A Response to Bill's Behavior & Posting

Bill, this is an open letter.  I am writing this to you in public because you continually email me statements that are almost direct copies of what you post here, but then omit some crucial detail.  Here's one that was missing from your original "rebuttal" post but landed in my inbox:

If you had any guts you'd put my post in the middle of the board and let WR readers see who they support.

Really?  Guts?  Like calling a well-established and respected British golf writer a racist?  And then trying to defend that action?  Gutsy.  Don't question my fortitude, ever.  It took a lot of guts to have to communicate with the golfing community about what you instigated.  The incident caused me quite a bit of grief, but fortunately, all implicated were more than cordial to me given what happened on my site.

When I write an opinion piece, I do so with real belief in it.  This is true of most writers, too.  And there is plenty of room for discussion about it.  But, Bill, you always take it over the top.  Two posts in the span of less than an hour - effectively calling me out in a very rude way - are not acceptable.  This entire discussion could have taken place in the original post.  Instead, you took two opportunities to shout, "Hey! Look at me!" and pat yourself on the back.  Nevermind the writing style behind the posts - another issue entirely - but the tonality behind what you wrote borders on the obscene.  I don't write posts here that address you (or any other writer) in the same way.  When I write posts that question what has been written by others, I don't engage the writer in a personal fashion.  Rather, I engage what was written and try to disprove it with facts.

To your credit, Bill, you went that route and looked at what Sal produced for the Houston Open.  You have five guys thanks to Sal's research.  Unfortunately, having those five guys really does nothing to augment your case.  Primarily, the guys that Sal has sited are before the modern era of professional golf.  Not to discredit the feat of winning a golf tournament, but an apt comparison really does require a maximum look back to 1960 because of the depth of competition at the Masters, the structure behind the PGA Tour, and other factors.  That said, even having 5 in 70 or so Masters champions go back-to-back still does not augment your "rebuttal."

Your "rebuttal" is nonexistent.  You are augmenting my case.  My basic premise is that Fred Couples and Ernie Els are riding win streaks that have never played out to a Masters victory.  If they are to win this week, then they have five other instances to turn to for support.  Compared to the rigors of the schedule in the last twenty years, only one Masters champion has proven to win the green jacket after having played three weeks in a row leading into the tournament.

Your response was basically, "Yes, it is really hard to win back-to-back at any time on the Tour schedule."  Effectively, you just agree with me.  You didn't correct me in my premise.  You didn't prove me "dead wrong."  All you did was find a broader set of evidence that concurs with my basic notion.  As far as I'm concerned, that's great.  I like being proven right.

What I don't like is the way that you choose to act in this forum toward me or others with whom you disagree.  This week alone (and it's early in the week), you have acted disrespectfully toward me or others nearly a handful of times.  Those actions have prompted responses from me in defense of (a) my character, (b) how I format posts of all things, and (c) basic premises of arguments.  I will repeat what I tell anyone who comes here: if you don't like the site or me, you don't have to stay.

Back when the Mark Reason incident happened, I said that I would not allow this to happen again.  Fortunately, you are not calling me a racist.  You're (again) calling me gutless and stupid, which is a typical insult from you and not just reserved from me.  I have banned other users for not being able to engage myself or the community in a civil fashion.  I will not hesitate to do so again.