[Reginald Rutledge]

some Morgan.

You know Morgan, I have seen every type of coach there is to see as they have passed through my home. I know the personalities, the idiosyncracies, and the motives.

For many years, I would just let it go, as far as behavior from guys. I think many thought "Well, he needs us to have a league" and they thought that's why I was nice. That is so far from right as I can play alone for the rest of my life with thousands of teams and will not think anything of it. It is well known that when I opened my house to MF'er, they were free to eat our food, go in our refrigerator, watch our TVs, and many even spent the night at my home. My wife will tell you, she was the same. My wife would bend over backwards for "the game", hauling guys to and fro the airports, being as accommodating of a hostess as she could.

A few years ago, I knew I was done when an incident happened involving a coach that went to jail. It was somehow assumed that I should take the lead role in bailing him out. At that point, I was forever done with leagues.

I have had coaches come to my house and out of frustration, bang on my wall. Well, you know he can never stay at my house any more. I've seen it all. Coaches knew to get me out of my game, argue (which they knew I hated). No time for that. I have had coaches who would arrive on a Thursday and thought you were suppose to cater your life around them.

The only reason I felt that hospitality was so important was two reasons:
1) That's how I was raised being from the Deep South and raised in a close-knit family, and
2) It was an honor to have guys willing to travel so far to be a part of what I was doing.

I held this belief for 15 years. I would have thought if I do this for people, they would in turn, pass it forward. They would teach others the game and create leagues in their home state. They would show others the same hospitality.

Oh yes, what you experience is a thankless job! To me, it's the one of the worst jobs in MF. Call it old age or grumpiness, but I just have no interest in leagues anymore! When you put on a show or run a league, you can never play to your full potential. You've got too many things and too many people to worry about!

Now, you can continue to have Road Warriors. That will come with a challenge or you can just make your league regional. Either way, not only do the Road Warriors not abide by the rules, the ones locally may have issues too.

So creating the happy medium is the trick. One thing you do not want to do is neglect your family (in any way).You've got enough to deal with family issues than hearing a MF Diva complain. Let that MF Diva go home and start up a league. Chances are, they will not, because they don't want to take on that type of responsibility. In their words, "They just wanna play".

Reg