I am going to briefly summarize some of the reasons why you are becoming more and more unpopular. While I may be the only one with these opinions, I don't think I am alone, but I am not speaking for anyone else specifically.  Contrary to what you may believe, you didn't remotely cover them with your fanpost justifying  your behavior.

 Reason 1: Presenting opinion as fact is "Bad Journalism, bad work, etc.

You are absolutely correct that part of your job is to issue opinions. There is nothing wrong with issuing unpopular opinions, especially when other parties won't do so. But, there is a crucial distinction between issuing an opinion and stating a fact. You have become woefully oblivious to the distinction.
For example, statements like: "If you think the Thomas pick was good, it's just not worth the effort "debating" with you. The pick was awful" are your personal opinion. That is not a fact. You are entitled to your opinion and there is no inherent problem with you stating it on the front page, but it is a problem when you A) dismiss legitimate criticism of that opinion as being unworthy of debate B) don't clearly state that this view is your opinion and not the opinion of the SB community.

If you truly value the "input" of the community or were certain your statement is a fact, not opinion, then it is unclear why you did not dispose of the "obviously stupid" counterarguments raised in the response to your argument.  Points like: 1) few 3rd round draft picks ever become 5+ year starters;  2) kevin thomas played the last two full seasons without any injury and had never before injured his knees.

Reason 2: Ignoring or hiding Contrary Evidence

This problem coincides with the first one. It is one thing to ignore contrary evidence in the comment thread, it is quite another to ignore excellent fanposts in order to hide the flaws in your argument.

BBS wrote several articles about why he believes it is crystal clear that A-go will be benched next year, further examples of problem 1. He then chose to ignore the excellent fanpost written by jamkel. Now, he may argue that since this fanpost was so heavily recommended it was already getting enough views. I don't buy that for one second. If fanposts are ever front-page worthy then this is a perfect example. It was well-researched, directly pertinent to THE most important off-season topic to discuss, and could be front-paged during the slow colts-offeason. Instead, what did we get on the front page? A link to a 3rd party story about Jamarcus Russell becoming a colt. Even if we suspend the laws of the universe, and assume that the colts pick up JR, how is that more pertinent to NEXT season (because peyton ain't retiring soon) than who will be the #2 receiver. 

It is behavior like this that makes one think that you are intentionally ignoring and minimizing counter-arguments in order to inflate your sense of self-importance. IF you truly cared about the community or your integrity, then you would do a far better job of giving those who engage in extensive critiques of your views, the same exposure on the front page. Your unwilling to do so cannot be justified by the quality of the posts (which have been excellent), the surplus of other more important news (umm no), or any other factor.

 

Reason 3: Focusing on YOUR aspect of the story, not the story itself
Instead of focusing on the immediate impact of the loss of Kevin Thomas on the secondary, you chose instead to discuss the injuries impact on your draft thoughts. This is irresponsible at best, narcissistic at worst. By using your position to discuss your own prior opinions, you waste everyone's time. Express your opinion in terms of things that actually matter. I don't care whether you were right in 2006 about our 3rd round draft pack; I am interested in knowing what you think the implications of this move will be.

 Reason 4: Engaging in unnecessary, inflammatory personal attacks on 3rd parties

As one commenter pointed out, what is the point of stating things like?

However, [bill polian] definitely messed up this draft selection, and should be held accountable for it.

 

You concede that BP is one of the greatest drafters of all time. What exactly is supposed to be done to be him? Do you honestly think BP wants to screw up? There was NO point to this attack.

Now, I am in no way arguing that BP is sacred. There is nothing wrong with saying he made a mistake, provided you justify your opinion and classify it as opinion. But that's all that needs to be said. Unless you have an actual point, namely, that BP must go or should stop drafting in the third round or something, all this posturing is just that, useless hot air. This is a small example of the Dan D hit piece. A completely unnecessary article that just makes colts fans look petty and stupid. Again, there is a huge distinction between pointing out when another writer is wrong, or even calling them blatantly wrong, and attacking them personally like a 3rd grader.

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I'm sure there are a number of reasons that I am forgetting right now, that I may add later, or others may contribute, but I felt the need to share this with you. Why? Why did I write this? Because over the past several months, I have fallen out of love with this site. I rarely comment here,  but I have read almost every article since the day I joined. When I first discovered a website with this much content and analysis of the colts, it was an incredibly happy day. Comparing Peter King and the indy star to this was like comparing the current pacers to the boom baby era. Gradually, however, i've watched the level of discourse on this site drop. More and more of BBS articles seem like they were written by Kravitz; moreover, I've discovered other excellent sites to get colts news without the opinion. I don't want to leave because I honestly do enjoy reading strong, opinionated colts opinions.

Hopefully, BBS, I can convince you to compromise. Speak your mind, but let others speak theirs too. When you do speak your mind, make it clear that this is an opinion that is perhaps wrong, not issued from on high by moses. These things, in my opinion, will make the site better for all those who visit.

According to adam schefter:
Filed to ESPN: Colts DE Dwight Freeney has a torn ligament in his right ankle that will make it difficult for him to play if he plays at all

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I don't think this the decision was perfect. I think he should have made a statement at half time, that we were pulling everyone out. But, I think much of the rage is ridiculous and misplaced.

Here are the arguments people have made along with some responses:

1) Rest is bad

Even BBS has thoroughly refuted this. Rest isn't bad. The facts don't support it. IF you don't believe me then we will just disagree. If you think that rest is good, then resting the players in the second half of week 16 isn't inherently  bad.

2) This was a "middle finger to the fans"

Problem 1: What rational colts fan expected manning to play the whole game? Commentators, Peter king, everyone was talking about how MUCH manning would play. That implies he may NOT play. Hence, no huge surprise.

