Dear Friends:
After reading the comments above, I have to get involved in this thread because I think many of you have touched on a key issue here.
"thisisit" asked the key question, when requested of IE and others:
"WHAT DO YOU GUYS WANT?"
Let me try to answer this as best I can:
I think we all try to provide what we can, to the best of our abilities. Some put a lot of hours into this forum, and others put in just a few minutes each day. Still others just come and read and do not contribute. We fully understand that everyone's schedule is different and NO ONE can be expected to pull equal shares with everyone else. That's jsut the way things go.
But here is what *I* ask of all of you out there who lurk, or may think that what you have as far as information is not worthy of contributing.
EACH OF YOU OUT THERE HAS SPECIAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR LOCAL TEAMS AND CITIES THAT THE REST OF US DO NOT KNOW.
Please go back and read that again.
EACH OF YOU
HAS SPECIAL INFORMATION
ABOUT YOUR LOCAL TEAMS AND COMMUNITIES
THAT THE REST OF US DO NOW KNOW.
......so
SHARE IT WITH US!
This past year, you would not believe the kinds of e-mail I received. I swear I could write a book. I had a bartender in South Florida e-mail me in February that he saw some NBA team out partying their azzes off the night before a game in Miami last year. That information was like GOLD. I had late weather reports from games where there was snow and rain. I had e-mail from people telling me that a team plane got in 8 hours late and the team was fatigued. I had e-amil from people who said the field was terrible condition. I've heard from punters overseas who keyed me into a good game in Austrailian Rules Football. THATS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!
THAT'S THE KIND OF MATERIAL WE NEED MORE OF ON THIS FORUM -- not just the major contributoirs who are always willing to share the time, but the guy out there who follows his local team religiously and knows more about a game than 98 percent of the rest of us.
There is just no way I can keep up with hundreds of teams and dozens of sports all at the same time. YOU HAVE TO RELY ON OTHERS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION, sometimes.
So, what I am asking is that when games come up and YOU HAVE INFORMATION, don't just assume the rest of us already know everything. We do not live in MINNESOTA (for example) and know what's happeing with the TWOLVES this week, other than what we can research on our own or see on ESPN. We do not live in Cincinnati and know that a tractor ran over the field, plowed it over, the field froze, and the games was about the easiest UNDER in the universe. We don't kow there were 34 MPH winds in Detroit last month when the total was 9 and both teams combined for 22 runs. We don't know that a certain umpire is 4-13 in UNDERS this season. We may know SOME of this, but we don't know IT ALL!
By God, I beg of you -- on the NFL we really DO need people all across the country telling us what is happening in weather developments..if it's hot and humid, I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT! If it's 5 degrees I want to know! Last season, I touted an OVER in a late season Denver/Kansas City game. I bet $400 on the game. The "Weather Channel" on Sunday morning predicted a high in the mid-20s so I stuck on the game. Now, we all know weather forecasters are dumb as bricks. But I had NOTHING else to go on. If SOMEONE OUT THERE IN KANSAS CITY HAD TAKEN FIVE MINUTES AND POSTED A WEATHER REPORT FROM ARROWHEAD (stick your nose out the front foor for 5 seconds for Crissakes!), I would have saved that $440.
I'm not trying to be hard on people. I'm only tryuing to drive a point home.
So, please -- when you hear something, even if it's just a rumor or a thought, or even an idea -- BY ALL MEANS POST IT and SHARE IT with the rest of us!
This forum is not about perfection. Look at my page for instance -- I'm the first to admit failures and frailties. The world gets to see all of my mistakes. Big deal. Learn and move one. No one will make fun of information that is timely and posted constructively.
WE ALL BENEFIT.
WE CAN WORK TOGETHER.
THE MORE GOOD INFOMRAITON THE BETTER.
FOR EVERYONE.
I hope my point is clear.
"That" is what I ask of each of you.
-- Nolan Dalla