Okay, lots to unpack. Let me start by saying Pauline’s not my friend. In 30 years we’ve probably conversed twice. I base his credibility on his professional history and what people I respect in this industry think of him. This is going to be long; sorry. Pieces like this have no place in this field.
My first question is what are this guys credentials? His website just says he’s written about the Seahawks for 20 years, apparently unpaid. He cites no other credentials. That does not mean his observations are by definition, inaccurate. I won’t stoop to labeling this article beyond saying it’s not journalism.
Joe goes back to 2016 and cites 41 rumors/predictions (10 proved accurate) Pauline offered. Since Pauline writes most weeks, does countless interviews (Google him) and most of those presentations include numerous rumors, citing 41 is not statistically significant to give an accurate evaluation. I’m sure he provides hundreds of rumors and predictions every year. I’m also not sure of the context. This week alone I’ve identified rumors as coming from questionable sources and sources I fully trusted. Next these are rumors. When I was writing for Rivals and Football Digest I was sometimes fed rumors, teams wanted out there. If the source did that repeatedly, I dropped them. Early on some got through and I can tell you if you ask the AZ Republic guys, they’ll tell you they’ve fallen victim to this. I’ve also had sources apologize to me for giving me wrong info. Typically the said they told me in good faith but something changed. I usually believed them. Again my ”rumor“ was wrong. In fact don’t many rumors about everything turn out to be wrong. How about predictions? I have no clue how many of those I’ve missed on, but this board has alerted me to several. How many us have done mocks that missed on 80%. I bet most draft gurus have. The late Dave Te stopped doing mocks because he missed so often. He actually underrated his success percentage. In the end I guess I’m also acting what’s a good number even for a professional?
Lastly I’ve asked several times, “If I get a rumor I can‘t substantiate, do you want me to post it?” The answer has always been post it. If that’s changed, let me know. I think Lou offered this in good faith. I just think it’s a bad piece and doesn’t deserve any prominence.
www.seasidejoe.com
