I'm Sure You Have Questions

 

This is a tweet I sent out a short time ago.

It's pointed. No question there.

But I think some of you may wonder who it's aimed at.

I've not named the person who has earned the #ToxicPositivity tag publicly, other than in very vague ways.

I know some of you know who it is.

And, frankly, he's sort of not worth anyone's time.

But oh how I struggle with phonies.

And he's that. Full stop.

When he went off on me -- publicly, I might add -- last fall, he highlighted how he'd tried to help me at one time and that is indeed true. I recall a couple of times, including when I filled in for him on hockey (and received very good reviews) and he sent me a job lead.

It was very kind of him. I won't forget that. But I've also dealt with people like him many times. They "help" while holding the knife behind their back. I'm not saying he did that but, well, here we are now.

See, he says he's all about "positivity." That, frankly, is garbage.

The people he praises are people that he has either badmouthed to me or rolled his eyes to me about. But, of course, he has deleted most of the correspondence between us, including the glowing review I gave his work several years ago.

Oh, and I also invited him to be on a Greenwich football game broadcast with me. That could have eventually led to something, given I have an opening in that booth right now.

So the relationship was hardly one-sided.

In his fall, 2023 diatribe to me (before he blocked me thus giving me no chance to respond), he alluded to mental health issues. Curiously, I also write about mental health and given I know he's still reading my stuff, has not once commented on such.

So today, in another attempt to get at me, he praised a fellow Connecticut broadcaster who happens to be a friend of mine. 

It's not my friends' fault, and I'm sorry to drag him into this. Still, Mr. #ToxicPositivity is literally posting these things with an eye on hurting me, as the Connecticut state tournament is going on without my involvement.

For the record, I'm working in New Jersey this weekend.

I'm not one to "take the gloves off" too often. I tend to be a lover, not a fighter. I tend to be a sarcastic goofball.

But there does come a point when it's time to consider if the line has been crossed.

And if it's worth going all-in.

To be a positive person is to not call people "lazy" if they don't prepare like he does (or Marty Glickman, whom we've all heard mentored Mr. Toxic).

You also don't write diatribes and block people (beyond me) when you're so positive. You work to reach a common ground and agree to disagree. 

You don't criticize other broadcasters (which you've done) when you're a positive person.

You don't climb on a high horse, constantly bloviating nonsense about the industry that has a large hint of criticism in the process as Mr. Toxic does.

When you have a life out of broadcasting but you also consider yourself such a "pay it forward" guy to others in the business, you don't charge people for your "in-depth critique." You do as so many have done. You listen. You talk. You help.

You don't grift.

He didn't like that I called him a "prep snob." For the record, I've called other people "snobs," more often than not as a joke. I know a "deli snob" for instance and a "pizza snob" and a "beer snob." 

Now he posts incessantly about game preparation. That's aimed squarely at me and a few others.

However, he should know that I dealt with criticism from others in the business. About him. About his know-it-all ways, social media posts that could be a book, and dead horses that he has beaten (Marty Glickman and others, such as the documentary that he was in that I've never watched because he made us all sick of it).

It's a shame. It's sad.

He should also know that I defended him. Because he had been kind to me and that I (thought) I knew him.

Eventually, things went too far, and after I posted a joke, he went nuclear.

Again, publicly.

And now it's a middle school game of passive-aggressive comments.

People saw what was written today. They saw the tweet as being a shot at me.

The words of those people were far harsher than what I've written here.

Perhaps it's time for a truce? 

Yeah. I'd suggest that.

Now. 

No further questions.