I tend to agree. Google even states that there is almost nothing another website can do to hurt your rankings. However they do use the term “almost” which means maybe there is something, but the point is that you aren’t in control of sites that are not under your ownership, so therefore you shouldn’t be penalized for whatever those sites may do. If Google Bowling is shown to work, then there are many sites out there that will get targeted across many industries, and that would not be good for Google’s relevancy.