Problem 2: Fans don't get to play GM. We are not smarter than polian. Yes, we are important, but the colts fulfill their end of the bargain by not signing convicts, by winning more games over the decade than ANY OTHER TEAM, and by winning super bowl. More importantly, they don't cave to media pressure or fan pressure to make the easy call. They sincerely believe that resting now will help us win the super bowl. They have earned our respect and even if this pissed fans off,  that doesn't mean they have acted incorrectly. Sometimes acting correctly pisses the fans off. See some fans who were pissed we took manning over leaf. We don't play GM

3)  Argument 3: "by playing to lose the colts have lost their spirit.

Problem  1: The players wanted to play. Their spirit is the same. They may be pissed at the coaches, but how on earth is that going to sap their willigness to play? It might make them worry about their PT next year in meaningless games, but Freeney and Manning know they will play every snap next game.

Problem 2:  This is a team of winners. They know how to win. They aren’t going to forget hot to win bc they were forced out of a game. There is no difference between playing part of a game and watching the 2nd string lose it, and not playing at all. One might hurt more, bc we could see the victory, but the effect on the team spirit is the same.

Argument 3: 16-0 is awesome and we should have gone for it.
This one, we may just have to disagree. This is a legitimate reason to be upset. I will disagree with you, but for those who think 16-0 is important, there will be no arguing.


My thought on this topic.

I think that injury to peyton is FAR worse than 16-0.  Did anyone else see the hit that almost got placed on manning? You know, the amazing block by Brown that saved a ferocious hit. If brown misses that block, manning might have dislocated his shoulder, gotten a concussion, or sprained a pinky. Risking him for the short term reward of 16-0 is misguided. These were not the cleveland browns. They were a motivated, agressive defense whose explicit plan was to HIT manning. Yes, a perfect season would have been great. But, I’ll take a super bowl.

Argument 4:  Why start and not finish? I mean if you to avoid injury, don't play at all.

Response: Caldwell may have wanted manning to get some in game experience with the first team unit. So, playing part of the game makes sense.

Argument 5: Warn everyone in advance so this reaction doesn't happen.

I concede that the response to this is weak. I think that some argument can be made that the decision could have been handled better, but that it was fundamentally a fine decision.

Response: Caldwell wanted manning to get real game experience. If he said in advance manning wouldn't play for a quarter, then it wouldn't be realistic. The jets defense wouldn't be as intense, neither would our defense.

Peter King is reporting that Gonzalez will practice today! For once, I hope our least favorite boston writer is right on this.

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I propose that at this point in the season, we should take a moment to stop freaking out about media disrespect, playoff seeding, resting or not-resting to appreciate everything that is special about the Indianapolis Colts.

We have a team we can be proud of, we have an organization built to win, we have an organization filled with hard-working, no-nonsense, good people. We don't hire convicts to win us games (Bengals) and we don't tolerate prima donnas (TO). We don't have to worry about our GM is crazy and protest his decisions (Snyder, Al Davis...)

How amazing it is to have a team that you can trust will make the playoffs EVERY year, a team that does not embarass itself on a regular basis, a team that wins clutch games in magical ways? A team with amazingly fun skill players to watch, on offense and defense. How many other teams get to see their QB make the throws that Peyton makes look easy ever single week? How many other teams get to see a DE execute the most ridiculous spin move-sack combination? Or, see no-name players outrun 1st draft picks? 

These are the things that fans sometimes take for granted. No matter what happens this off-season, we should be greatful to the colts organization for giving us the opportunity to win the superbowl every year and to be proud of the team we put forth on any given sunday.

I have repeatedly expressed my annoyance with BBS's war against the mainstream media on the front page. For my thoughts on that, please read to the bottom.

I did want to post  an example of a favorable media story because they exist, believe it or not. The media might not love the colts as much as some other teams, but I don't think they are out to get us. 

Schien http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/10455468/Schein-9:-Colts-built-to-be-NFL%27s-best-story-

 

A cleaned up version of my thoughts:

This is BBS's blog and he has the freedom to do what he wants. I get that. I also understand that there is an audience for the bash-the-idiot sportswriters post. I just also want to show that there is an audience here who doesn’t want that on the front page.

I was unbelieveably excited when I discovered this website because it had interesting substantive analysis of the colts. It covered information I couldn’t get from anywhere else. It was something so much better then espn’s sensationalist hype nonsense. It had writing that was opinionated, but accurate, something so much better than Kravitz’s crap. That is why I started checking this website religiously every single day.

I recognize that the overall ratio of bad journalism may be low over-all, but they have been increasing at a scary rate. For example, during those 4 months you reference, there were 7 posts, but four of the Bad Journalism posts came in November (so one a week). Additionally, in November there were several other mini-rants, or complaints about the media attached to other articles. See, peter king reference, or Colts bingo (which I will admit was really funny).

 If this is a temporary thing, then it is a non-issue and I will happily shut up. But if this is the shape of things to come, I will be disappointed and may stop reading the site. Maybe i’m in the minority, but I just feel that this site is valuable for what it is not: it doesn't talk about nonsense like the greatest team/qb/etc. of all-time, uniform changes, and LOUD NOISES. It talks about major roster changes, coaching decisions, and analyzing things using math and statistics.I personally feel like the new focus on bad journalism takes the site away from its strengths.

Ratio of past week's posts:

GOOD posts:

pete prisco on clint sessions

king richard apology to adai

BAD posts:

luke links: jason cole bashing part II

Colts Media Hate Bingo

Peter King, schmuck extraordinaire at SI.com,

colts clinch AFC south: Big media makes a frowny face