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BGonline.org Forums
I'm Sure All Have Awaited my Opinion
Posted By: phil simborg In Response To: I'm Sure All Have Awaited my Opinion (Bill Riles)
Date: Thursday, 3 June 2010, at 3:05 p.m.
Bill Riles, you are my hero. I would love to have as much confidence in my own opinion as you do. To be able to sit back in Dallas, hear a little bit about what this person or that person has to say, and then make a judgment as to who is right and who is wrong and be absolutely certain that your opinion is correct and one that everyone wants and needs to hear.
How wonderful it is to have such self-confidence! Your parents are to be congratulated for instilling in you such an amazing self-image.
Let’s take this most recent situation with Rory, for example. If it had been an isolated incident, I think someone might have cause to conclude that I was too hard on Rory. After hearing Rory's version of the story, I can see why someone might think that he had every right to express his opinion about negotiations between two other people.
But if you knew the history, and that Rory has the worst case of butting in and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time in the history of the U.S., and if you knew this happens repeatedly, to the extent that people will not play with him in our chouette (virtually everyone, by the way) and that there are many who openly state that they did not come to the tournament because of Rory's mouth; and if you knew that for years I defended him, befriended him, and begged him to keep his mouth shut to stop pissing me and virtually everyone else off all the time, perhaps you might think that his view of what happened and why it was so irritating and inappropriate, and mine, are different.
But you are able to sit down their in Texas with little knowledge of the history or the personalities, and not having witnessed the event, and you are able to make a judgment as to who is right and who is wrong and who is good and who is bad. And not only are you so sure of what you believe, you also believe that everyone should know how you feel--that everyone cares about your decision in this matter.
But you are a very special person, Bill. You don’t need facts or history, and you don't even need any first-hand information in order for you to form an opinion that you are so sure of that you must share it with the world. You enjoy condemning someone, so right or wrong, you just do it!
It’s little wonder that you would side with someone who consistently opens his mouth inappropriately!
Please don’t stop—I have always believed we need more humor in backgammon, and you provide it. We also need people like you to make the rest of us feel better about ourselves.
The truth is, Rory shouldn't have opened his big mouth when he did and said what he did. The truth is, I was much harder on him and more short-tempered than I should have been. If someone else had made Rory's comment, it would not have been so bad, because they would not have been the tournament director who I was trying to help, and they would not have been someone who has consistently opened his mouth to piss me off and others over and over and over and has been warned about it. And the truth is, if it was someone else, I would not have been as upset. that's the price one pays for making the same mistakes over and over and over.
But again, you don't know the history, and you didn't witness the actual conversation, and there is no reason for you to make a judgment or take sides, but because you are Bill Riles, you simply must. Bravo! Like Rory, at least you are consistent.
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