Re: Hold On......

insmaster2000 · Sun, 11 Nov 2001 08:48:09 -0800

I have sent you a private e-mail with my answer.

But, for the record, I don't know you and those of you
I know can attest that I am always looking for
advice. I have never backed away from trying to make this
game better in the spirit of sportsmanship and
developing skills of young people. No one asks how high they
can jump, how fast they can run, how hard they can
throw or how far they can kick a ball. This a niche for
young people that enjoy learning and competing. The
hours and years of sacrifice that go into developing
the skills and knowledge necessary to be a top-level
player is unimaginable to some people. 

I enjoy
this game. I enjoy the competition. I enjoy taking
young people places to experience new things and
discover that on any Saturday morning that there are young
people all across this country that are just like them.
These are the young people that are going to be the
physicians, business people, scientists, scholars and leaders
of tomorrow. They are real life people that endure
the scorn of their classmates for giving up their
weekends, being branded nerds or in the case of one of my
former African-American players, "our people don't do
this" and he no longer could ride the bus because of
the abuse. 

I love opening new horizons for
our young people. There is great joy in this for me
and my wife. I am equally proud of the fine people I
have met along the way, the students, the teachers
that give up their weekends, the young people on the
college campuses that host the tournaments and the
friends I have made. No one will ever know how
appreciative I am for the help I have received.

As for
my team, we are better than average. We are
somewhere in what I call the second tier of national teams.
Unfortunately, most of the better teams in my region are in the
top tier. Every now and then we get a glimpse of what
could be. We have come close. Maybe we'll never get
there. But in the end, my kids will know that we didn't
take them to Cleveland, Philadelphia, DC, or Chicago
to watch and see the sights, we came to
play.

For all of this, I am grateful.

Now, Chris,
back to you and your remarks. You don't know me well
enough to take offense at any thing that I say and I
certainly owe you no explanation. If your purpose is to
engage in a witch hunt or get into a name-calling
contest, I don't have the time to engage in such. Life is
far too short. I am more Neanderthal than than you
can possibly imagine and no one can accuse me of
being a scholar. 

At this stage in our lives, I
have probably forgotten more than you know and I agree
with you. You are disturbed. It is not fair for me to
pick on someone with a handicap.

Mac Hanna