Calling out IAOFM

I don’t think the problem is entirely Doug Lee.

fan of the underdogs, a Titans fan who no longer posts here after he was a complete douchebag during Broncos-Titans week. Whenever we cross paths on an SB site, he accentuates every Tebow mistake and acts like a complete prick to me. My response last week was we made the playoffs and won a game. He said our win against the Steelers had an asterisk attached to it. Finally, I told him you’re being a moron and he said OK Tebow’s a good football player, I’m just tired of all the attention he receives. Just remember, everyone, Tebow is not directly responsible for the adulation he receives, he’s just trying to be a better football player and Christian. People are haters and they’re looking for reasons to hate, it’s so dumb

Great point. I agree with you about the IAOFM trend. It has devolved into something essentially worthless.

Kaptain Kirk is one of the MHR staffers I had in mind. He has not let his personal opinion cloud his overriding function, namely, his job. I admire that. I don’t mind questions about Tebow’s ability, I just don’t like all the side stuff that is pejorative.

Sometimes I repeat myself, but…Kirk’s always been a stabilizing, but positive, force in this community.

Many of us remember before he was a staffer, he’d make the trek up from Colorado Springs every day during training camp to give us reports. The reports were as good then as they are now. And he did it because he believed in this community. Plus, I think some part of him wanted to be a part of something bigger than himself. I guess I’m putting words in his mouth, but the way he conducted himself back then led me to that conclusion. He’s just a good dude. The kind of guy who should never buy his drink.

Now that he’s officially a staffer, it seems like we see less of him than we did before – and I think that sucks. But I’m still a huge fan of his.

I agree. Doc and Ted are gems. Everything else is blah

Rec’d for this: “it’s also one of those snarky sardonic sarcastic ironic post-modern whatever things that I think is mostly from the 90’s and 2000’s, and rapidly becoming dated.”

Exactly times 100. You say part of what I wanted to, but couldn’t. Thanks.

A. when two 300 pound strongmen are in a tug of war and one guy lets go of the rope, things get unbalance in a hurry. and to the extreme. once ted stopped writing as much, the doug (very not tebow guy) direction became overwhelming.

B. when the referee of the tug of war takes up rope for one side, things get ugly fast. T.J. did a great job being fair on tebow until the last couple of months. somewhere in there, he seemed to decide to go full in with doug and there was no more illusion of balance, imo. and

C. the sarcasm. my gosh. i’m way more dry humored than your average joe, but those guys over there are so dripping it becomes hard to bear. it’s gotten to the point where i can’t even palate the sarcasm they levy against people i don’t like. the anti take against anyone who earns a living writing about football has gotten to be cartoonish.

By the way, I don’t have cable TV, and I seldom see games these days. But even on a Super Bowl night with generally good QB play, I thought I saw several passes the likes of which they would have crucified Tebow for throwing.

I just like to point out bias. Two different issues.

I go back to a post by Rodney before the Steelers game in which he basically urged the coaching staff to consider using Brady Quinn in a specific offensive package. It got a bit out of hand from there with folks going back and forth.

In the end I said something like if you want a lot of comments, say something controversial about Tim Tebow.

That is the one dynamic I’m upset with——the extreme opinions of Tebow on both sides. If someone wanted to make a post analyzing Tebow’s play and it happened to be a negative performance, I don’t think that person should be universally jumped on, just as someone praising a good performance shouldn’t be met with “you’re awesome, I told you so, Tebow is the greatest and everyone else that thinks otherwise is an idiot!”

Just be objective, either way, that’s all I ask:)

I think there’s a difference between bias, and the manner in which someone communicates their bias.

ultimately that is a foolproof way of dealing with it all, without getting upset about it.

Of course, you could also call that “the detachment method”. But it makes me wonder, is that really the best way? I mean, by starting a blog, and opening it up for commentary, you’re endeavoring to create a community.

