Most of us have done that at some stage - maybe not to that extent, but certainly used excessive muffling to make up for our lack of tuning skills. We didn't know any better. Especially back in the day, being young / inexperienced, & wanting to emulate the sounds we heard on records. At least the new player has information readily available these days - not so back in the 70's / 80's.
Players who over muffle generally fall into two main categories:
1/ Newer / inexperienced players who don't know better.
2/ More experienced players who never grew out of the habit / limited exposure to different playing environments / really can't be bothered.
We know drums are more difficult to "tune" than many other instruments, but I'm still constantly surprised by the lack of tuning ability / knowledge amongst many drummers - in fact, a general lack of knowledge about how drum sounds are produced - period.