Fantasy football for me is kind of like an escape from everything else in life. It's kind of like therapy for me. I love playing it. This year, I decided to cut down the number of teams I play from 12 to ten. I also decided to play all of them in ESPN leagues. I really love their "flex" option.
Anyhow, after my drafts were complete in late June, everyone sat back to wait for the season to start in September. To kind of lighten the mood a little, and just for the heck of it, I decided to post something in all ten of my leagues. A little ditty I wrote once and thought maybe a few people would enjoy reading it. I have done stuff like this before, in the past, and have gotten a fairly favorable and polite response from other league members. Most people I encounter in fantasy football are actually pretty nice.
But for some strange reason, this year has turned out to be a little bit different. This year, someone decided to cause a little trouble. But first, let me show you what I posted in my leagues.
If you'll notice, I posted this on June 26th. On that same day, a few hours later, a man by the name of Frank Chavez quickly posted a response, however, there was nothing in that response box. It was blank.
I never went back in to even look at the responses until late August. But then on August 14th, some fifty days later! Frank Chavez posted another response. He said, "This crap you wrote makes no sense at all. Stop it ..."
Why would he respond like that? It makes no sense.
Now, the moment I read this I knew, I was dealing with a bully. And you guys know that I can sniff out a bully an "internet" mile away. And what made me realize that Frank Chavez was a bully wasn't because he called what I wrote crap, that's just an opinion, and he is certainly entitled to that opinion. Not to mention, I really couldn't care less if he likes what I write or not. But what made me realize that I was dealing with a punk bully was the fact that he demanded that I "stop it".
You see, the moment I read that I knew he was trying to intimidate me. I knew he was trying to "Ray Rice" my ass. (That would actually come into play later because I would discover that he thought I was a girl at first.)
Anyhow, to tell someone to "stop it" demonstrates a desire by Frank Chavez to "control" me and my future actions in the league to suit his desires and satisfaction. A typical bully trait. I also knew that if I were to respond, he would begin calling me names and attack me more harshly, and with curse words and calling me names, like a bully does. My knowledge of bullies would not let me down. I did make a response. I wanted to send a message with my response. That message was, "You don't intimidate me, punk." Only I wanted to get that message out there using a different phrase of words. I wanted to rattle his cage just as harshly as he tried to rattle mine with his angry dominating behavior. So I responded.
"Don't get your panties in a twist Pedro."
But if you notice the date of when I responded, you would see it was ten days later on August 24th. This is when I finally went into the message area of the league to see if anyone responded. And finally, 19 days later, Frank Chavez responded. He said, "I got your Pedro right here check it out panty stain."
At this point, I'm thinking Frank Chavez might be gay. And while that is up for debate, him being rude isn't. Simply put, he's just not a friendly kind of guy, gay or straight. But he did exactly what I knew he would do. He did exactly what a bully does, he called me a "panty stain". Check it out.
Now, after dealing with internet bullies for as long as I have, this response came not as a shock to me. Actually, I thought it was kind of comical. I do enjoy being able to predict what bullies will do and say and how they will respond. So I fired back with this: "This crap you write makes no sense, stop it ..." And yes, I was mocking him and what he said earlier. And that's all I said. Nothing more and nothing less.
At this point, any normal person would have just left it alone by now, but bullies are not normal people. And you guys also know me, I do not allow bullies to get the last word. They get the first word, which is usually rude and disrespectful and usually leads to confrontation, but I never let them get the last word. And I knew that Frank Chavez wasn't going to let that response go. After all, I knew he was a bully. He has it written all over his actions and words. He came back with another insult and demand - saying, "You should know about writing crap, stop it ..."
And my response at the bottom of that last screenshot? .... "Stop being a tampon or I'm gonna write something new just for spite." .... And the reason I posted this response was to now go a little bit on the offensive. I knew by indicating that he was acting like a tampon, he would get all fired up. And boy did he! He called me "Butch" (LMAO) and called me a "J.K. Rowling" wannabe. And oh, so much more. Take a look and also take a look at my response.
At this point, I am just basically laughing at him. I already know who and what he is, and in true bully fashion, he responds.
