I am not writing this in reply to anyone, but I do write it specifically in regards to Iowa Bear's statement that I was rude or disrespectful to him.

I try very hard to be kind and respectful to people I engage with, including those on this board. I may not always be successful, but I do try. And when I know I haven't been, I try to come back and apologize in the thread where I felt I got out of line, not in a DM, so that my mea culpa is public for everyone. I think there have been times in the past where my apology might have been missed because I had been added to someone's ignore list. That's okay, I have posters on mine, too.

I am sorry Iowa Bear, if I was disrespectful. That is not who I want to be. There is a very combative style that some posters have and I find myself falling into that same style sometimes. That's when I give myself a timeout to put things in perspective

However, I felt the same as what Iowa Bear accused me of …that I disagreed with his assessment of whether Duke deserved to be a preseason top 10; I expressed my opinion that they absolutely did and gave my reasons why, all of which I believe were legitimate and valid. I stated it was a long season and I thought that Duke had a good chance to be very successful by the end of the season. I was accused of having a meltdown. Not in reply to me, but in response to another poster about me.

I didn't engage and even stayed off the thread for awhile so as not to hijack it with back and forth engagement. That would have been selfish. I did come back and comment when I saw what I thought was a similar post by Iowa Bear as my original one that had precipitated Iowa Bear's meltdown comment. I should have not engaged at that point.

I do not know Iowa Bear. Were we to sit at the same table at a Baylor function, we might engage in friendly conversation. But on this board, we seem to feel a lack of respect from each other. I will not apologize for having a different opinion, nor for defending it, but can apologize for making another fellow Bear feel disrespected.