FYI to Frank McCrystal: Try putting fear into your opponents

" 'Well, it really is pathetic," McCrystal commented. "You've got some pathetic person hiding behind a keyboard in cyberspace shooting his mouth off instead of stepping up to the plate and coming to say what they have to say. I don't pay much attention to them and I haven't for, forever really. But when you have comments that are more slanderous, I think that's something that should be addressed. We're having it addressed through the league and maybe recognized as a criminal element. We're looking into that.'

"A reminder to the message boarders — any and all comments can be traced right back to your computer and I've done it. It doesn't matter if you're on a public computer ... you'll still be nailed." — rodpederson.com (emphasis mine)
To be clear, that last sentence is from Rod Pederson, the play-by-play voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, whose blog which has a following I'd love to have (and he was nominated in the Canadian Blog Awards in 2007, too!)

One would hope that in 2008, it would not have to be explained to a sportsperson how people are on the Internet and why you should take Colby Cosh's advice and "grow a pair." You're a grown man, Mr. McCrystal. When people are criticizing you, start by looking in the mirror. The people who are critiquing you on cisfootball.org, sure they get a little over-the-top and they don't do the "dance around the obvious pole" the way traditional media, so-called, do. 

It's a different audience with the diehards. They care a lot more, they're more emotionally invested. All they have ever been guilty of is loving a sport and your league, one that can use a little love these days. Getting on your highhorse and sabre-rattling about "criminal activity" is, to use your word, is pathetic.

All of us have handled criticism immaturely at some point in our lives, but you're also old enough to have learned how to take it, so rise above it. That's called leadership, something that is in your job description.

The bottom line is that McCrystal comes off pretty poorly. Pederson, if he's going to run a blog, should not be trying to spread the idea of libel chill. Take it from someone who's been there.

Funny how this comes out right at the time time we put up an Out of Left Field post likening CIS football teams to Simpsons characters and noting that Regina's coach has some Comic Book Guy tendencies: their coach is always pointing out everyone else's flaws but seems oblivious to his own."
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