Dave and Dan,

Couldn't agree more. Some of the things said abou the whole incident were completely uncalled for, but it would be great to see an explanation of the situation and decision.

On another note, responding to Peter's post, I still think this league is about fun. Personally, Riverside Green and Blue have 1 free agents (and that is someone that left to go to another church mid-season), as it is a way for the guys in our church to get together to play, fellowship and have a good time with other brothers. I hope by the way both teams conduct themselves on the field you can see that we do have fun and the teams we play against have fun, while showing the love of Christ in our attitudes and actions.

There is an awful lot of negative talk on this board that is unjustified. The commissioners have a tough job, and they are never going to satisfy everyone. It's impossible.

Good job commishes!! I have been in the league for 15 years now and still think it is as good as it used to be.

Take care,
Dave

Hey Commissioners, as a passive observer, and without being judgmental, I think a lot of us are just curious about what happened, and how the decision to remove Oreland from the playoffs was arrived at. It's not a common occurence, and obviously it isn’t even clear to some of the Oreland guys. I'm assuming it wasn't that the evil triumvirate was acting with impunity, or on the other extreme, that Oreland sacrificed themselves as martyrs. The previous postings were a little emotional, and some were pretty ridiculous, so I don’t have a problem with them being removed. But I do think you owe it to the league to provide a public explanation. I think transparency is important for leaders in any organization, even a church softball league.

It seems pretty clear that this was a RULES issue, so let’s hear what they have to say without calling down fire and brimstone.

Thanks,
Dan

Hey Dan, thanks for your note. I'm heading out for the evening but will talk with Steve & Drew about it so we can respond in some way soon. I'm not sure the forum will be the place (at least for now), but please know we heard you, we know some people may be interested to have more of an explanation, and we want to do so in the right way if & when it's appropriate. Thanks for your well-balanced post.

Timmy D

Drew, I concur with Dan, now that cooler heads are prevailing it would be cool to hear what has to be say without judgement or hellfire. This has been a difficult time for many people in the league, and I know from being around Steve that being a commisioner is hard and often thankless work, and I value and respect the time and energy that you guys put in on our behalf.

God Bless

Dave Gullotti

I hope you’re enjoying your new softball league, Peter. You know, the one in which you don’t keep score or standings, so that it can’t possibly be about winning. :)

Sarcasm aside, I can’t speak to your experience with your team, but I couldn’t disagree more with your generalization of the SFCSL. Look, we all know that there are times when winning becomes too important, but that doesn't mean that's what the league's all about. We’ve all seen in-game behavior that’s crossed the line and there have been plenty of times when apologies have been necessary (anyone who knows me knows that I speak from experience in that regard). But that’s life – we’re not perfect. All we can do is ask forgiveness of our brothers and our Lord, and learn and grow through the experience. I’m still far from perfect, but I’ve tried to do that.

If it were all about winning, I wouldn’t care to apologize to my brothers when I cross the line; there wouldn’t be relationships and friendly conversation with my opponents (before, during and after games, even, believe it or not, season-ending LOSSES like last night); there would be no prayer requests, no talk of Bible study and spiritual issues with other team members; in fact, if it were all about winning, there’d be only one team each year that truly enjoyed playing in the league. To put it plainly, if it were all about winning, or even about just having fun, it wouldn’t be about fellowship. Sure I have some fun along the way, and I win some along the way, but the fellowship is why I enjoy playing in the SFCSL and why I hope to continue to do so. I've played (and am playing) in other leagues, and that's what makes the SFCSL different and great.

On the issue of this whole OPC thing, I can’t provide any facts, but I will say this. There are things that happen, and then there are the perceptions of those things by the different people involved. If the commissioners provided a public rundown of how and why things went down with OPC, there would likely be a very different perception of how those same things went down from others involved. At that point, you’re into credibility issues (Whose perception of events is correct? Who should we believe?), and when it gets to that there are only losers, as the course of the posts the other day showed. I guess what I’m saying is that if the matter was decided between the commissioners and OPC’s management, perhaps it’s best that it stay there, we clarify some rules at the next league meeting, and we move on.

Finally, anyone who saw the course of the posts the other day and is concerned about the testimony of the league knows that removal of posts that were emotional and ugly in tone, that called into question the integrity of a team, the league in general, and some of its players and commissioners, was correct. To call it censorship, like it's some conspiracy (and by the way, if it was, how'd that work out)? Come on. You have the commissioners' information. Give them a call or drop a note – if they refuse to take your call or respond to your email, then I’d say post away.

All I know is that I've heard from at least one person who has an unsaved team member, and he was concerned what that thread might do as far as the unsaved player's view of believers. If we can avoid embarrassing the Lord whose name we are supposed to bear, I'm all for "censorship."

Thanks for reading. Sorry so long, but I had alot of ground to cover.