So, the reviews are coming in for Bob Kravitz's Sunday critique of Colts general manager Chris Polian, and already the front office enablers at blogs 18to88.com, Coltzilla, and Coltsider.com are taking their shots at Bob, his sources, and anyone who believes them.
From Nate Dunlevy, 18to88.com:
The article was erroneous and irresponsible.
From Kyle Rodriguez, Coltsider.com:
In short, the piece uses unnamed (biased) sources, makes wild assumptions, and makes logical argument that have no validity.
The always entertaining but, in this case, shortsighted Greg Cowan of Coltzilla took the time to call the Kravitz article 'a hit piece' on Chris Polian, and then did a person-for-person 'hit' of his own on Kravitz, his supposed sources, and how none of them should be trusted.
Basically, instead of objectively looking at the argument and the evidence, these Colts fans are attacking the people associated with the article in a clearly transparent effort to discredit them.
I'm not going to go in a point-for-point smackdown of any of these articles because 1) It would do no good, and 2) these guys are entitled to their opinions, no matter how off-base and ridiculous they look in justifying them. I'm linking to them here so that you readers can go check them out yourselves and hear a few additional voices on this subject.
For me, I think we should all give Bob 'The Rat' Kravitz a bit of applause for the work he did. Seriously.
For starters, Bob did a lot of leg work with this piece. I know because he spoke to me about it. He got great information from his sources and he provided a valid reason why they could not disclose their names in the article (though, unless you're a complete moron, it's pretty obvious who those unnamed sources are).
The information they provided gave us fans a glimpse into an inner world we are normally shut out from.
Bob also took the departures of these key people (all claiming they were let go because Chris Polian was rapidly promoted through the ranks without earning that privilege) and placed them within the context of how the Colts have performed in the NFL Draft in recent years. We did our own evaluation of the recent drafts, and I think most sane people agree the drafts of the last five years or so for the Colts weren't very good.
If you want to know why people like Nate Dunlevy hates Bob Kravitz's article, well, it really boils down to Nate having a different view of the world than everyone else.
Once again, Nate screams (in all caps, no less) that 'THE DRAFTS WEREN'T BAD' in recent years. Sure, Nate's entitled to that opinion, and he might even think he has evidence to back it up. The reality is he doesn't, and pretty much everyone with at least two brain cells in their head knows that when you bust on players like Tony Ugoh in the 2007 draft, it was not considered a good draft. Nate isn't even willing to agree with anyone that Ugoh himself was a bust.
No common ground here. No willingness to be reasonable.
Thus, when Bob Kravitz writes a pretty thorough and well-researched article, Nate, Greg, and Kyle do what Colts fans are notorious for doing: They shoot the messenger rather than deal with the problems or ideas that messenger presents.
For me, Bob's article was a great add-on piece to what we discussed last week. Also, it's not like questions about Chris Polian's competence haven't been raised before by other Colts bloggers, like Scott Bolander here. Bob went out and got good information that we fans should thank him for. I mean, it's not like the Polians are going to slap his back and kiss him for, basically, giving a voice to the disgruntled talent the Polians kicked out of Indy.
If you personally disagree that Chris Polian's credibility shouldn't be called into question, that's fine. Seems a bit like playing favorites for my taste, but it's cool if you feel that way. Just don't get pissed at other people who are equally (or more) credible when they question the competence of the eldest Polian son. Don't do what Greg Cowan did, which was to systematically attack the motives and character of people like Howard Mudd, Tom Moore, Gene Huey, and the scouting staff. Don't do a Nate Dunlevy and claim the article is 'erroneous and irresponsible' and not provide a single example of anything that is, in fact, erroneous or irresponsible. Nate often confuses facts with his subjective opinion, like when he said that Kravitz's claim that the Colts have done poorly in recent drafts is 'a factual error.' Don't act like Kyle Rodriguez and say the article 'no validity' and then not provide any examples of such a claim save links to work done by 18to88.com and Coltzilla. I mean, it makes it look as if Kyle is bashing Kravitz, and then his reasons for doing so were because Nate Dunlevy and Greg Cowan did so.
Again, don't be that guy.
I say this as somebody who has sometimes been 'that guy.' I'm in no position to tell you what you should and shouldn't think. I do, however, believe we should give Bob Kravitz some props for writing a fine piece. You might not agree with its conclusions, but the article is indeed good; well sourced and logical. Bob put a lot of effort into it, and he deserves some praise from us Colts fans for doing something that, at the end of the day, is only going to make his job harder at West 56th Street.