's very, very difficult to evaluate anyone on one day for a two-hour period. A lot more goes into it than that, but [Brown] certainly did well today."
The other player many people have their eye on is DT Fili Moala. Before we get into Fili, I have an important side note to make: Indianapolis' established media really does suck.
I know that seems to come out of nowhere here, but believe me when I say it relates to Fili Moala and the Colts rookie mini-camp. Within minutes of the rookie camp ending, AP published an article on Moala and his first day as a Colt. It's a pretty cool little story with Fili talking about the Colts franchise, playing on a Tampa-2 team, and how fun it will be. The article also talks about NT Terrance Taylor.
Later, Colts.com posted their video press conference video featuring Jim Caldwell. They also posted a quick John Oehser article discussing the first day.
Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Star, the only established newspaper in Indianapolis (owned by mega-corporate-octopus Gannett) posted nothing, NADA, zip, zero, zilch until this morning. Just to hit that point home, both Associated Press AND the Colts themselves posted better more timely content about a subject hundreds of thousands of people are interested in waaaaaaaaaay before the ONLY newspaper in Indianapolis posting anything.
Yes folks, the Indy Star does suck THAT much.
When news happens now it should be posted NOW. Posting mini-camp news the day after the camp is an old, broken news model that does not work anymore. It's the reason why this country is littered with the bodies of closed and discontinued newspapers. People no longer want their news next day. They want it NOW! On the web. On Twitter. On Facebook. On blogs. On mobile phones. Now! NOW! NOW!
As many of my generation say (right or wrong), If the news is important, it will find me. And the best way to find readers is to get your friggin content out there ASAP.
Another frustration I have is with the Colts themselves. While it was great that the Colts posted video of Caldwell the first day, they also issued press releases for Colts-related news that happened NINE DAYS AGO. Yesterday, they issued a press release announcing the signing of offensive tackle Brandon Barnes and offensive lineman Kyle DeVan. We knew these signing took place prior to the friggin draft, almost nine days ago. The Colts also issued a press statement that their rookie free agents were signed. Again, we knew (and posted) these signings the day of and day after the Draft.
I mean, no offense Colts media guys and gals, but why not issue a statement that Egypt built some pyramids a few years ago? The news is about as relevant now.
You'll have to forgive me, but when I see old, broken media models like this continue to chug along, I get annoyed. Posting press releases like the Colts did or posting content on the Indy Star's site the day after is a dated, tired method of getting news out. For the Colts, there really is no excuse. When the players like DeVan and Barnes are signed, a press statement should be made immediately on the website. If not, then why bother having a website, or press statements for that matter? Doing it nine days after the news happened screams of We don't give a sh*t, but we're doing it anyway just because. Again, the only reason to have a team website is to reach out to fans. It's not for press and media. They rarely use the site as they often contact the team directly to get information. The site is there for fans, and when you update your site with news that is nine days old, it tends to send a message that you just don't give a crap about your fans.
And at a time when forces are trying to paint the Colts as assh*les in this whole stupid CIB thing, now is not the time to be insulting your fanbase's intelligence by posting news that's nine days old and considering it relevant.
To this day, I have no idea why the Colts post their media files on their horrible media page. Why not post them on YouTube, embed them on their site, and then let fan blogs (like this one) embed the videos into our site posts? The same with the Star. Post, embed, and BANG! Content is out minutes after the interview is recorded. Unreal why they don't do this.
And please Indy Star, don't give me the crappy excuse that you aren't ESPN, and thus can't be as timely with news on your website. I'm not ESPN, and I have routinely beaten you to the punch on many Colts stories. I'm one guy who maintains this site. One. Friggin. Guy. I have four other co-writers who work for free, posting content left and right because they love it. Your writers and web staff make a helluva lot more than we do, and with features like YouTube, Twitter, and other applications, there is simply no excuse for getting your content out a day after. If the excuse you have is you wanted to wait for the newspapers to hit the driveways, then the Indy Star will be gone within a year. No one reads newspapers anymore. The newspaper is a dead media medium, and good riddance at that.
So please Indy Star and Colts.com, remove your heads from your colons and start working in the 21st friggin century. I don't say these things because I hate you guys and think you are all a bunch of incompetent dipsh*ts. The only incompetent dipsh*t in this whole media umbrella is Bob Kravitz, and he stopped being relevant a looooooooooong time ago. I say these things to you because I know your staff reads this blog, and I know that sometimes established media needs some tough love. You can ignore my suggests at your own peril, but consider this:
Last weekend, I had nearly 100,000 people hit my site on Draft Day. My network (SB Nation) generated 1.1 million page views over Draft weekend. I'm willing to bet that more eyes viewed my site (and my site's advertising) in one day than they did Colts.com's or IndyStar.com's combined for the entire weekend. When you Google the words "2009 Colts Draft," Stampede Blue is #1. Not Colts.com. Not IndyStar.com. Stampede friggin' Blue.
Do you want to know why my site is #1? Because I don't wait nine days, or even one day, to post important Colts content. I post it NOW! I Twitter it NOW! I Yahoo! it NOW! I Facebook it NOW!
Think on that, and get your heads into the 21st century already. Because if you don't, blogs like mine will replace you as community gathering places on the web to reach out to Colts fans.