I write a blog that is about opinions. Just because I write my opinion doesn't mean I stop there. This weekend was a classic example of me vocalizing my opinion.
As I've explained before, the mixed tour in the UK is a 3 event series of tournaments where teams move up and down in the rankings, attempting to be the illustrious tour winner. This weekend, the Thundering Herd came away with this years coed tour, and congratulations to them.
Pictured Above: Eric getting a big grab over a Condor at UPA Championships 2007. I'm excited to see lots of the Goat guys over the next few weeks.What was most interesting about this tour is GB mixed made their appearance for the first time. From the rumor mill, I had heard that they had bypassed on previous events, because they chose to train as opposed to play mediocre competition that the mixed tour had to offer. Well, low and behold, the competition (BAF) took them out in the semi-finals.
Since mixed tour 1, any conversation that came up with mention of the GB mixed team would send me off into a rant.
"How can they not be playing in the tour?"
"Competition and playing as a team has more value than focused training."
"It would help the whole of the UK push their game up."
"It's good to play against opponents and test your plays out."
"Huge error!"
In other words, I had an opinion. This last weekend I watched the mixed GB team, and I started ranting like before. This time I was set off by seeing them, but I was unaware that there were non playing GB coed players around hearing my opinion. Not that I would retract what I said, but maybe I would have flavored it a little sweeter than the salt and spice I was spewing out.
I like the GB coed team, and have considered supporting them at worlds. Some of the young guys are going to be great players, and the team looked good, but they made an error in preparation. Hopefully, the next GB wave will appreciate that the difference between the cream of the crop and the next layer is fine, especially when we're talking about a team sport. Also, hopefully, nobody takes my opinion too much to heart. I've made errors as a captain, and so has every other captain/coach.
PJ
4 comments:
Hey PJ,
Thanks for your blog - I always enjoy reading...
Some comments on this one though:
MT1: Worries about injuries and over training also contributed to GB Mixed not playing.
MT2: GB Mixed at Boston Invitational
MT3: GB Mixed learning a valuable lesson from BAF!
Opinions don't get you in trouble (at least not from reasonable people), but aggression does tend to :)
get used to it man. People will always disagree with an opinion, even one that is rooted in as much as fact and logic as possible.
Two things that have helped me are: 1) Delivery, it matters how you say things and anyone that believes otherwise doesn't have a whole lot of friends. 2) Confidence. you will always find people that will disagree with you but if you have a decent ultimate knowledge base and nothing you say is inherently incorrect, than who's to say you're wrong. Yes it might bug other people, but your ability to point out things (dare I say) objectively, will get you respect from your readers.
keep it up PJ. Folks will always try and knock you down, do yourself a favor and don't let them.
I knew there had to be other reasons that the team didn't play. Still...
PJ
Hi Peter,
Hope you're doing well. I'm curious, where did you get this picture from last fall?
Eric
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