Will the real JMV please stand up

From my standpoint as a journalist, the best part of the Peyton Manning breaking story over the Labor Day weekend was the fact that a local guy broke the story about Manning’s most recent neck developments, and his doubtful status for the opener.

I’ve often railed against players like Manning and front office higher-ups constantly feeding the national guys exclusives, making the local journalists who cover the team and players day-in and day-out fight for scraps or worse yet, attribute information in their stories to national media outlets.

If teams and players are going to at least act like they care about the communities where they play, and where ticket-buying fans help pay team expenses and player salaries, they should talk to the local guys first at least some of the time.

So it was great to see WFNI-AM 1070 sports radio talk show host JMV send the likes of ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter scrambling to catch up with the news that Manning’s neck pain was much worse than previously reported.

You could almost hear the disgust spewing from Mortensen’s early tweets and remarks. Bill Polian, Mortensen huffed Sunday night, knew nothing about this. Well, the story was real after all, and it did my heart good to see Mort and Schefty get beat at their own game.

Don’t get me wrong. No one, journalist or otherwise, takes joy in breaking news of the sort that broke this weekend. But if it happens, I love seeing a local guy get the scoop.

The Colts are such a cloistered group, it’s difficult to say who broke ranks and spilled the beans to JMV. But the fact that JMV got this sensitive story speaks to his connectivity in this community where he has lived and worked for many years.

It was intriguing to listen as reporter after reporter referred to JMV, not by his real name, but by incorrect iterations of a name he acquired while working as an intern at WNDE-AM 1260 a number of years ago. Mark Patrick (yes, I know that’s just a stage name) gave JMV his handle while Patrick was working his first tour of duty at WNDE.

First the local press chimed in, calling JMV John Vincent, John Michael or John Michael Vincent. None of which is accurate. But when the national media joined in, well, that really put it over the top.

To hear the guys on ESPN’s TV and radio shows talking about “tweets from local radio host John Michael Vincent” was pretty rich. Now if JMV ever went by John Vincent or John Michael Vincent on the air, I might go along with it. But he hasn’t.

I might expect the national guys to do a little research on the local radio broadcaster who just beat their butts on one of the biggest stories this year in the NFL.

If they had, they’d know his real name.

John Gliva.