Training camp August 7th 9 am

[ColtStrong2013]

1 hour ago, AKB said:

Just goes to show how sorely we lack leadership at that position.

 

This is pretty much it. And I find it interesting, considering Ballard's typically had veteran leadership back there. If the hope was for Cross to turn into that, it's very disappointing to say the least. In the entire secondary, they have two veteran leaders, Moore and Blackmon. It's a group that is devoid of leadership. I think the most frustrating thing for me, is that following the season and especially the postseason comments, I thought it was obvious we would target receiver and free safety in the offseason. I was pleased enough with getting AD. But I was and still am very surprised at the safety position. I thought it was painfully obvious it was a need, and it appeared to be a focal point for management. I can go back and probably easily find comments I left on this forum throughout free agency on the free safety position, while everyone pounded the table to go after a corner. We didn't address either of them, and now we lost Scott for another year and are not any closer to establishing a leader at FS... It's mind boggling. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Good thing colts brought pinter back and drafted a guy.

 

 

[ColtStrong2013]

2 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Good thing colts brought pinter back and drafted a guy.

 

 

 

The path for Bortolini to become the longterm solution at Center is clear.

[CR91]

Damn. No French Fries memes this year 🤣

[Superman]

17 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

Newspapers went private equity and were destroyed. Journalism is practically dead. There’s a lot to unpack there for a different forum… But yeah, we’re not going to get any better reporting locally. 

 

Meanwhile, other NFL teams have insightful media covering them. I don't think the death of the newspaper is the reason we can't get injury news from training camp.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

4 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

The path for Bortolini to become the longterm solution at Center is clear.

I don’t think you want to throw a rookie in there if needed. But yes he is the long term solution.

[ColtStrong2013]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

Meanwhile, other NFL teams have insightful media covering them. I don't think the death of the newspaper is the reason we can't get injury news from training camp.

 

In Indiana it is. When the Indy Star was still an actual newspaper, we had actual journalists responsible for the team. That was all that was left. Are there any newspapers in Indiana that aren't owned by Gannett?

[ColtStrong2013]

1 minute ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I don’t think you want to throw a rookie in there if needed. But yes he is the long term solution.

 

I hope we don't. But of the bunch, Bortolini could arguably be the most ready of the bunch to step in and play consistent. I think Latu and AD will have their moments, but will still need to develop. I think Bortolini could be a big time player and sooner than later. There is a reason they aren't committing to Kelly longterm. This was a strong Center draft class, and we got a good one. 

[csmopar]

19 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Good thing colts brought pinter back and drafted a guy.

 

 

Wth happened out there today?!

[AKB]

20 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

This is pretty much it. And I find it interesting, considering Ballard's typically had veteran leadership back there. If the hope was for Cross to turn into that, it's very disappointing to say the least. In the entire secondary, they have two veteran leaders, Moore and Blackmon. It's a group that is devoid of leadership. I think the most frustrating thing for me, is that following the season and especially the postseason comments, I thought it was obvious we would target receiver and free safety in the offseason. I was pleased enough with getting AD. But I was and still am very surprised at the safety position. I thought it was painfully obvious it was a need, and it appeared to be a focal point for management. I can go back and probably easily find comments I left on this forum throughout free agency on the free safety position, while everyone pounded the table to go after a corner. We didn't address either of them, and now we lost Scott for another year and are not any closer to establishing a leader at FS... It's mind boggling. 

I gurantee you he makes a move after this rather its cut downs or a signing

[ColtStrong2013]

7 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

In Indiana it is. When the Indy Star was still an actual newspaper, we had actual journalists responsible for the team. That was all that was left. Are there any newspapers in Indiana that aren't owned by Gannett?

 

@Superman  I just checked on the Athletic. They are owned by the New York Times... Do you know when James Boyd's article about Josh Downs hit the website? 50 minutes ago... That's insane. There is no local reporting anymore. WTHR is the best we have, and they are thin staffed as it is and too busy constantly fighting with direct tv to provide any substance. This isn't an Indianapolis problem. It's state wide. In every community. The Herald Times in Bloomington was at one point a very well respected institution. It looks like a defunct operation now. There is no journalism in Indiana. 

[AKB]

Just now, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

@Superman  I just checked on the Athletic. They are owned by the New York Times... Do you know when James Boyd's article about Josh Downs hit the website? 50 minutes ago... That's insane. There is no local reporting anymore. WTHR is the best we have, and they are thin staffed as it is and too busy constantly fighting with direct tv to provide any substance. This isn't an Indianapolis problem. It's state wide. In every community. The Herald Times in Bloomington was at one point a very well respected institution. It looks like a defunct operation now. There is no journalism in Indiana. 

this forum is the best place to get collective colts information (due to posters like chloe, shive, w87r, and more). another good source is the colts reddit. 

