Never Get Into A Battle of Wits With An Unarmed Opponent

I'll say it again. Most hockey fans in South Florida are bags of wind who don't know shit. Some are very knowledgeable (Bill M) whose Facebook page this came from. Bill and I often agree and sometimes don't. But he knows what he's talking about. I've removed all last names except mine and the idiot I wish to mock. I've also removed posts unrelated to the topic at hand. But what's here is not edited.

A good fan of any sport will make impassioned statements of opinion. That's cool. You should. Sports journalism is somewhere you actually get to throw opinion into your story. I'm all for it, and when I wrote for LCS I did the same thing. However, if you're going to state something as a fact, you best be ready to back it up. And if you're going to issue a challenge, you better make sure you have it right.

I took umbrage at Shawn Morin's statement because it's a direct attack on me and my integrity. Fortunately, Shawn is a blowhard with, apparently, no hockey knowledge because he'd have kept his mouth shut if he had any. So I've marked in purple where he insults me. Now, you will see I have included opinions that do not agree with my own, because not everyone agrees with me. I don't mind that. But Shawn opened his mouth. Then, he throws down the gauntlet of a challenge also marked in purple. Conveniently, because he's a lazy fan, he didn't do any research at all. First, as a writer, I could use my own name as a legitimate reply to his absurdist statement. But, it so happens I had recently made fun of J-Blow's work ethic -- he's a lazy player, plain and simple, and his hockey sense is often weak -- and in that I had referred to a writer at CBS Sports who had the same opinion. That's a second writer and the one I used to shut his sorry ass up. Of course, that writer referred to another writer at TSN who also had similar comments.

So, Shawn Morin is the exact sort of sports fan that makes people in Florida look like asses. As much as I hate fans of the Rangers (or Leafs and so on), I just don't have this sort of problems with them. We never agree but I can have an intelligent conversation with them. It's sad because he's not alone. I'm picking on him because he happened to open his mouth and spew his ill-informed thoughts at me. I use the term "thoughts" loosely. I find hockey fans in this market to be generally either Pollyannas with no grip on reality, or worse blowhards full of 'facts' that just aren't facts. It's why most fans in our market are blasted, and they are right. I would like to offer up Shawn as a sacrifice.

Bill M: All you Panthers fans trashing Jay Bouwmeester and wishing him ill-will upon his return are playing right into his hand. I say kill him with kindness. Or better yet, indifference. Let's treat him like just another random visiting player. After all, that's all he is. We have much bigger concerns around here.
Evan B: Sorry Bill, we upgraded our seats in order to trash the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
Murphy B: I felt bad about sincerely wanting to boo him down the stretch last season when he tanked on us... I am booing him with a clear conscience tomorrow night. No disrespect meant to anyone.
Josh B: When he was a panther, he was a customer at the drycleaner I work at. He attempted to run me over with his pickup truck once because his suit had a stain we couldn't get out. Ever since then I've been booing him. Even when he was on the panthers
Brian M: Yeah but I would run ya over if I had the chance and you never touched my clothes lol. But to the point. Like him or not he is a very good player and was a big part of the good play we had last season. I'm with Bill on this one. Moving on like he did was just business.
Eric Seiden: @MurphyB unlike you My disrespect to J-Blow is intended and I'm proud of it. @BillM treating him like this is returning the favour he paid us by not making any effort to play in our playoff run @Brian, sorry dude. You're totally wrong. He's not a good player which makes the heckling feel all that much the better.
Shawn Morin: Eric if you don't think jay is a good defenseman then how can anyone take anything you say seriously... (There's where the idiot opens his mouth to insult me)
Dylan R: i think hes a great player.. but he is full of himself.. quit on the team.. as did Martin the GM last year did. cowardly acts. im sorry.. but .. .like any other fans or players that come to town.. hes gonna be another one to bite the dust as the song goes.
Bill M: I'm disagreeing with you that he "tanked" on us last season. That's ridiculous. Underachieved? Yes. But the whole team failed to come through under the pressure and the heated competition. Playing poorly on purpose would be a physically dangerous thing to do. I don't think he did that.
Eric Seiden: @Shawn, lots of people do. That you don't is your problem. However I don't feel the need to insult you. Jay's stats speak for themselves. Look 'em up. He's an underachieving, whiny, marshmallow. @BillM I didn't say he tanked. I said he didn't make any effort. In fact I can't say that he did anything.
Shawn Morin: Eric. Find me a hockey writer who thinks jay bouwmeester is a bad defenseman. And the panthers lost the playoffs in Nov-Dec last season. (Here's the idiot's challenge)
Eric Seiden: @Shawn URL HERE  (There. CBS Sports. I accept your apology, Shawn.) If you want to argue hockey, we can. But Mr Murphy's blog isn't the place. There's plenty more to back my side but you said to find one. I didn't even need to look further than my OWN writings to find links. Oh, yeah, I was a sports writer for three years. BTW, Brown's article links to others.

Yeah, so there ya' go. The nice thing about a personal blog is I get to rip on idiots. Shawn Morin is an idiot. I've stopped reading that thread and I certainly apologize to BillM for anything in that which may have bothered him. In theory, Shawn is his friend which is why I walked away after my last post. Unfortunately, I should have never gotten into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. (Yeah, never piss off a writer, especially one with an audience. Ask Alan Price.)

I heard back from Roto-Rooter today. I got a very, very long apology. They explained what went wrong and said they'd be willing to send someone out at a specific time. I declined -- had they offered me a hefty discount I might have reconsidered. I explained "never again" means what I said. What I did find commendable was that they actually listened to the recorded conversations that I had. They know what went wrong and who was responsible. And they definitely agree that their response to "I'm calling to cancel" which was "okay" was most certainly not okay. They thanked me for complaining so they could fix it so nobody would ever go through that again, and we had a brief discussion about the SuperBowl.

Speaking of the SuperBowl I have a ticket. I am going. No idea why I'm putting myself through that ordeal, but I will have fun. Especially if the Colts lose. Geaux Saints (dedicated to CAT).