What my call in to Traber would have sounded or I guess, looked like

Royce Young -

For those that may have missed it:

Today, Jim Traber backed off his Nick Collison comments somewhat, apologized and then mentioned the “little Thunder chat room,” which was a reference to this place. He called me a “nameless blogger” even though I explicitly tried to make sure he knew I wasn’t anonymous, going as far to toss my email address out there. As reader Dylan hilariously put it, “Your mistake was putting your name and email at the end of your column. He couldn’t read that far without getting winded.”

I called in to the show’s producer, Bobby Thompson, and asked him to tell Jim he was mistaken. I didn’t necessarily want to go on air, because I really didn’t feel like being yelled at. Bobby told Jim, Jim mentioned me and Daily Thunder on air then went on to question if “Royce Young” was my real name.  As far as I know, it is. He did apologize for making the mistake though. Traber also said something about the comments that “personally attacked” him, and directly asked me about allowing them on the site.

Since he directly asked me a question on air, I decided I would break my vow to never call in and cash in on my Johnny’s Charcoal Broiler, and also to answer his question and explain some other things. Well, I waited on hold for AN HOUR AND A HALF and finally gave up when Dean “The Stream” Blevins came on. I never got through after holding my cell phone to my ear for 90 minutes. Thanks for the brain cancer, Sports Animal. But anyway, here’s what I would have said:

  • First, I would have confirmed that yes, in fact my real name is Royce Young (at least is says so on my birth certificate) and also that I have met Jim in person and shaken his hand. It was in the OU pressbox in 2007 where my seat on press row was literally two down from his. Evidently, I didn’t make much of an impression.
  • Second, to address his comments about the commenters: Traber has a website (www.jimtraber.net) and on the site is a message board. And on that message board, there’s even a thread about me, where some people make fun of me a little and even chuckling about what I look like (my wife thinks I’m handsome…). And in the same way Jim is “allowing” personal attacks on me, I guess I am allowing them on him. I serve as a quasi moderator and instigator of discussion. I throw out a topic or some opinions, and then commenters here are free to take that and run with it, as long as their comments fall within the commenting guidelines. So as much as he allows “personal attacks” on his site, I guess I allow them on mine.
  • I would have made sure to say that in no way do I think he should be fired or even reprimanded for what he said. While all of it was completely ridiculous, it’s his job to give his opinion and his thoughts on air. He crossed the line of sanity and good judgment, but he never crossed the Imus Line. We’re not always going to agree (obviously), but it’s his job to tell us what he thinks. I listen to him almost every day and this little hiccup isn’t going to stop me.
  • And in the same vein, the same way he rips on Jenni Carlson for what she writes and what he calls “terrible writing” on his show, I ripped what he said on my outlet, my website. There’s no difference. If he can go on air and rip on someone else’s thoughts, he should be able to take it back when he tosses out strong, controversial opinions. There’s no difference there. He came with some bold statements and I had thoughts of my own about them. It’s how it works.

In reality, it’s probably better I didn’t get through, because I likely wouldn’t have had the chance to get half of those points across unless I decided to talk to him using a bullhorn. I think this closes the book on Collison Tweetgate 2009, at least for me. I’m done with this and ready to move on and start thinking about actual basketball being played on an actual court.