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An Open Letter to ourndsports readers

 

From: Jim Skotthy

 

I am breaking our rule of not attributing posts here by name, because I feel it is important for everyone to be able to read this from the author of a recent article.

The article in question has generated a lot of buzz, and in a way that is good, because I know you are reading.

First off...this website was created because there were folks who wanted a website back that was devoted to North Davidson Sports. It is still a work in progress, but hopes are there for a fantastic site that the community will enjoy. If you are interested in getting involved, we welcome your help!

Like you, I enjoyed the old site, and was upset when it disappeared. I wanted one back up, and had no intention of getting involved, but after speaking to the creator of this site, I thought I'd lend a hand to help "behind" the scenes to get it up and running. Easier said than done. Seems that people around here will holler when something they like goes away, but won't do anything about it. Well someone did, and I agreed to help him. We spoke to the AD's, the coaches, and pleaded to get folks that liked a particular sport to get involved to be writers. We got some, but that is still a work in progress, because we still rely on the generosity of some coaches to send us material so we can make an article of it, and WE appreciate them! We try very hard to make sure every sport, middle school, JV and Varsity are covered.

This website makes no money, the owner of the site makes no money off it, and I certainly don't make any money from it. It’s a volunteer operation, done because we believe in ND sports.

That being said, this is a site devoted to North Davidson Sports, the good, bad and ugly. We are going to be biased, by nature because we aren't going to cheer on our opponents. We are going to tell the particular story, hoping that we win, but we have to also point out our faults...and in this particular article, I did. And as I suspected, there would be comments...As for the article in question..

As a parent, and North fan, it becomes difficult to see a lack of effort from any team when I know their abilities. Each story I've written is a "snapshot" in time. I write what I see...not what I feel, and on this particular night, the "team" as a whole did not perform. That's not to say that individuals didn't perform, but as a whole, it was not a great night. Everyone seems to take pride in the fact that we are "the" 4-A school in the county. If we take that pride, then we should perform as such. Losing to a 2 or 3-A school should not be acceptable in our minds. If you read the Dispatch articles during the Christmas break about the South Davidson Basketball Team, and the pride that community has in them, then you’d know. That’s where WE want to be! We want our gym packed to the rafters, cheering on our Knights. I've got no vendetta against any student-athlete. I call it as I see it...from my perspective. It's as simple as that. I'm sorry if you feel I've got it out for your student-athlete...it's simply not the case.

If you are a player reading this, my article was meant to motivate you, if you felt bad about it, I apologize. I hoped that you would read it, and think, “I can do better”. I know many of you are working your butts off, and give your all, but as a team, you have a way to go to get the chemistry, and it’s up to you all to make it work. I am still proud of you.

 

There have been some to tell me that we should be like the dispatch, or the journal…just write the facts. Well, what would be the good of the website if we cannot look at our warts too? We can’t overlook our shortcomings, someone has to say…hey..we’re not good at this or that, who better than ourselves? Better us than someone else. I realize that isn’t the popular thing, but the only way we as teams, and a community get better is to internally examine ourselves. It’s actually sad, because I had someone tell me that they didn’t like the article I wrote about the RJR game from January 4 because I gave too much credit to a player. I can tell you that I would do the same for ANY player who had a big game. I did it earlier this year, when Shy Tuttle had a huge game, actually referred to him as “Mr. Tuttle”  but I didn’t hear any comments about that. I also didn’t hear any comments about the Page game when I called out the other team for breaking our line. It seems that we can like articles that have commentary that make us look good or the victim, but not take articles that show our weaknesses. I know that the “administration” doesn’t like negatives…who among us does? It’s not my intention to do that, but we have to stop looking through prisim glasses and examine ourselves. If we can’t take an internal hit, we will never take an external one.

I will continue to write it as I see it, and I hope you appreciate what I write. The only other alternative is someone else willing to step up and do it, or we could just shut this down too. As someone told me…there’s always the Dispatch. I hope you all feel that’s not the case.

 

GO BLACK KNIGHTS!!!!

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December 16, 2011
So..I was just thinking, when I drive by the High School, we have that big beautiful sign. It also has a digital board. It used to have sports on it..who played where and when…what happened???
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