Two Clarifications and One Explanation

So a few of you have sought some clarification on some things and where clearly I enjoy stirring the pot, I’d hate to have my good name soiled further and risk spending Thursday nights alone in a booth hoping Colby will buy me another pitcher of beer. So here goes…

1. Selection’s. I have inferred that I believe the selection process has been corrupt. Allow me to specify this comment. With regards to our “All Star” team selections, I believe a true select side should be chosen by a panel of multiple players or even better by team vote and not 1 or 2 people as often small numbers can be clouded by subjectivity. Example- would you want Allen and I (yes Wally- that is he correct grammatical use of I) to pick a team? Although the correct answer is obviously YES, my guess is that many of you would prefer more than 1 or 2 opinions. Now when it comes time to selection of players from clubs onto the All Star team itself, in order to bring it closer to provincial select side standards, I believe a selection panel should be appointed by The Union staffed by those without club affiliation thus removing those who possess a greater interest in getting their own members selected onto the team (ERAC) instead of selecting the best players in the best positions regardless of team affiliation. The same is true with regards to subjectivity and standards in the selections of players for regular season matches. I believe all subjectivity should be removed if not greater efforts made to minimize its impact. One suggestion is to award players points 1-5 in the areas of a) attendance b) fitness c) skill in possession d) strength e) positional performance and f) game knowledge/decision making. Those with the highest scores should be placed into the appropriate positions and in the case of a tie then a selection committee comprised of the coach(s), 2 captains, 1 elected back (not a captain) and 1 elected forward (not a captain) should weigh in. Now here is the important part so read carefully. I was not trying to take a swipe at our Coach nor was I trying to make a swipe at Aaron (who was on the panel of selectors for the All Star squad). With regards to this last season’s selections, the fact is that selecting from 40 guys is much different than selecting from 20 and it is a daunting task for anyone let alone a 1st year coach. I recognize our Coach was acting in ways he felt best or within the structure that was laid out for him by previous administrators (of which mine is listed). In Aaron's case he had no control over the structure of the All Star selection and I believe he was one of the more level headed selectors of the bunch. These things stated, I still stand by my convictions that the All Star squad is not a true select side because of the nature of the selection process and that change is needed for our own standards and methods of match selection. And once again, apologies to Coach and to Aaron if I offended.

2. I have been approached by a few with regards to the slide show that I did not put together. This was not a calculated decision of malison but rater came down to a time crunch caused by three issues. The first issue was that I was plagued by IT problems after that Evil Greg Smokler dumped beer all over my lap-top in South Carolina. Well… maybe he didn’t dump beer all over it but he gave me the beer and if I am looking to lay blame then he is always a great place to start. Second, all of the video I shot was shot in HD format witch is great to view if you have a HDTV however as I found out it is not great if you plan on editing as it is a new technology that not many soft wear designers have catered their editing software to. The necessary process is to down-convert to the recognized format which eats up time (it is done in close to real-time so an 80 minute match will take close 80 minutes to down-convert) and disc space. Which leads to the 3rd and final issue. By the time my computer was repaired from the damaged caused from the Evil Dr. Smokler, I was down to a time crunch. Now this is going to sound crazy to those of you without, but those with know that a wife and child enjoy spending time with their husband/father. Shocking to most, this is true of even my own wife and child. They went largely neglected for many months while I trained and ran with you and the thought of spending a large amount of time to put a video together really didn’t sound appealing knowing that in a very short amount of time I am going to be spending more time away as I join you in preparation to kick the shit out of these hacks in the White division. Note that I spent many hours downloading and burning multiple game DVD’s for the club at no financial cost to the club or those who received the DVD’s. So I hope that with retrospect anyone who thought otherwise now knows it was no reason other than time and family that you didn’t get the video as promised.

Well there they are. Here is one last extremely important thing to remember and those whom I have offended over these issues or anything else in my 10 years with the club; and those who anticipate being the brunt of my comments in the future. Read this very closely. I am a jackass. I accept it and the sooner you accept and embrace this then the sooner you will enjoy my presence. There is much truth in what I say but you must possess the correct mental constitution to understand and enjoy. If it offends you then I apologize as that rarely is my intent. More than likely you don’t understand appreciate or simply do not like my cynical passive aggressive satire. To try to explain it would detract from the humor that I and at least 2 or 3 others enjoy. Stop reading or just walk away. OK. Colby- 9:30 tonight, I’ll be waiting… although he probably doesn’t have a computer unless Allen is home and even then I’m not sure he can use the keyboard with his little alligator arms.