On a daily basis, thousands of readers make Mile High Report their go-to source for news, analysis, opinion, and history. Each of our writers has equal voice to do and say whatever he/she wants about the Denver Broncos without fear of repercussion from the editorial staff, Denver Broncos themselves, or our sponsors.

Not all of our readers agree with what we say, but we pride ourselves in being able to respect all opinions. However, when someone publicly attacks us based on an opinion generated from an article they clearly didn’t read, we take extreme offense.

During the second hour of Friday’s The Drive with Big Al and DMac, regional radio personality Darren ‘DMac’ McKee took issue with an article MHR published earlier that morning:

I have to laugh because my man Stink was talking about a story from milehighreport.com. I know some of the guys from Mile High Report. They’re good dudes. They’re out-of-state bloggers, basically, who really love the Broncos. And the article is NFL Executives Talk About the Broncos Selection and it praises John Elway. But in this particular article, it never actually mentions an executive’s name. It just says, “One exec said blah-blah-blah, another executive said blah-blah-blah.” This is what you get when you read the National Enquirer... To cite this as... Listen, Mile High Report, nice guys... When I see this, it’s terrible reporting. Horrible reporting. Never mind using this as a resource to say, “Ah, see, I’m right.” It doesn’t make any sense.

I want to stop it right here, because it was at this point in McKee’s tirade that his partner, former Broncos defensive lineman Alfred Williams, interjected that there was also an article on ESPN saying the same thing. McKee would have been wise to stop and listen to his partner, but he went ahead undeterred.

No. I could literally write an article saying the exact opposite, and I could just make stuff up if I wasn’t naming the executives... You would never in a kajillion years see an article like this in, say, Sports Illustrated where it’s praising John Elway and they don’t give their name. I have no idea why NFL Exec 1 and NFL Exec 2 wanted to be off the record with Mile High Report. It’s just not good reporting. It’s bad reporting... But this is really a lousy way to do it. Listen, it’s Mile High report, nice guys, nice guys, but it’s a blog. Not that blogs are bad. Not that podcasts are bad. But they don’t have to live up to the same standard as other places. I don’t know what NFL Executives think about John Elway’s drafting, but this is hardly the source to refer to.

Alfred Williams chimed in again.

You just trashed Mile High Report. You just trashed them.

McKee continued.

Sorry guys, what can I tell you... Maybe the executive isn’t really an executive. Maybe it’s some lower level guy. Give me 15 minutes and I’ll write an article with unnamed sources saying the opposite.

I would now like to direct attention to the first paragraph of the article that Tim Lynch wrote that launched this asinine tirade.

When the Denver Broncos decided to pass on a quarterback or a trade back, which were two moves most experts and pundits believed John Elway would make, he earned some respectful remarks from anonymous executives in a recent ESPN piece on the 2018 NFL Draft.

Had McKee actually read the article, he would have CLEARLY seen that the anonymous quotes were attributed to an ESPN article on the 2018 Draft and had nothing to do with Mile High Report.

So, allow me to respond:

Dear DMac,

We are indeed good dudes (and ladies!). Mile High Report is an ad-supported media outlet free of pay walls, not unlike dozens of other sites you clearly deem credible. We have been writing about all things Denver Broncos for over 12 years, and we aren’t going anywhere.

You can dismiss us by calling us “bloggers” or by noting that many of us live outside of Colorado, but we are smart, passionate and proud. We sure as heck won’t stand idly by as a lazy broadcaster impugns what we do here because he can’t be trusted to actually read, much less understand, the article he’s discussing on a local radio show.

You stated that we aren’t held to the same standards as other ad-supported media outlets. I beg to differ. If any of our writers make even the smallest mistake, our extremely knowledgeable community immediately lets us know. We are in the comments and on the site every day without benefit of a soundproof studio to hide in. When we make mistakes, we gladly admit our errors and issue a correction giving appropriate credit where it is due. Our standards are incredibly high and to claim otherwise is insulting.

To go further and state that you could just “make up a story” similar to the one you didn’t read, as though that was what we did, is appalling. To have someone who considers himself a journalist say such a thing, insinuating that we would make up sources or lie about sources on this site is outrageous and borderline libelous.

... but this takes away from the major issue. That you attacked us to make your point to the morning show on your station. I heard them call you a “little fella” and mercilessly mock you while mentioning our article on their show. I truly believe that whatever is going on over there, both in front of the microphone and behind it, it’s something bigger than Mile High Report that’s bothering you.

So you attacked us, unprovoked. You may think we are nice guys, but we aren’t chumps, and we won’t allow you, or anyone to attack us, our standards, what we do, or who we are.

If standards and ethics are indeed a cornerstone to your journalistic practice, you will apologize to the MHR staff and community immediately and issue a public correction. That’s what credible journalists do when they are wrong. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Respectfully,

The good dudes at Mile High Report