Bucs:
I?m one of the folks you describe who only really heard about you in the last few months, looked up your record, and decided to follow you this season.
I wasn?t around every day to get the picks, but I played probably 80%-90% of them until I stopped in June. I was down about 18 units at the time.
I didn?t stop because you were on a cold streak. (I don?t care about ?streaks;? I care about whether a person or system is likely to be a long term winner.) Frankly I stopped at that point because you announced that you were going to give the hecklers their way and give in to their simplistic suggestions. It didn?t sound at all like you were making changes because you were convinced of the merit of the suggestions, but just that you hoped giving in to them would shut them up.
I decided that while Bucs picks are likely still a long term winner, I?m not at all confident that a frustrated Bucs adjusting his picks in response to the random babbling of anonymous Internet hecklers is a long term winner. So I jumped off the bandwagon.
Anyway, so I did indeed follow you and lose, without having been along for the preceding big winning years. Am I upset about that, or feeling I?m owed an apology? Not in the slightest. I don?t feel I?ve been wronged by you or anyone else in any way, shape, or form. All you did was handicap to the best of your ability, post your picks, honestly state your record every day, and conduct yourself as a gentleman.
Heck, I think our winning or losing mattered more to you more than your winning or losing.
An apology is absolutely unnecessary, but the fact that you?d feel badly enough to offer one makes me respect you all the more.
Just keep putting the work in and doing your best. In the myriad of useless suggestions and criticisms you?ve gotten, there are probably a few that have at least some merit and are worth looking into. Not to turn you from a long term loser to a long term winner, but to turn you from a long term winner to a bigger long term winner.
In any case, I appreciate your posting your picks and trying to help us all make some money, and I hope that whether I?m following or not you have the greatest of success from this point forward.