I read Doyel's column when this thread reached the third page. I didn't think it was worth bothering with, but I took a look.
Plain and simple, Doyel is a punk. I've read previously how some people here think he is great at breaking news. My thought is that it is Peter Vescey style - you write enough stuff and some of it is bound to be true.
Should Conlin have responded? My first thought was yes, because it is kind of outrageous that Doyel would say something like if he didn't have any first-hand knowledge. It's not a question of being a Phillies homer - if somebody is being unfair, a journalist would have more obligation than anyone to point this out.
But after reading the column, I think Conlin shouldn't have e-mailed the response to him. If it wasn't worth mentioning in Conlin's own column, it wasn't worth striking the keyboard. It's like calling the maniac talk radio shows where the idiot host controls the callers and screams and insults people after they have already dumped the caller.