While it may not technically be someone’s responsibility, at least not in the most technical sense, to nurture one’s own community (“I just put stuff out there and let people react!”), wouldn’t it, you know, be better to actually treat one’s readership with respect and encourage them to do the same? Is it so inappropriate to encourage others to actually be good?

And that doesn’t mean asking people to squelch their own views, or to be conflict-averse. It just would mean to be decent about it. If you disagree, explain why, allow for someone else’s point of view. Discuss, debate respectfully. As opposed to shouting down and mocking.

Skimming and ignoring is another way, of course, but isn’t that also what people do to a site that doesn’t deserve any more engagement than that?

But they’re still our Broncos brethern. And I’ve learned a lot from Doc. I admire all 4 of them, I like all 4 of them, but I don’t always agree with them. But MY bias is that good ol’ Doc Bear is a wise and great man! ;-)

Christians and smokers are the two groups that are okay to blindly criticize.

If Tim Tebow were a Muslim, a drinker (I’m not judging those who are… I’ve done plenty in my day), a womanizer or just a flat out atheist… everyone and their brother would be singing his praises from the highest rooftop.

I don’t believe the world is that upside down. I won’t argue you that Tebow’s persecuted and, at times, reviled, but people weren’t cheering Ben Roethlisberger or even D.J. Williams.

I still have no clue why Christians are the last group of people on earth it’s still socially acceptable to smash to bits. We can’t say a word about Muslims

Christians aren’t the last group. People bash Mormons all the time. There’s a play or something out there (not the one from the guys who did SouthPark, but a different one), where one of the lines is, “God, I hate Mormons!” Supposedly, the crowd always laughs at this line. I’m not Mormon, but I know several people who are and the ones I know are some of the most decent, hardworking clean-living people I’ve ever met. I find this prejudice against Mormons despicable.

As for Muslims, I think people routinely bash Muslims in whispers. I don’t think they’re as immune as you might think they are.

As for me, I’ll say this: I hope the Broncos don’t sign any more Muslims. Before you judge me, let me explain: I can remember several seasons ago Ryan Harris, who’s a practicing Muslim, was struggling to keep weight on because of the practice of fasting from sun up to sun down during Ramadan (at least that’s what the Denver Post reported). I believe he and Hamza Abdullah were holding one another accountable.

I have a problem with this. I don’t have a problem with the fact that their Muslims; but I do have a problem that they’re choosing to let their teammates down by observing the Ramadan fast.

Thanks for the nice words bro. I also have to agree with Jerry Fletcher, Mormons are fair game too!

Big reason why i don’t read there much any more.

Ted used to get things going around here with his articles. Always great football writing with some sure to inspire comment rhetoric laced in. Ted, Doc, TJ, and Doug are what got me reading MHR. This site is still the best and we have the archives to enjoy the great knowledge they imparted.

You got banned and Guy didn’t?

that’s awesome. Wish I could read the comment that got you banned. Maybe it was something like, “I humbly disagree with what you said, and wish you would rephrase your words.” That might have been enough, knowing the editors there.

We should do a poll to see how many MHR members have been banned over there. They are quite sensitive for being so tolerant, aren’t they?

I was just starting to enjoy the idea of you routinely laying the smackdown on Thatcher when suddenly you disappeared. Ah well. He doesn’t deserve you. :)

The only constant is change. They were MHR, but MHR hasn’t changed, just evolved. I was not sorry to see Ted leave for a couple of reasons. One, he was doing his own thing and two, he pis**d me off :D John Bena has done a great job keeping this site active and full of good content. I only hope we can continue to see good writers sharing on this site. I also wish our short term cartoonist has stuck around. What happened to him??

Thanks for the Rec. I’m not sure how constructive I was trying to be. I was just trying to point out bias through inconsistency.

Orton has more upside than Drew Brees, huh? I have made many bad predictions also, i’m not sure about that bad, but I would be embarrassed by some of them, no doubt.

I wasn’t even drinking the Kool-Aid. He did have me thinking he wasn’t a moron for about 20 minutes.

