JMV of 1260 WNDE and Derek Schultz of XL 950 join us with their takes on Bob Kravitz’s latest self-generated controversy. Full disclosure for those outside the market: Bob hosts a competing radio show in the same time slot as JMV. My thoughts on Bob’s new show are well-documented. JMV and the boys from XL 950 were holding down the local sports-talk scene just fine before 1070 decided to crowd the market with the radio equivalent of Jar Jar and the Ewoks.
Here is JMV’s perspective: “Where do I begin? I understand disappointment, but I think you also need to keep a level head about the entire thing. Calling for Dungy’s job is about as ridiculous as it can get. I think recognizing that will help folks keep their sanity if you happen to browse that piece-of-crap article. Now mind you, I like Bob, always have, but this is nothing more than a tit-for-tat at the Colts and Bill Polian. It is actually more about taking a shot at Polian than it is about this team “needing a new voice”.
Bob feels that the Colts don’t play fair with the Indianapolis Star. Maybe not, but openly crying will never help. That’s just the way the Colts work. I also believe that Colts fans should be upset about the many playoff “one and dones”, but believing that this team is coddled and needs a new voice is a joke. I thought they underachieved in the divisional round last year. I felt they did the same in the 2005 divisional round against the Steelers, but this year I just never thought the Colts played as well as their record would indicate. Regardless of a nine game win streak. What did people expect from a team that couldn’t run the football, couldn’t do anything in short yardage, and could not get an offense off the field on third down? Three major contributors to their loss Saturday night.
I don’t think anybody believes you stay the same for 2009, but most of this foolishness comes from those that have no idea what the Colts were like before this decade. You need to be very careful what you wish for…”
My response: See, that was fair-minded. I know radio and print guys need stuff to talk about and I respect that. Saturday night’s loss certainly provided plenty of fodder. But I feel like Kravitz is outright lying to himself and his readers. You can be witty and entertaining without being an a-hole. At least I’m told it’s possible.
Like JMV said, do we really want to go back to the old days? Younger Colts fans (and newer Colts fans for that matter) don’t remember how truly horrible the team used to be. I remember Lindy Infante and his never-ending willingness to punt inside the opposing team’s territory despite his team being 2-11. We went to those games.
This afternoon I caught JMV’s show on the way home and I was impressed. He was bombarded by insane callers claiming that he was being soft on the Colts and motivated by his need preserve future interviews with Dungy/Polian. JMV stood by his guns. He didn’t rip Kravitz, like I would have. In fact, he said he liked Kravitz as a person. But he made no bones about the fact that Kravitz is agenda-driven and dead wrong. I liked that.
Derek Schultz of XL 950 also chips in with his opinion: “You know the funny thing about it is that every time I go into the locker room, Kravitz is in there being chummy with everyone. He would never have the balls to call out Marvin or Peyton or Polian to their faces.
I can understand he’s pissy towards Polian for concealing information that he (as a super-duper-important member of the Indianapolis’ sports media) feels entitled to. But, I can’t understand why he continues to go after Dungy. In the span of just seven years, the guy has completely changed the culture around this team. I arrived in Indiana in the last year of the Jim Mora era and I can count on one hand how many die-hard Colts’ fans I knew. Now they’re everywhere. Not only are people proud of a winning franchise and a QB like Peyton, they’re also proud to be represented by a man like Dungy.
I compare it to IU basketball. Once Sampson ran a river of sh– through Bloomington, everyone realized that it wasn’t worth abandoning their morals for winning. IU fans cared more about upholding their pristine reputation rather than keeping Sampson and going for what could’ve been a long Tournament run last year – instead they ran Sampson out and the team tanked.
With Dungy there’s no Spygate, no ridiculous press conference antics, and no profanity-laced tirades on live television for the nation to see. Sure, he may have fallen short of expectations a couple different times, but he brought this city their only professional championship (no, the ABA doesn’t count), and that’s something that nobody can ever take away.
Maybe it is time for Tony to go, but on his terms and not for the reasons that Kravitz listed. For the people like Kravitz and some of the fans that had the same reaction, they don’t deserve a guy like Dungy.”
My response: Schultz (who comments here often and has been a big encouragement to us) hits on a really key idea. Without turning this into a ‘culture war’, people in Indiana are more conservative in general and like to follow the rules. The whole Belichick is a cheater thing (which was sort of overblown-and our response at the time was appropriately measured) resonated strongly in Indiana. People want to win “the right way”. Dungy carries himself in a way that people here approve of. Except for those who lost money on the Colts Saturday night (in which case you are an idiot who deserves what you got. I don’t gamble at all, but that game had STAY AWAY written all over it), I doubt there are really that many fans all up in arms at Dungy. Certainly not any of the ones with half a brain. It angered and shamed the state to see IU accused of relatively minor violations (most of what Sampson did wasn’t even against the rules except for that he was on probation for violations at Oklahoma), and he was in the middle of a GREAT, possibly championship season. People turn on cheaters faster than losers in Indiana.
Tony is neither.
Thank you gentlemen for your opinions.
And now I present The Secret Life of DZ and JC: This is totally off-topic, but I was checking the official 18to88.com gmail tonight and was surprised (and honestly a little frightened) by a little window that popped up in the bottom corner of my screen. The result was weird:
Jeremy: DZ?
get with it
so i get that
my mom is the same way
Jeremy: what an incindiary m——f—— he is
So there you have it folks. DZ and Jeremy “JC” Cohen get on something called a G-Chat and talk to each other all day long like a pair of chirpy school-girls. Total mind blower. What do these two talk about? One guy works with the poor in South America and the other guy sells white-collar drugs (and real estate) in South Florida. I love the internet.
DZ Responds: JC and I have perfectly civil conversations about once a week. I already said that he was a decent guy. We found common ground this season over my rooting for the Patriots (because I hate Brady) and our common assessment that the 2008 Colts weren’t any good and Manning had to be the MVP. Geeze, the internet is pretty weird…
Links:
There is a Harrison press conference today with the Philly DA about last year’s incident. Check it out here live.
Marvin is in the clear. That’s life on the streets, Florio.
Banks and King debate OT. I agree with Banks. King’s solution isn’t awful, but I see no reason to change OT. The Colts had a chance to win. They forced third and long. Want to win? Make a freaking tackle. Then they forced another. Want to win? Don’t grab the receiver. Did Indy have bad luck? Sure, they did. Bad luck happens in every game. We had a lot of good luck this year too. Unless your team is head and shoulders better than the opponent, luck will decide a great preponderance of football games. That’s why sports is awesome. You never know for sure what will happen.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
