08-04-2010, 02:51 PM
Okay, I have had a day to calm down and get over the fact that my personal e-mails were read on air. That hurt some people and caused some problems among friends.
My response yesterday was personal. I was mad. For those who care, I went back to the OP and deleted a couple of the personal insults to Wolken. I don't take back anything else I said, though.
I had not yet listened to the show, so I could not respond to points Wolken made. Today, I managed to listen to the archive, so here is my response:
Wolken's basic argument is that purported message board posters (mainly me), who pretend to be insiders, get the fan base all riled up for nothing, and then they are disappointed, and now won't look forward to playing Tulsa. He says this is emotional abuse, and says this makes the university look bad. His example was McMurphy clowning us for believing the rumors. Dan also implied this might hurt our chances of getting into the Big East, although Harry disagreed with him.
He implied that KSR might have gotten their info from my e-mail. He characterized my posts as a "lie, hoax, fabrication, bunch of crap." He accused Strat and me of "not denying the KSR rumor, and in fact (subtly) encouraging it."
He called my friends to whom I communicate by e-mail the Cult of 32, and then said he was not trying to make this personal. He was corrected by Harry and Roser, I think, whoever was there.
He then proceeded to read verbatim from various e-mails, saying this was raising false hopes, b/c I have no connections and don't know what I'm talking about, as he does. He also said I am not trained to be a professional.
He said I could not expect privacy if I sent an e-mail to 32 people, and that I gave up any right to it by saying I was going to leak info, anyway.
My points:
1. I never posted a word about conference expansion on here since sometime in late June, I think, certainly not for about 4 weeks. I did not post anything encouraging it, or discouraging it. I just didn't post about it.
2. I am not the one who posted the thread that we would be in the BE on August 3. That was Dak10, whom Wolken never mentioned. I have never posted that the BE was a done deal. And the last time the info was false, it was the Orlando TV reporter who said done deal, not me. "Done deal" threads in the past have been posted by several others, never me, yet Wolken kept implying it was me.
3. I am not Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, who made the report. Dan implied that e-mails like mine turn up in places like that. Hey, that is on KSR, not me. And if legit media pick it up, then that is on them, too.
4. Dan labeled my e-mail chain the "Cult of 32." Those are my personal friends, whom I know face-to-face and choose to associate with. In person. Our e-mails are no different than going to a bar together and talking Tiger sports, except they were PRIVATE. I have the right to say whatever I want to my friends, in private. I'm sure nobody in here, including Wolken, would want their private e-mails read aloud on local radio.
5. I do not purport to be an insider. I very clearly state my info is second hand, at best. I also qualify almost everything I post. But my info is also not from "the friend of a cousin of my uncle," or circular, as Wolken implied.
6. Dan kept harping on message boards, but all he read were my personal e-mails. Two different things. I posted nothing publicly to stir people up.
7. Dan says he would be pilloried if he put out info as I did. I'm not the CA beat writer. I think Wolken does not differentiate between newspaper articles and message boards. Big difference. Newspapers report facts. Message board posters discuss rumors, among other things.
8. Having Memphis fans excited b/c Dak10 and Matt Jones claimed Memphis to the BE is not going to prevent us from actually getting into the BE, if and when it ever happens. It is about money and many other things, not about how eager or gullible fans are to believe they are getting into a new conference.
9. I never said I was going to leak info for any purpose. That is wrong, and out of context to a description of others perhaps doing that.
My response yesterday was personal. I was mad. For those who care, I went back to the OP and deleted a couple of the personal insults to Wolken. I don't take back anything else I said, though.
I had not yet listened to the show, so I could not respond to points Wolken made. Today, I managed to listen to the archive, so here is my response:
Wolken's basic argument is that purported message board posters (mainly me), who pretend to be insiders, get the fan base all riled up for nothing, and then they are disappointed, and now won't look forward to playing Tulsa. He says this is emotional abuse, and says this makes the university look bad. His example was McMurphy clowning us for believing the rumors. Dan also implied this might hurt our chances of getting into the Big East, although Harry disagreed with him.
He implied that KSR might have gotten their info from my e-mail. He characterized my posts as a "lie, hoax, fabrication, bunch of crap." He accused Strat and me of "not denying the KSR rumor, and in fact (subtly) encouraging it."
He called my friends to whom I communicate by e-mail the Cult of 32, and then said he was not trying to make this personal. He was corrected by Harry and Roser, I think, whoever was there.
He then proceeded to read verbatim from various e-mails, saying this was raising false hopes, b/c I have no connections and don't know what I'm talking about, as he does. He also said I am not trained to be a professional.
He said I could not expect privacy if I sent an e-mail to 32 people, and that I gave up any right to it by saying I was going to leak info, anyway.
My points:
1. I never posted a word about conference expansion on here since sometime in late June, I think, certainly not for about 4 weeks. I did not post anything encouraging it, or discouraging it. I just didn't post about it.
2. I am not the one who posted the thread that we would be in the BE on August 3. That was Dak10, whom Wolken never mentioned. I have never posted that the BE was a done deal. And the last time the info was false, it was the Orlando TV reporter who said done deal, not me. "Done deal" threads in the past have been posted by several others, never me, yet Wolken kept implying it was me.
3. I am not Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, who made the report. Dan implied that e-mails like mine turn up in places like that. Hey, that is on KSR, not me. And if legit media pick it up, then that is on them, too.
4. Dan labeled my e-mail chain the "Cult of 32." Those are my personal friends, whom I know face-to-face and choose to associate with. In person. Our e-mails are no different than going to a bar together and talking Tiger sports, except they were PRIVATE. I have the right to say whatever I want to my friends, in private. I'm sure nobody in here, including Wolken, would want their private e-mails read aloud on local radio.
5. I do not purport to be an insider. I very clearly state my info is second hand, at best. I also qualify almost everything I post. But my info is also not from "the friend of a cousin of my uncle," or circular, as Wolken implied.
6. Dan kept harping on message boards, but all he read were my personal e-mails. Two different things. I posted nothing publicly to stir people up.
7. Dan says he would be pilloried if he put out info as I did. I'm not the CA beat writer. I think Wolken does not differentiate between newspaper articles and message boards. Big difference. Newspapers report facts. Message board posters discuss rumors, among other things.
8. Having Memphis fans excited b/c Dak10 and Matt Jones claimed Memphis to the BE is not going to prevent us from actually getting into the BE, if and when it ever happens. It is about money and many other things, not about how eager or gullible fans are to believe they are getting into a new conference.
9. I never said I was going to leak info for any purpose. That is wrong, and out of context to a description of others perhaps doing that.
![[Image: enough%20already.bmp.jpg]](http://usera.imagecave.com/mikehalford/enough%20already.bmp.jpg)