Well, the Big Rowers’ Meeting was reasonably civil and, if not actually productive, at least leaning that way. However (and you knew there was a however, didn’t you?) it appears that DI told several people he’s not coaching our Competitive group any more because "someone" complained about him to the city and claimed to be representing the whole group. Strong implication, to my ears, that "someone" is me and Ted, though it’s possible I’m being oversensitive here. People were pissed off that someone had claimed to represent them, and rightly so. There were also comments about not questioning our coaches in their wisdom.
Most likely it would be best to stay quiet and let the whole thing die down. Is that what I’m going to do? Of course not. When I was a kid, I frequently annoyed my father by arguing when I should have let it drop. I fought with my mother because "You should respect me because I’m your mother," makes absolutely no sense to me. ("You should respect me because I’ve done my best to bring you up right," which she had, does make sense.) Later on, working at an Air Force lab, I got in trouble once for interrupting a Colonel. (I didn’t mean to, as he was a very smart guy with a strong vision for whom I did have a lot of respect. But he was boring a group of students I was taking on a lab tour, and I interjected a few words to explain something he was saying.) If I didn’t respect my mother or my work superior just for their position, I’m certainly not going to do it for a rowing coach.
Also, this isn’t really a minor matter to me; I feel that someone may have lied about me and smirched my good name (and T’s). I’m going to send an email to the people involved, stating that our contact with the city was only on appropriate matters (coaching, boat storage) and that we never claimed to represent others. I have the old emails to prove it, if they doubt me. In fact, the closest I’ve come to doing so was when I wrote that DI’s behavior had "...combined to make both rowing and coaching less enjoyable for us and, we believe, for others in the program, hence the declining enrollment and turnout." I wouldn’t call that claiming to represent others, and at any rate, that email was sent only to DI himself. It didn’t reach the city until he sent it to Unknown Legend, contained in a later email.
*sigh* I did say I wouldn’t talk about him any more, didn’t I?
Posted by dichroic at June 1, 2001 08:31 AM