Most of you who will read this article have probably already listened to the most recent Average Joe’s Podcast. For those of you who haven’t, I’m sure you’ve already heard about most, if not all of the inflammatory comments I made during said podcast. Before I go any further, this is not an apology for what I said, this is me realizing I could have used a better set of words and tones to get my point across. If you are still upset with my comments after this I won’t argue with that, but I made the realization that even I didn’t mean for things to come across the way that they did.
First things first, the biggest issue seems to be stemming from what I said about Towson’s match against UMD. Yes, I absolutely hate it when teams hold a neutral line with ball control and only throw one or two balls at a time. This doesn’t mean I am oblivious to the merits of that style of play though. For two games against us, it was a very effective strategy leading the wins for the ‘Terps. After halftime, we made some adjustments ourselves and counteracted Maryland’s playing style. What frustrated me about Maryland’s playing style was that after point four, there was about 5 1/2 minutes left in the match. Personally, I think this is more than enough time to make something happen in an attempt to win the match, for either team. I am a very adamant supporter of the idea of going for the win as opposed to going to overtime. Obviously, I have no idea what the people for UMD were actually thinking at the time, but I’m taking my best guess that they wanted to stick to the script and if it so happened that they had a chance to go for the win, they would. I did not make that point of view clear at all in the podcast and I very easily could, and should have. As for our overtime match, telling UMD to go home was rather harsh, though I will stick to my guns that no matter who you are, if you let one person eliminate five of your six players in the OT period, I’d be pretty embarrassed myself if that happened. I wouldn’t care if it was a great player within the league like Spencer Jardine, Kevin Bailey, or Wes Hopkins to name a few, I just feel like that shouldn’t happen. To finish up with Maryland, they improved a lot from what I’ve seen in the past, most of the league hasn’t gotten a chance to see them, but they definitely have the most talent I’ve ever seen them with; that and I should actually be giving their style of play a ton of credit for frustrating me in the manner that it did because that means it was effective in their favor. For those on UMD who will read this, I know you and your team will be coming for my head on the 19th, if you don’t know already my jersey number is 19, and I welcome all throws my way.
As for VCU, I obviously did not give them enough credit were credit is due. I still hold that their talent level is about the same as last year, but they are clearly getting the most out of their new strategy that they can. In hindsight, I know now that I should have focused more on their style of play, than a frivolous thing Shadeed Drakeford put on his Facebook. I’ll make sure to give VCU more credit in the future should they continue to impress me as they did in September.
For the future: guess what guys, I’m pretty blunt with the things I have to say and write. I do not consult my team before I do these things, because I don’t come on here as a Towson Dodgeball player, I come on here as a content writer for the NCDA. I’m going to have opinions that ruffle feathers, and I’m going to stick by them no matter what level of backlash I get. I will admit when I’m being over critical, as I was in the podcast, but I will always say and write what I think is the honest truth in my opinion because if I don’t I feel like nobody would have any business reading or listening to my stuff. I know I can’t make everyone happy, and if I’m causing a great level of debate among people I’m doing my job.
I’m not gonna apologize for what I said, but here is what in retrospect I wish I would have said instead because I received a lot of criticism for the things I said.. Really?
I stick by the things I said, which is why I’m not apologizing. I’m saying I put the wrong emphasis in the wrong things. Doesn’t mean I think what I said was wrong, just too much emphasis put on it
This goes to EVERYONE who has any issue with what anyone says throughout the league. I know 99% of you don’t remember 3 to 4 years ago when we had issues on the forums of people going back and forth at each other, but it was childish and extremely stupid. EVERYONE is going to have their own opinion and EVERYONE is NOT going to think the same way. Just remember, no one likes to hear anything negative about their own team so when speaking that way, just remember to portray it in a fashion! I’m not going to sit here and call out Sean for something he said because frankly I don’t care, and I didn’t hear a word of what he said. On the other hand, I do remember what was going down years back and I SERIOUSLY DO NOT want to see a repeat of that shenanigans!!!! Everyone Love Everyone! That’s the best part about this league! We all live 2,3,4, ect. hours away from each other but we all have one great love in common! Lets remember that and lets all get along!
Love,
McCarthy