Record hate mail

I guess this kind of makes me feel better about the horse's head I received in a package the other day, wrapped in my story.

 

I had a few dozen one day after a column. One lady assured me that I would eventually have to pay for my sins in front of God himself. Highly entertaining. Another lady called, saying her friend -- the subject of the column -- couldn't even make it to work because she couldn't stop crying. I should have been ashamed of myself. Or so they said.

 

85 in two days. I criticized Nick Saban before it was cool.

 

More than 1,000 e-mails over four days, after a big sports radio station used a column for two days worth of material. It also led to 30 cancelled subscriptions and a suspension of my column for 30 days. All because I didn't like State U's new offense and predicted the new run-and-shoot style offense was a sign the anti-Christ was walking among us.

 

Someone sent me rotten cheese and (dog, I think) shit. I was working an evening shift that day, and an editor got the package before I ever saw it. He received a phone call that morning from the receptionist, near whose desk the mail was stacked every day.

"Um, could you come and get the mail? It stinks."

 

I wrote a column after 9/11 saying they shouldn't play high school football the Friday night after the terrorist attacks because it was a national day of mourning (there were other reasons as well). I received exactly 25 calls/e-mails for and 25 calls/e-mails against. A major advertiser also pulled their advertising because of it.

 

i haven't had the en masse numbers like you fine folks, which kind of bothers me. But I was told once that God was going to get me for what I wrote. I liked that.

 

I'd be interested to know about what some of these columns/stories were about.

I got about 20 e-mails/phone calls last week for a column I wrote. One guy left a message basically demeaning my existence as a human being. He didn't leave a name or number, of course. I e-mailed everyone back very nicely, and most apologized.

Not sure if I'm up to telling what the column was about, because I'm sure I'd have to hear it from everyone on this board, too.

 

i would love to hear what the subjects were as well.
edit: mine was about high schools being allowed to play football on a sunday after the whole Alabama not letting Hoover play on Sunday because it is a "day of worship."

 

The column centered around a high school tennis coach who rescheduled a big match because her best players were out of town on a school-related trip. The coach even admitted that was the reason she rescheduled the match; she simply didn't want to lose.

 

Sounds like good coaching to me. That's nothing to cry about.

 

Mine was a dueling column where the point was for me to point out what was wrong with the local university's football team. Things like they wanted to be big time but couldn't sell out their home games, they played in a shitty conference, at the time they lost all of their nonconference games, etc.
From that point on I was told by my ME I wouldn't be allowed to ever write about the local college again because allegedly I was biased, even though the whole point of the dueling columns (which was the ME's idea) was for me to point out the bad stuff about the local team.