Popeye 3:16

Now that this mess has died down, it's time for me to clear the air.

I think we all know popeye is a smart guy. Whether it was what he wanted or not, my post now has attached to it the consequence of him leaving "this BBS". In my opinion popeye did one thing wrong: He left.

I'm a little upset in this case because I went against my initial judgement, fearing it would happen, which is why it took me 3-4 hours to post what I did (sending it to several asking them if they would be offended if they were popeye). I think everyone figured it would be OK. popeye had chances to resolve this behind the scenes, quickly and quietly, but for whatever reason overlooked the 4 emails I deposited in his mailbox, starting with before my original post, so it's tough for me to feel terribly bad for him at the moment. I was put in a very bad spot and personally I'm stumped as to why it got to this stage.

It's tough when I write a long and very nice explanation letter to him asking him not to get offended, that this has nothing at all to do with him but that we had to post this for this and that reason... and it gets overlooked.

Now to his credit, some 2 days later, he did eventually respond saying he felt he screwed up and leaving was necessary. I don't agree but I wished him well and told him if he needed anything to let me know.

But think about it: Do you know how many times I've seen a popeye post on some other site with the attachment, "Clutch City reports" or taken a look around at how many believe what he says without hesitation? When you think of "popeye" do you not think of clutchcity.net? He's probably the only person who could post this and ruffle some feathers, and that's a compliment. Now I could have gone in and just deleted the post but that would have opened another can of worms (You know that's true -- how many "Where's popeye's post?" threads would have surfaced? Don't believe me? See IARocket's comment: "Deleting Popeye's original post is sort of like Rushia or China rewriting history" when the comment was not deleted).

See, if some BBS poster with zero respect posted this: a) who's going to believe it? and b) who's going to care?

So when popeye posts something that is highly illegal, and something we weren't even in the month before the month it could happen, and posts it's going to be announced "very soon" (is 2+ months considered "very soon"?), and every one is screaming out "YEAH CAT IS BACK!", then um... yeah, there's a problem. If he's wrong (which apparently is blasphemy for some), then it's obvious why there's a problem.

If he's right, even worse. Why did popeye freak out when we protected the site? I don't know. I can assure you I did not overreact on this matter. It was a very calculated move (there were 7 and a half hours between my post and popeye's, and I probably saw his post within the first hour). I did it with 100% knowledge (not speculation) of things that were in the entire site's best interest. I'm sorry some of you can't see that.

Please give the scary-precedent-page-takes-a-step-down-lower-quality spill a rest. This is a freak occurence that has been bad for everyone. We have zero interest in being mainstream media or a lackey for the Rockets. We take pride in being able to say Cuttino Mobley sucked last night or Kenny Thomas should have just kept his ass on the bench -- that has gotten us the label of being "negative" at times by our enemies but we call it flat out fan honesty -- too honest perhaps for some. I have been very supportive of popeye and his "scoops", propping him at every turn, even placing things the Rockets may not appreciate on the front page (such as trade rumors, discussions, etc.), but there is a huge difference between something illegal/damaging that we have no clue is true or not (but many take it as gospel) and trade rumors.

Though I appreciate the assurance from the many of you that said what we did was right, here and via email, it's not necessary. I know what I did was right. I'm sorry a select few can't see that... or refuse to see that.

Lastly, let me clear up a few rumors:

[*] Nobody pushed popeye to leave and no one asked him to retract his statements. It was his decision alone. Furthermore I don't want him to leave and never did. He is welcome back at any time.
[*] I am not covering something up for the Rockets. I do not know if Mobley and the Rockets have agreed -- I do know everyone I have spoken to has said that is totally false, but that doesn't mean it is false.
[*] For those who think I overestimate "just a fan site" .... would it help if I told you I know many things I can't post? What about if the league did in fact contact the Rockets on the matter? It's funny because I find myself constantly underestimating the site.... that's the first overestimate accusation.
[*] How is this a First Amendment/Free Speech issue? I simply stated, albeit emphatically, that what was posted is wrong. Nothing was deleted, edited nor censored. Some of you are confusing free speech with blind acceptance. If popeye has a right to post something no matter how damaging it is I have every right to say it's wrong. If I was a censor I would have deleted popeye's "I will...." post the second it hit the board because I was here when it had no replies and aware of what its intent was.
[*] Someone posted "Stoudamire is a Rocket" in a one-line effort to show contradiction, hypocrisy, whatever. Garbage. If you can't see the difference between inside dirt on legal rumors and something highly illegal months before it can be legal then I can't be of much help.
[*] The Popeye candlelight prayer vigil has been moved from this Wednesday to Thursday at 7pm. The cyanide will be provided. Black shrouds and NIKEs are optional.

Nobody is burying the truth as HoopGirl suggested. popeye's email is public info guys (<a href="maimailtoopeye-sailorman@mailcity.com">popeye-sailorman@mailcity.com</a>). You can write him to verify I'm telling the truth. He's welcome back at any time. This is a self-imposed exile.

To sum it up the best way possible: clutchcity.net is a site of, by, and for its members. This site and board is like a family. We're a very large collection of ragtag fans, from 8 to 80, gathering to talk about the team we love. No money is made or exchanged. It is fueled by passion entirely. We welcome all intelligent opinions. We do, however, have to respect some issues. One of our best posters inadvertently reported that the Rockets had completed a transaction which, at this point in time rather than two months from now, would be illegal. Other posters pointed out the problem. The original poster then retracted his report and said he would never post here again. We think his decision to exile himself over a single mistake was itself a mistake. He's part of our family, we feel terrible about it, and we hope he will come back, since this is the best place in the whole world to talk about the Rockets. We invite him to rejoin us as we continue discussing the team we all love.

At the same time, some of the seemingly callous things stated about his departure are merely a refusal to let it ruin anything for us. I know personally I work too hard on this site and enjoy it too much to let one poster's farewell ruin the fun I have being here.

You should be the same way.

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