Have you guys heard anything about his assault on a Jets employee? I wish that would have been me, knowing that the guy has incredibly deep pockets. I can't find any links but I found the following discussions on various message boards. "NAPOLIAN JACKED UP A JETS EMPLOYEE Jay Glazer of FOX reports that Colts president Bill Polian, already under fire for his team's decision to put defensive tackle on the non-football illness list and not pay him, assaulted a Jets employee during last weekend's game at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The incident occurred after Polian was upset because speakers were too close to the field. While discussing the matter with a Jets employee, Polian grabbed him by the lapels and threw him against a wall. The Jets employee was "shaken up" by the exchange, and G.M. Mike Tannenbaum has raised the issue with the league office. "You should have the right to a safe workplace without worrying that somebody is going to put his hands on you," a Jets source told Glazer. The issue could prompt more league insiders to speak out regarding Polian, who has a less-than-stellar reputation in some circles. Glazer's report seems to confirm what others have believed for a long time -- that the guy is a bully." "NAPOLIAN APOLOGIZES Tom Curran of NBCSports.com reports that Colts president Bill Polian apologized earlier this month for shoving a Jets employee on October 1. Per Curran, Polian discussed the matter with Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum and Ray Anderson, the league's senior V.P. of football operations shortly after the incident, and Polian issued a written apology. (Maybe something like: "I'm f--king sorry, you worthless piece of sh-t.") Curran contacted Anderson about the incident, who said "no comment" and abruptly hung up. (Real smooth, Ray.) Meanwhile, Curran reports that the Patriots have twisted Napolian's tail by asking the league to ensure the safety of team employees during Indy's visit to New England next month. Recently, the Colts asked the league to talk to the Pats about improving the condition of the turf on their home field." "MORE NAPOLIAN ANECDOTES After Jay Glazer of FOX broke the story regarding the incident in which Polian grabbed a Jets employee by the lapels and threw him against a wall, we put out a call to all agents for stories regarding Polian's past antics. Here's a little bit of what we heard. One agent opined that Polian is a "prickly old f--k," and another one compared him to Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men. Several agents told us that, in their opinion, the entire front office, top to bottom, is filled with cantankerous employees who regard all agents as adversaries. When one agent called a Polian colleague to inquire as to how a client was doing in training camp, the Colts employee said it's not his job to "wipe [the agent's] [censored]." Another common theme is that Polian and crew are regarded as making every issue more contentious than it needs to be. Consider, for example, the placement of defensive tackle Corey Simon on the non-football injury/illness list. The consensus in league circles is that the team simply didn't want to pay Simon, so it opted to cut him off -- and to force him to pursue his money. We've also heard that Polian often reacts angrily to questions posed to him by callers to his radio show. Also, consider this clip from an appearance on WFAN from the days following the Colts' playoff loss to the Steelers. It starts off cordially, but flashes of that temper come through once the hosts begin to ask tough questions about whether quarterback Peyton Manning had any blame for the defeat." "NAPOLIAN STRIKES AGAIN Coming off of their bye week, the Indianapolis Colts list a whopping 21 players as questionable for Sunday's game against the Redskins. That's nearly 40 percent of the entire roster. Under NFL rules, the designation of "questionable" means that the player has a 50-50 chance of playing. And with so many players currently a 50-50 proposition, it's virtually impossible for the Redskins -- or anyone else -- to figure out which of the guys are actually hurt. Many league insiders would say that it's not surprising, since it's just another example of the way that Colts president Bill Polian does whatever he wants, without consequence. Remember that report from Jay Glazer of FOX regarding allegations that Polian had thrown a Jets employee against a wall? Word is that nothing has been done about it, and nothing likely will." "DOUBLE STANDARD FOR NAPOLIAN? In the wake of the revelation that Colts president Bill Polian was required merely to make a written apology to the Jets employee whom he threw against a wall on October 1, some league insiders are baffled by the proverbial slap on the wrist that Polian received. "He's the president of a billion-dollar company," said one league source. "What would happen if the president of any other major company physically assaulted an employee of another company? Where in America can you get away with that?" The thinking is that the league tried to get and keep this situation under wraps in order to prevent fans from concluding that a league littered with thugs on the field might be merely following the lead of the guys who run the teams. In comparison to an incident that occurred on the very same day -- the face-stomping by Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth on Cowboys center Andre Gurode -- Polian's conduct might seem tame. But Haynesworth's actions occurred between the lines, in the context of a game in which pushing and shoving and hitting routinely occurs. Polian is a suit-and-tie guy; there's no pushing or shoving or hitting at all in his business. (Well, apparently there is; but there shouldn't be.) So the incidents, in our view, are identical in outrageousness. Haynesworth was way over "the line" that applied to his behavior, and Polian was, too. League insiders also are wondering why the incident isn't getting more attention in the media. Apart from FOX's Jay Glazer, who broke the initial story, and Tom Curran of NBCSports.com, who reported on Thursday that Polian had been required to apologize, there has been nothing from anyone who gets paid to cover the sport. No reporting. No commentary. Nothing. Instead, Friday's Indianapolis Star features a slurp job from Bob Kravitz regarding Polian's brilliance, which recently included giving up a second-round draft pick for a nearly washed-up defensive tackle who can't be counted on to stuff the run in Indy because he really hasn't been doing it this year in Tampa. Kravitz also downplays the issue at hand with one dismissive sentence: "That whole dust-up with a Jets employee that was reported by foxsports.com, well, we didn't see it and haven't had it confirmed by anybody on the record, so that's gone nowhere." (It'll be interesting to see what the Star writes on this come Saturday. Or Sunday.) Meanwhile, we continue to hear examples of Polian's temper, as displayed in stadium press boxes over the years. The guy's temper is legendary in league circles, and the non-consequence imposed for laying hands on an employee of another team will, in our view, do nothing to deter him from acting this way in the future. In fairness to Polian, we've also heard from a couple of agents who say that, in negotiations, Polian is tough but fair, and that he always has conducted himself as a gentleman. The Jets employee who got thrown against a wall might disagree with that one, however."
