Although I still check this site to see what folks are talking about, I've made it a practice not to post here. There are some good folks here, but there are also way too many embittered wannabes who think they have the inside scoop, and get their jollies not from talking radio but from sniping from the shadows.
Say what you want about me, or my drama. The fact is we had a pretty good laugh about these posts in the office the other day - meaning, me and the folks who are said to dislike me behind my back. Or maybe we just get on each other's nerves from time to time, like everyone else on this planet. Neverthless, insofar as it depends on me, they aren't going anywhere for awhile - and apparently, neither am I. Whether that's good or bad is a matter of personal opinion, but it is a fact.
And you can say what you will about our approach or content. If you like it, fine. If not...that's why the good Lord put several buttons on the dial. And evidently the ratings an revenue are sufficient to move our employers to keep us on for a bit longer.
But when you negatively broach the subject of a friend, that's different. Steve Eberhardt and I saw every attribute Ron Chapman has to offer. Like everyone else, his character contains both bad and good. The reason so many of us love this man is because we believe the good vastly outweighs the bad, both personally and professionally. We didn't always like him, or what he had to say - but over the last few years many of us have come to understand what motivated this man and what he was trying to get accomplished. Never mind the fact that he was a single father trying to ensure provision in an industry bristling with failure and foolishness. Never mind that the success or failure of his station - and its people - largely rode on his shoulders. Never mind that he has always seen talent and potential and has done whatever it took - even if that was unpleasant - to get people to be what they could be.
Did that grate on us? Yes. Badly. So badly that it ran off the pretenders - most of whom have never forgiven him for finding them out and exposing their own character issues. In truth, he told us many things we weren't ready to hear - sometimes, very harshly. Scott West and Tim Vasquez once had to use a bottle of Scotch and five hours at Louie's to talk me out of shooting the man for tossing me out of a meeting. Looking back, I should have been tossed. In fact, I should have been fired - many times over. It would have been a favor - but then so was Chapman's patience.
I could also mention the thousands of kindnesses he has done for people that have never seen the light of day - people who were in no position to benefit Chapman. The poor, the bereaved, the heartbroken - stories I witnessed and remember, and which I'm obliged not to tell. Yet in spite of the unspeakable pressure put on this man by his company and himself, he found the time.
Can Ron be rude, abrupt, hurtful, or abusive? Yes. Most people have those facets buried within them. Few do not, and even most of those had to work past them. These attributes are by no means virtuous, but that doesn't preclude the individual from being virtuous overall. Great men have great strengths and great flaws. Good men simply have more of the former and fewer of the latter. But no one is perfect. And all in all, Ron is a great man. And he is a good man.
Pig Latin, I've changed...but not completely. There are still many things I have to work on every day. Some days, I'm more successful at it than others. I don't mind the criticism when it comes because it's usually valid or justified. But I'm far from "good". One thing I have a terrible time with is when someone goes after a friend of mine, particularly when they are anable or unavailable to speak for themselves. Call it whatever you like, but the "physical stuff" hasn't been left that far behind - and your ignorant analysis of Chapman and Steve begs its employ.
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