Thanks, Dave. I miss you and don't think for a moment that I don't appreciate what you did or the incredibly kind words that Dale had to say about all of us after it had all blown up. Hell, you and Dale were the only people in the entire company that congratulated us on the win or even acknowledged it.Dave Harman wrote:Dude - I still love ya like a brother, and don't regret going to the mat for you a couple of times, but accept reality finally. A memo was in everyone's box, and posted, saying that anyone who wanted to attend the awards banquet was invited to do so, and that Mr Miller was footing the bill. I had to accept your award for you, because you chose not to come. That's the simple facts.
But please... don't ever call me a liar.
Fact: There was no memo in my box. If there had been, someone removed it. More than likely, there was never one in there. Bear in mind that Paul Wheeler didn't get a memo either and if need be I'll drag him on here to attest to that. I only found out about the awards thing when Sarah Shaver told me it was happening on the Friday before and even she seemed quite surprised that I didn't know. All I knew about them was that I was instructed to construct several of the entries, including one for our own show. It wasn't a choice.
Now, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe there was a memo. If there was a memo, if I had been invited, I probably would not have not gone. Local awards with hardly any competition don't really interest me, and the only reason I still bleat about it is because my non-invite is such a great cap to all the other 'quality treatment' that Wheeler and I got in the last days. And you know perhaps more than anyone else what was going on locally because you had the misfortune to be dragged into it. I've felt bad for you getting pulled down with us since that infamous meeting in the conference room.
You were there, you know how much I was disliked there and how hard a certain someone (who is not there anymore) fought to have me as "just a button-pusher" (his words) and off the air completely. You know, I'm sure, that a certain other someone bragged about how he was going to have us fired and how he was instructed to "make their lives miserable" (his words) so we'd quit (a lie, I've been reliably informed). The worst part about that particular incident was finding that out from someone who worked for the competition and emailed me, unsolicited, to ask what we had done to offend the loose-tongued party in question.
I got an apology (of sorts) about the way we were treated (but not for the awards snub), and the only bad feelings I have are for the people involved, not for the company. I wish the cluster all the luck in the world.
Other than the last year, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and have all the respect in the world for you and Dale. I've also heard awesome things about Mike Buxser, too. But let's not call a spade a kangaroo: Paul and I were not liked, our show was not liked and the sooner we were out of the picture the better as far as certain parties were concerned.