[ColtStrong2013]

Just now, AKB said:

this forum is the best place to get collective colts information. another good source is the colts reddit. 

 

The best Colts reporter right now is @Restinpeacesweetchloe. That's likely no nonsense... Putting instant news in a centralized place. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

3 minutes ago, csmopar said:

Wth happened out there today?!

This happened last practice not today.

[GoColts8818]

30 minutes ago, csmopar said:

Wth happened out there today?!

This happened Monday not today.

[Jz0204945]

5 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

This happened Monday not today.

This stinks speedy recovery for him.

[John Hammonds]

So...  how do we stand with injuries?

1. Samson Ebukam out for year with torn achilles
2. Wesley French out for year
3. Josh Downs out 4-6 weeks with high ankle sprain
4. Braden Smith working back in
5. Jelani Woods working back in
6. Raekwon Davis in non-football observation
7. Will Mallory with hamstring
8. Dayo Odeyingbo with calf
9. Jaylon Carlies with hip
10. Daniel Scott out for year with torn achilles

Anybody I missed?

[cdgacoltsfan]

5 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

So...  how do we stand with injuries?

1. Samson Ebukam out for year with torn achilles
2. Wesley French out for year
3. Josh Downs out 4-6 weeks with high ankle sprain
4. Braden Smith working back in
5. Jelani Woods working back in
6. Raekwon Davis in non-football observation
7. Will Mallory with hamstring
8. Dayo Odeyingbo with calf
9. Jaylon Carlies with hip
10. Daniel Scott out for year with torn achilles

Anybody I missed?

Dayo practiced today

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

In Indiana it is. When the Indy Star was still an actual newspaper, we had actual journalists responsible for the team. That was all that was left. Are there any newspapers in Indiana that aren't owned by Gannett?

 

I guess I don't understand or agree with your assertion that a reporter needs to work for a good, independent newspaper to be good at covering an NFL team. 

 

Mike Chappell has been covering the Colts for 40 years. He's probably the best of the bunch. And he constantly gets outscooped by national guys like Schefter and Rapaport, even on minor stuff like Downs' injury status. Now that all happened pretty quickly, so I'm not necessarily saying he wasn't on the job today, but it's a pattern. He could have dug up something on Dayo or Davis in the last two weeks, but he has not. 

 

Same thing with Holder. He's been covering pro teams for 25 years. He works for the worldwide leader in sports. What's holding him back?

 

It's a quality/focus issue, not a resource/mandate issue, IMO. Like stitches said, these guys lock in on a topic and won't let it go, to the exclusion of everything else going on with the team. And it's been that way for a long time. It wasn't my intention to harp on the reporters today, but it came up, and I think it's a legit complaint.

[Superman]

1 hour ago, AKB said:

this forum is the best place to get collective colts information (due to posters like chloe, shive, w87r, and more). another good source is the colts reddit. 

 

It's nice to have all that info aggregated in one place, the community does a nice job of that. Reddit also. But everything that gets collected and shared here originates with reporters. It would be nice if they did a better job of getting meaningful information, that would then be shared here. 

[ColtStrong2013]

29 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I guess I don't understand or agree with your assertion that a reporter needs to work for a good, independent newspaper to be good at covering an NFL team. 

 

Mike Chappell has been covering the Colts for 40 years. He's probably the best of the bunch. And he constantly gets outscooped by national guys like Schefter and Rapaport, even on minor stuff like Downs' injury status. Now that all happened pretty quickly, so I'm not necessarily saying he wasn't on the job today, but it's a pattern. He could have dug up something on Dayo or Davis in the last two weeks, but he has not. 

 

Same thing with Holder. He's been covering pro teams for 25 years. He works for the worldwide leader in sports. What's holding him back?

 

It's a quality/focus issue, not a resource/mandate issue, IMO. Like stitches said, these guys lock in on a topic and won't let it go, to the exclusion of everything else going on with the team. And it's been that way for a long time. It wasn't my intention to harp on the reporters today, but it came up, and I think it's a legit complaint.

 

I think you said it pretty well. It is a quality/focus issue... which was far better when they worked for good, independent newspapers. Now it's all big business, overworked and underappreciated work. I've seen more shuffling by these journalists that cover the Colts than would have ever been dreamed of once upon a time. When the quality is better from a fan forum or a podcaster that does it as a hobby, it's a sad state. But the correlation is certainly there regarding the downfall of newspaper. It's a larger scale for what has happened at the local levels throughout the state. Some of the best sports journalists in small towns were kicked to the curb and forced to either start their own page, or join up with a local radio site to get their material out. In a larger market in Indianapolis, the bigger names aren't doing that, they are going to the bigger sites/companies like espn and athletic. And I'm not sure the quality is there for either espn nor new york times anymore either. All the information is consolidating to a handful of reporters... Feast or famine, like the rest of the crony capitalistic society we live in. 