And obviously, by the time I read his response, I knew that he thought I was a female. This would explain why he responded the way he did to the post in the first place. He did think I was a girl and he did think he could "Ray Rice" my ass because of it. This is how I was looking at it. But in reality, we already know bullies don't really care about sex or race or anything like that, they just do that bully thing they do because ..... because ..... well, because they are psycho's. And in true bully form, he asks me to "jump off a bridge" and "kill myself" and that nobody would miss me. How many times have we seen bullies wish death onto others? Onto me? LMAO And to think, a few weeks ago that wish almost came true. Ha-ha. I guess the bullies didn't wish hard enough.
But also notice in that response he made that he admits and actually celebrates about the fact that he is a bully. He said, and I quote, "For your information, sometimes it's good to be a bully so that you don't get intimidated by someone like you with personal issues."
Ahem! But who was trying to intimidate who here? Who responded to my little ditty, calling it crap and demanding that I "stop it"? The answer is of course, Frank Chavez. But this is classic bully behavior, isn't it? Deny that you did anything wrong despite the evidence and then turn around at some point in the conversation and blame the victim when in fact the whole thing was started by Frank when he responded to my post in the manner which he responded.
But why him? Why did he respond? Nobody else did. And as I mentioned earlier, I have posted stuff like this the past few years in other leagues and no one ever had a problem with it before .... so why now? Why Frank Chavez?
The answer is because Frank Chavez is a bully.
I responded with the following.
Now I'm just playing with him. He has long shown that he is a bully and now, I am just being Carroll. Some would say that's the same as saying I'm being an ass. Either way, I don't back down from bullies and I sure as hell wasn't going to back down from this one. So he responded.
And like a true bully, he keeps attacking me as a writer, even though he has never read anything I ever written - except for that little ditty. A typical bully attack method / strategy. And he continues calling me names like "pussy". And he says he isn't picking a fight despite the fact that he did and the evidence supports that. And he claims that he didn't admit to being a bully nor gloating about it despite the fact that in screenshot #5 he does gloat to being a bully.
Are we getting the picture yet?
Finally, someone else chimes in.
That "Pedro" joke was racist? Well, perhaps, I don't know, but it was a joke - and prior to that, Frank had basically insulted me and told me to "stop it". Had he not done that, my response would never have been posted. Let us never forget how this whole thing started. It started when Frank Chavez responded to my little ditty. He didn't have to respond. No one else did. If he doesn't like it, then he doesn't have to read it, right? And he certainly doesn't have to respond to it and he doesn't have to be mean and rude and crude and disrespectful in the process, does he? But instead of Jaime mentioning that, he or she only mentions the "racist joke"?
Then again, look at the last name of Jaime .... it's Menendez. Are we getting the full picture here? Well, I know I am. But here is how I responded nonetheless.
And now we have a new post for The Looking Glass. And we have a new bully to admire and shame. LOL And it just goes to show that book reading sites aren't the only places where bullies reside. They are all over the internet.
As for Frank Chavez, I am pretty much done with him. I think. I might do a part two, I don't know yet. But hey, I did find out I play him twice in this particular league. We actually play against each other this weekend. And I also found out he is in two other leagues of mine too. He and I actually squared off last week as my Waverly Thrashers destroyed him 109 - 67. I only play him once with that team. I do play him once with my Columbus Bandits in the other league. So, we are in three leagues together and play each other four times. I am already 1-0 against him and I will write an update Tuesday on the result of this current match-up. This is why I like fantasy football. Even when you bump into a bully, at least you get the chance for some type of revenge.
I also wrote another little ditty in that leagues message area.
I did run into a few bullies in one league in my first year of playing ESPN leagues. They were buddies and after I started the year 0-3, they began laughing at me and mocking me when I wouldn't make any trades with them. I ended up winning a game before losing for the 4th time, then I went on an 8 game winning streak to end the season and finished 9-4 and the 4th seed in the playoffs. Two of the guys who bullied me also made the playoffs. I ended up playing them both on my way to winning the league championship.
I believe in karma. Now you know why. As little and insignificant as fantasy football is, it was still refreshing and oh, so satisfying to beat those guys - just as it was to beat Frank last week and hopefully, beat him again this week .... and the other two times we will meet up in the games. I am hoping that karma continues. Ultimately, winning these three specific league championships will be the big karma I am hoping for.
Meanwhile, this is my message to Frank Chavez: "Stop being a bully, you douche."
I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass.
UPDATE #1:
Here is his response to my last post.
I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass.
UPDATE #1:
Here is his response to my last post.
A real charmer, isn't he?
Here is my response to him.
