Quote:
Originally posted by Striker991
The point I am making is that I DID address this issue with Carl in private e-mail. However, he has ignored my e-mail.
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I'd be delighted to reply to your email -- if I had it. Concerning your comment that I ignored your email and "others":
(1) Please post your message here. It never reached me; it should have been returned to you. Perhaps you used an old address: Reach me at carlchildress@rightsports.com. I answer every email except those about enlarging parts of my body.
(2) On the Andy Konyar issue, after my editor sent me Mr. Konyar's complaint and I published our response, I received exactly two emails, both from Andy. There has since been a third: He is leaving on Thursday for Belgium, Germany, and Poland. (It really is Little League
International.) We have an appointment to get together after he returns.
The issue speaks for itself:
Mr. Konyar's original email is public.
The response of Officiating.com is public.
Mr. Konyar's article is public.
That anyone could find fault with the resolution of the "disagreement" is, as I was wont to say when I frequented the Boards:
Amazing!
Incidentally: I'm too old for weight training, which is why I don't respond to messages about building up my biceps.
I added the following material in blue: Mr. Owens' email is in red:
I don't know if Greg Owens is Striker991, but I did receive this message on February 25, which was long before I posted my "reply" to Mr. Konyar. (I sent this email to my to-do box; I am slightly behind since our baseball season opened, and my 96-year-old mother-in-law was hospitalized.)
There have been many derogatory comments made about volunteer umpires both in articles and in the forums. This last comment, made by Mr Campagna, was the last straw for me; "I'd rather pay someone to give me 50% effort and be impartial, blown calls and all, than have volunteer umpires!" I find this to be terribly insulting. How about giving us volunteers equal time?
A reply I made to him via e-mail: "I take great exception with this comment. We have an association that is ALL volunteer. In order to be a member and to keep getting assignments, you MUST be well trained, willing to work hard, maintain your clothing and equipment, and maintain relationships in the organizations to which you are assigned. All of this on our own dime and time. In fact, many of the volunteer umpires in our organization are those that also work in paid associations.
It is not necessary to make such derogatory comments about volunteer umpires. I see this all the time in the forums. The fact is, when someone is getting paid, they should be held to a MUCH higher standard than volunteer umpires. If I see a paid umpire blowing calls regularly and sitting on his heels in the field only giving 50% effort, his association and his assignor get both a phone call and a written notice from me and he will not be asked back. It doesn't matter to me that he is "impartial" because I don't care if he splits his bad calls evenly."
Why do you allow such comments in these articles? They are highly inflammatory and very unprofessional. We, as umpires, whether paid or volunteer, should work hard as a cohesive group to better ourselves and each other. These comments do nothing but to make it harder for volunteers to do their jobs.
My guess is that you would be unwilling to allow a volunteer equal column space.
Respectfully,
Greg Owens
I'm going to reply personally to Mr. Owens, and I make him the same offer I made Mr. Konyar:
Make your case for volunteerism in an article of 800-1000 words. We'll publish it, and we'll pay you for it. Or, we can donate the money to any Little League organization you name.
At Officiating.com we have nothing against volunteerism. We have everything against censorship of ideas and opinions, especially those we may disagree with.
[Edited by Carl Childress on Mar 4th, 2003 at 03:12 PM]