[ChuggaBeer]

3 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Going to be fun to see MPJ get chances at more deep balls this year.

 

 

 

Dang.   AR flicks that ball like I do a bottle top   Effortlessly!!!! 

[ColtStrong2013]

Just now, ChuggaBeer said:

Dang.   AR flicks that ball like I do a bottle top   Effortlessly!!!! 

 

Chuggabeer always coming in at the right time with a name appropriate comment. 

[AKB]

3 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

I think you said it pretty well. It is a quality/focus issue... which was far better when they worked for good, independent newspapers. Now it's all big business, overworked and underappreciated work. I've seen more shuffling by these journalists that cover the Colts than would have ever been dreamed of once upon a time. When the quality is better from a fan forum or a podcaster that does it as a hobby, it's a sad state. But the correlation is certainly there regarding the downfall of newspaper. It's a larger scale for what has happened at the local levels throughout the state. Some of the best sports journalists in small towns were kicked to the curb and forced to either start their own page, or join up with a local radio site to get their material out. In a larger market in Indianapolis, the bigger names aren't doing that, they are going to the bigger sites/companies like espn and athletic. And I'm not sure the quality is there for either espn nor new york times anymore either. All the information is consolidating to a handful of reporters... Feast or famine, like the rest of the crony capitalistic society we live in. 

another issue is that we don't get a lot of outside media coverage. the media coverage on other teams is often more than what we get in general

[ChuggaBeer]

2 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

Chuggabeer always coming in at the right time with a name appropriate comment. 

RIGHT????  If not for any other reason they should bring back a laughing emoji just for my posts!!!!!

[ColtStrong2013]

1 minute ago, AKB said:

another issue is that we don't get a lot of outside media coverage. the media coverage on other teams is often more than what we get in general

 

Small market teams are not going to get squat from national media. They'd prefer us curb stomped down to the bottom of the barrel for the larger market... solely from an engagement standpoint alone. Why would the New York based Athletic or $24 billion ESPN want to cover the Indianapolis Colts? Even if we were dominating, it's less than ideal for them. 

Now our main "local" journalists are mostly consolidated to those companies... 

2 minutes ago, ChuggaBeer said:

RIGHT????  If not for any other reason they should bring back a laughing emoji just for my posts!!!!!

I think you are right. I could have used it just then. 

[ChuggaBeer]

Just now, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

Small market teams are not going to get squat from national media. They'd prefer us curb stomped down to the bottom of the barrel for the larger market... solely from an engagement standpoint alone. Why would the New York based Athletic or $24 billion ESPN want to cover the Indianapolis Colts? Even if we were dominating, it's less than ideal for them. 

Now our main "local" journalists are mostly consolidated to those companies... 

I think you are right. I could have used it just then. 

TBF.  I had a lot of trouble spelling effortlessly without auto correct 

[ADnum1]

4 hours ago, AKB said:

 how could you guys not be mad at cross? he's so nonchalant like he did nothing wrong. 

 

it doesn't matter if downs is gonna get hit all season, you don't slam your slot receiver to the ground on a 3 yard out route in practice. 

 

Just goes to show how sorely we lack leadership at that position. Cross looked like teenager in trouble during that interview. Honestly not encouraging at all. 

Cross has a high RAS score but a 2 cent brain.

 

Perhaps this could be a teachable moment for Ballard 

[ColtStrong2013]

1 minute ago, ADnum1 said:

Cross has a high RAS score but a 2 cent brain.

 

Perhaps this could be a teachable moment for Ballard 

 

He's either going to learn, or he's going to make an excellent consultant for another franchise one day to teach them on the lessons learned...

[John Waylon]

2 hours ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

In Indiana it is. When the Indy Star was still an actual newspaper, we had actual journalists responsible for the team. That was all that was left. Are there any newspapers in Indiana that aren't owned by Gannett?

Schurz Communications out of South Bend owns a lot of local newspapers, and they went on a massive buying spree just before the pandemic. I worked at the nation’s smallest daily print newspaper in southern Indiana before it was bought out in 2017, and I can confirm the people at Schurz are just as inept and feckless as any of the people Gannett could round up. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[ColtStrong2013]

7 minutes ago, John Waylon said:

Schurz Communications out of South Bend owns a lot of local newspapers, and they went on a massive buying spree just before the pandemic. I worked at the nation’s smallest daily print newspaper in southern Indiana before it was bought out in 2017, and I can confirm the people at Schurz are just as inept and feckless as any of the people Gannett could round up. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Schurz sold their newspaper assets to Gannett. 
 

