Obviously, Ed Johnson getting re-signed by the Colts was going to get eclipsed by the news that Brett Favre is talking to the Minnesota Vikings about returning to the NFL. Like it or not, that is a BIG story, and cannot be ignored. Favre took a 4 win NY Jets team last year and helped them to 9 wins despite a horrible defense that couldn't stop the run or pass. The Vikings are a 10 win team. Add Favre to that mix (which includes Adrian Peterson, a great defense, and Percy Harvin) and the Vikes could be scary good in 2009. So, it is understandable the Big Ed gets pushed aside for "Favraggedon."
However, Favre to the Vikings means absolutely nothing to Colts fans. So, knowing that, it makes absolutely no sense why, despite three HUGE Colts stories breaking yesterday, that the Indy Star only posted something this morning on their website. That "something" was another journalistic turd laid by Bob Kravitz; a turd that was rolled up and shoved back in "Krabby's" pie hole by the Zombie Bros at 18 to 88. Kravitz, in his typical, juvenille manner, makes the claim that Ed Johnson returning means that Tony Dungy was the only one in Colt Land who held any moral authority at West 56th Street. With him gone, the re-signing of Big Ed puts the Colts in the same league with the old Stephen Jackson-Jamal Tinsley Indiana Pacer teams of a few years ago.
Yep. Sounds pretty f*cking stupid to me too.
Ed Johnson paid the price for his foolishness last year. He was cut, and spent most of the 2008 season not getting paid. Knowing this, I think it is a pretty safe bet that if Tony Dungy were still coaching the Colts, he would have let Ed Johnson back on the team. Dungy is a loyal soul, and works hard to see that people get second chances. He does prison ministry work for god sakes, and just recently visited Michael friggin Vick in the hope that he can get a second chance in the public eye. So, to suggest that Dungy would say "NO! He's a druggie! Keep him off my team!" when offered the chance to re-sign Big Ed is just plain and simple ignorance.
In short, typical Bob Kravitz.
Once again, I firmly believe Kravitz only writes this kind of crap so that we get upset and run around like headless chickens. So, this means that, once again, I've fallen in the Kravitz Hack Trap. But what Kravitz's ignorance underscores is just how disconnected the Indy Star is from its readers. Go look in the comments from our Ed Johnson posts yesterday. Almost everyone in there seems to say the same thing: Johnson paid the price for his stupidity, and I welcome him back for this second (and likely last) chance to play in the NFL.
Everyone screws up. Everyone makes mistakes. It is when the mistakes become routine and constant that people start to get pissed. Ed Johnson is not former-Pacers guard Stephen Jackson. He's not going to strip clubs during training camp and shooting at patrons in the parking lot. He's not Jamal Tinsley, firing pistols at people outside the Conrad Hotel, or beating up bartenders downtown. Guys like Jackson and Tinsley were given third, fourth, and sometimes fifth chances, and still managed to screw up. Currently, there is no one on the Colts who event remotely fits those profiles, and the reason that is so is the Colts look for high character people. While Ed Johnson has a checkered past, he is not a low character kid.
Like Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell and Bill Polian believe in second chances. If people think that welcoming Ed back undermines the Colts "moral high ground," then fine. These people who think this way are narrow-minded, silly people, and they deserve to be ignored. Strong morals and integrity have their roots in forgiveness, redemption, and an understanding that we are all human. When you are giving someone who was arrested a second chance to right the ship that is their life, that (to me) suggests someone who is moral and kind. Big Ed now has the opportunity to make a better life for himself. What he does is up to him.
If he screws up, oh well! He'll likely get cut again, and the Colts will move on.
Again, most rational, moral people think this was a good move by the Colts. It helps their team and provides a second chance for a good-hearted but troubled young guy. If other can't see that... whatever. I have no time for close-minded simpletons like Kravitz and his brethren at the Star.
Oh, and by the way (from 18 to 88, emphasis mine):
So in all this, where was the Star last night? All three major blogs posted (Stampede Blue, Oehser, 18to88) the Ed Johnson story before the Star. Oehser and SB beat us to it, but we had the press release up first. The point being, the Star had nothing. When they finally did post something, it was exactly what anyone could already have found on 18to88.com. That is, it was just the Colts press release.
Then Peter King announces that he has a tip that Marvin's done. The Star still has nothing.
Then Howard Mudd tells Mortensen he might quit. Stampede Blue and Oehser have it. It was in our comments section and I'm commenting about it now (thanks for the tips), but the Star still has NOTHING. t remains to be seen if it will really happen, as it sounds like there is confusion over the pension plan that might still work itself out. Still, many of us wonder if the Colts line problems last year weren't at least partially related to the time Mudd missed undergoing surgery. The Colts #1 question mark going into the season is the O-line, and suddenly the man most responsible is possibly leaving, and the Star doesn't even mention it on its main Colts page.
A couple of weeks ago, we asked Kravitz why fans should read the Star. He basically said, "What choice do you have?".
The answer to that question is becoming clear. If the Star can't break or even register two of the three major Colts stories in a day, what purpose does it serve?
They really serve no purpose anymore. I mean, re-read Kravitz's comment. What an arrogant douchebag. People have moved on from the tired and dead practice of getting news from newspapers. They are a day late and make you a dollar short. People are now starting to realize that this dinosaur of a newspaper and the morons like Kravitz who work there do not provide real, breaking news that they care about.