Thanks brother. You are another one who has been banned huh? The site is becoming a joke. I don’t revel in it, I just wish they could come back to MHR under a more controlled, reigned-in environment.

Doc is always worth reading, and there Ted’s analysis is far above average…I would not neglect the site.

is just another word for worldview, imo. Trying to exclude bias is proposing that humans are capable of uncolored, objective thought. Even if that were true, who would want to read that kind of oatmeal on a fan site? I like Broncos news, I like Broncos history, but I like it more when the writer imbues it with their own personal experiences rather than trying to claim some godlike moral high ground that dispenses only truth. We are fallible. We should own it, and speak our minds. I want to know what people think. The only bias I detest is when a writer parrots someone else’s without applying their own logic and reason and experience. In other words, when they aren’t biased enough.

Thanks for missing the entire point!

Again, your logic is short-sighted. By your logic, should we only comment on things we agree with??? Should we not debate?

pardon me while I take ten minutes to figure out what you were trying to say……………….ok, I can’t figure it out….sorry.

1. What’s a “hobbiest” (I think you called us a bad name in another language, but I’ll have to check it out)

2. You are the one that called MHR the Holy Grail of blogs, not us. Thanks for that, even though we already knew it.

3. I’m curious about your last line. Are you implying that we all share one large narcissistic head? I’ve heard of group-think, but Jesus. That is a little over the top, don’t you think?

made the only point that needed to be made.

It’s a writer driven site. Not for the fans so much as the writers themselves. Enough said.

And Doug is definitely anti-Tebow. But he is also very funny. His site so he gets to make the rules and ban dudes like me.

But I read their site, this site, and maxdenver.com almost on a daily basis. I agree with you in the respect that all of these sites have unique perspectives and varied worth-while opinions and posts. I think what gets some people going here about IAOFM is the level of dialogue in the comments isn’t that great when compared to MHR. But that’s fine because as others have pointed out before, MHR is a fansite and IAOFM is not, it is driven exclusively by the moderators. I’ve commented a few times here and there over there but for the most part I just read.

I also think that people shouldn’t get upset over being banned. I mean after all, over there you’re not going to get a conversation going like here. Just come on back over here and let’s talk Broncos!

I’ve been banned from AP and GGN before. In both instances I was pretty new to this whole fansite thing and went way overboard about my team to the point of being a douche. I’ve apologized to both sites and was allowed back at GGN to my surprise—-I’m not a Jets fan in particular, but I appreciate and enjoy the members over there and I think it is well run. I haven’t asked to be “unbanned” at AP but I don’t particularly see the need to post on a division rival website, no good will come of it.

I think that people should get over things and not hold grudges, after all these sites exist because we love a trivial game that in the end has little value when compared to more important things in life.

Cheers to MHR, IAOFM, maxdenver.com, all you guys help me learn more about my team during the season and help me make it through the offseason lol!

and you cared enough to respond, amirite?

So I go over there to read since I haven’t been in a while and I realize that the acronym is fully spelled out on the site… LOL.. So my first question wasn’t very good. Bah!

I Ate Octopus For Memorial-day.

WHY is it the name of the site and, before that, a sig line? What does it represent in the history of our beloved Broncos?

The quality of their stuff is very high. I can and do object to the way they run the comments, and their tone can be grating, but there’s no disputing the level of dedication or the quality of the work.

If they are so confident in their beliefs, wouldn’t they be more comfortable with dissent?

IAOFM is like an exclusive frat house or night club. They only allow their peeps to enter.

But by allowing D-bags like Guy Thatcher, they miss the point because he is the equivalent of a 300 pound, 47 year old hag. A heifer that is drinking all the liquor and eating all the party favors.

Their taste is not discerning. Their standards are inconsistent and low.

Like yours and Sardine’s. It doesn’t live up to your “high standards?” Haha, okay. Why do you guys even bother posting if it is beneath you? You say it’s not up to your standards, then you dive right on in the conversation anyways. You can’t have it both ways.