Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Slap: Addendum A

In the spirit of journalistic integrity, I have a confession to make.  I’ve been procrastinating making this confession for quite some time, and like most secrets the longer I have kept it, the more it has eaten away at me.  It is finally time to set the record straight.

About a year ago, I wrote a blog post called The Slap, regarding Matt Nordgren of the reality TV show Dallas Most Eligible.  What I wrote was based solely on what I had seen on the show.  I had never met Matt or his other co-stars.  Re-reading the post now, it seems ... eh....harsh.

If you’re an active reader of my blog, you may be thinking that this seems out of character.  Most people that know me personally or read my blog probably know that I usually say what I’m thinking.  It’s kind of a joke around my office – I feel like transparency is the key, so I generally don’t hold back on information, even if it means exposing something that I may not have handled ideally.  I figure eventually everything will be on the table, so there is no reason to play my cards close to my chest.

Here’s the deal.  I ended up meeting Matt a few months ago at fundraising event his charity The Leadership Foundation, was hosting with The Vince Young Foundation here in Dallas.  I was a little late pulling money together for the event, and Matt was very accommodating, making sure to be available for me to bring in payment the day before. I was past the deadline, forcing a hand delivery, which was an atypical way to make a payment. 

Since then, I began randomly running into Matt around town.  He has always been so friendly, and eventually I reached out to him and his firm to do some consulting at a few of my properties.  While visiting my office, he chatted with everyone I introduced him to, genuinely interested in wherever the conversations led.   Matt and a colleague of his recently came to my company’s fundraising event for the Red Cross, and he has been so sweet in checking up on me in the few weeks since my ACL/knee surgery.

I always enjoy our conversations as well as his company, as he just a sincerely nice guy.  So basically since May, I’ve felt like a total jerkface.  

In recent weeks, I have considered taking the post down, but decided that wouldn’t really solve anything.  In fact, I think it would be unfair, as the only purpose it would serve is to make me feel better about myself, and it seems like kind of a cop-out.  I don’t feel the need to defend The Slap - I was writing about information as it was presented to me, but I can admit that the judgment I made last year is not in line with the opinion I hold today. 

In short, The Slap is not my finest piece.  If I were to present an upside to this whole mess, it’s that I know moving forward I will take a moment before sending my musings in to cyberspace.  The internet is forever, maybe a second glance at things isn’t a bad idea.  And when I’ve been proven wrong, or, as in this case, have a change of heart, I know I’ll have the courage to, pardon the pun, write that wrong.   

Don't give me too much credit, though. I'd still really like to slap Chris Simms.

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