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/GANNETT-CO-INC-15712145/news/New-Media-Investment-Announces-Agreement-to-Acquire-the-Newspaper-Assets-of-Schurz-Communications-27930622/

 

2019. So the buying spree you speak of was Gannett which is par for the course across the nation regarding newspapers. Only a handful control the masses in print. 

[AKB]

24 minutes ago, ADnum1 said:

Cross has a high RAS score but a 2 cent brain.

 

Perhaps this could be a teachable moment for Ballard 

if he had a vet safety above him he likely would've heard it from the vet. you don't touch your guys like that, especially your nimble shifty WRs

 

imagine if someone did that to T.Y

 

and clearly no vet got in his ear about it because of how he responded in that interview. you got coach clearly saying it cant happen, and then the player saying "stuff happens" 

not good at all. 

[ColtStrong2013]

14 minutes ago, AKB said:

if he had a vet safety above him he likely would've heard it from the vet. you don't touch your guys like that, especially your nimble shifty WRs

 

imagine if someone did that to T.Y

 

and clearly no vet got in his ear about it because of how he responded in that interview. you got coach clearly saying it cant happen, and then the player saying "stuff happens" 

not good at all. 

wonder what Reggie thought/had to say… 

 

also- if he had a vet safety above him, it wouldn’t have happened. Might have been Gould with the 2nd team…

[John Waylon]

11 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

Schurz sold their newspaper assets to Gannett. 
 

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/GANNETT-CO-INC-15712145/news/New-Media-Investment-Announces-Agreement-to-Acquire-the-Newspaper-Assets-of-Schurz-Communications-27930622/

 

2019. So the buying spree you speak of was Gannett which is par for the course across the nation regarding newspapers. Only a handful control the masses in print. 

They were on the spree well before then. We printed (weekly,) papers for smaller surrounding communities and Schurz came around trying to gobble them up in 2015 or before. They bought up a ton of locals, outsourced the printing, and slowly whittled away the offices over the next cycle of subscription renewals. That led to less local news and more national content just picked straight off the AP wire that people could get for free as it was. They would run that cycle until the renewals dwindled to nil, and then they would just shut the paper down or try to sell it off. They tried to sell one to us one time after they leeched what life was left out of it for more than it was ever worth, even at its height. 
 

I’m sure most of what Gannett bought in that sale was vampired papers that had been run through that cycle and had no value other than what little name identity each one had in its town. 
 

I do not miss dealing with those people at all. 

[luv_pony_express]

3 hours ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

@Superman  I just checked on the Athletic. They are owned by the New York Times... Do you know when James Boyd's article about Josh Downs hit the website? 50 minutes ago... That's insane. There is no local reporting anymore. WTHR is the best we have, and they are thin staffed as it is and too busy constantly fighting with direct tv to provide any substance. This isn't an Indianapolis problem. It's state wide. In every community. The Herald Times in Bloomington was at one point a very well respected institution. It looks like a defunct operation now. There is no journalism in Indiana. 

Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever been better informed about what’s going on with the Colts than I am today.

 

The information may get to me differently than it used to.  But I get it quickly and it’s usually accurate.  Those times where I get some bad info, it’s corrected in short order.

 

I think that the fact I can say this is a big reason that newspapers have declined.  They’ve largely become obsolete.

[ColtStrong2013]

Just now, luv_pony_express said:

Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever been better informed about what’s going on with the Colts than I am today.

 

The information may get to me differently than it used to.  But I get it quickly and it’s usually accurate.  Those times where I get some bad info, it’s corrected in short order.

 

I think that the fact I can say this is a big reason that newspapers have declined.  They’ve largely become obsolete.

small town newspapers would not have become obsolete had they not sold out. There are still some very small town independent papers that are still very relevant in their communities. They are just fewer and fewer because of the sell outs. 
 

Most would have adapted and still been the key source of information. Like I said earlier, many of the journalists were forced to retire or move to the next thing, which was generally a lesser information source like a radio website. Many local radio shows became key sources, but because they didn’t print and were a different business model, couldn’t afford to keep them on staff longterm. They just disappeared overnight. These were people that were salaried and even pensioned employees, that attended every event in communities, ran important stories, reported on crime and fraud, and covered down to the small details of government that were public record but otherwise not easy to find. Those things are long gone in smaller communities- and now corporately owned in the large markets. People in smaller communities now get their information from created groups on Facebook, often ran by uneducated and unemployed people that can barely put two thoughts together, but are now the crucial sources of information. It’s crazy. 

[krunk]

I think slot will be a mix of Gould and Dulin

[krunk]

The Raekwon Davis thing seems strange. Blood pressure keeping him out this long.

[csmopar]

How bout we solve this and we all chip in and get Chloe a media pass? She’s better reporting than any of them local or talking heads

[tweezy32]