Bolingbrook Park District Official Response
Everyone,
Below you will find a copy/paste of the response from Chris Corbett of the Bolingbrook Park District to the e-mail that I sent to him concerning our upcoming July 6th game against the replacement team to Lincoln Mutual (Closers).
I am not happy with the response nor the tone of the e-mail and will be constructing a response of our own. As you read through his response you will notice many wholes and new issues that he has raised. I assure you that this will not go unchallenged, but we need to focus on getting enough players (at least 9) to the Friday, July 6 game against Closers (the replacement team to Lincoln Mutual).
I have omitted and modified certain portions of the e-mail for anonymity and protection against the proliferation of personal information on the internet. Chris’s response are in ‘red’.
Nelson –
Below in red font are the answers to the following questions you had in the email – if you wish to call me, feel free to call me sometime today!
Thanks!
Chris
Christopher Corbett
Athletic Supervisor
Bolingbrook Park District
NOTE: This portion was omitted, as it contained personal contact information –Nelson Rivera“Coaches build teams, parents build players.” - Charles Smyth
From: Nelson Rivera (Note: This portion has been modified to remove e-mail and personal information. –Nelson Rivera)
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 8:32 PM
To: Chris Corbett
Cc: Sean Killham; Kenneth Benson - IL
Subject: Re: Bolingbrook PD - Friday B League Update (Hussman Brawlers OUT)Hi Chris,
My team has been put in a bit of a predicament with the recent changes to the league and I feel the need to bring it up with you.
The current issue that I am having right now is that since you replaced Lincoln Mutual with an “unknown” team, I am having many problems with the July 6th game that we now have scheduled against that replacement team. The “unknown team” is ‘Closers’ and the reason I replaced is because a player that participates on the Lincoln Mutual team manages that team ‘Closers’ which plays on Sundays. I called him asking him the whereabouts of his team ‘Lincoln Mutual’ and he hadn’t been there in a while due to prior commitments and that he would get back to me after he spoke to Jim who was the captain of Lincoln Mutual. After discussing with Jim the teams commitment and deciding that Lincoln Mutual would no longer play, Andy (captain of Closers) asked if he could play on Friday nights and pay the remaining balance that was due from Lincoln Mutual. I agreed to it so teams are playing their full 14 games and not playing 13 after paying for 14 due to the “forfeitures” of Team Lincoln Mutual. In regards to the July 6th date – the 4th of July is on a Wednesday and I have consulted and looked at other PD’s in the Chicagoland area… Out of the 8 that I spoke to (only 1 is not playing on Friday, July 6th) – those I spoke to include Lombard PD, Itasca PD, Lemont PD, Elk Grove PD, Naperville PD, Downers Grove PD, Westchester PD, St. Charles PD…. The schedule was created the week of April 23rd and teams knew that July 6th game was on schedule to be played… To come to me now is too tough to make changes!
I was already going to be down a few players due to the July 4th week (we’ve never played during this week in the past) and since Lincoln Mutual forfeited themselves out of the league, a few more of my players made plans for that weekend, since they thought we were not going to be playing. I never sent an email out to any captains regarding Lincoln Mutual’s whereabouts until I sent an email out stating that Team Closers was taking over for Lincoln Mutual. To have your players assume that games were canceled are wrong of them because you know that if there was any changes I would definitely give you a heads up well in advance so you can let your players know and make other arrangements to do with your time that Friday night.
I appreciate the fact that you are working diligently to keep the league stable and with teams that are going to play. However, due to this situation, my team is looking like we may not be able to field a team come that Friday now.
I would like to know our options (if we have any) in order to avoid a forfeit of our own. I appreciate your intention in replacing Lincoln Mutual, filling out our schedule so that we play 14 games, but unfortunately in doing so, it may have caused a potential forfeit from a competitive team within the league. As stated above, the schedule was published the week of April 23rd online and in paper form to yourself. Your players should know that games will be played and as stated above, mostly every PD is playing that Friday night due to the holiday being on a Wednesday. Next year with the holiday falling on a Friday, of course we will take that Friday off but since the holiday is on a Wednesday (how am I to know if people are taking the previous weekend off and coming back to work Thursday or leaving Tuesday and not coming back into town the following Monday??)
I look forward to your response. I would like to discuss why we as the owners in the league did not have the option of choosing whether to replace Lincoln Mutual or not. Also, I’d like to know why games were scheduled the week of 4th of July. I will not get into those points here, but would like to discuss them with you at a future date/time. Perhaps on the phone. If owners want to discuss with me the reason why there was no consultation in regards to having Lincoln Mutual replaced then that’s fine. I will field all phone calls regarding that issue. I spoke with a few captains, sent an email out and you are the first team to have an issue with it. Like I stated, if teams want to pay for a 14-game season and only play 13 because teams cant have a commitment to a league after paying their league fee then that is their issue! The last thing I want for you as a captain is to tell your team that you paid for a 14 game season and now only playing 10 because 4 teams dropped after schedules are created! If the wins are that important to you versus playing the full amount of games then I am sorry but my job is to give all teams what they paid for regardless of their win-loss record. As much as the leagues are meant to be “recreational,” you and I know how the leagues get competitive when dealing with money payouts.