[Reginald Rutledge]

argument. The only difference being is if Player A is enhancing or masking his bases with some type of chemical whether it be baby oil or an additive or water, he is chemically altering his base. If he is just tweaking his base with pliers, he has not chemically altered the base. He has physically changed the base. The chemical components of the base remain the same.

The difference is in the chemical change and physical change of players. Let's take a look at athletes in track and field. Now in this day and era, we don't know who is "chemically enhanced". For many years, track athletes improved by physically enhancing their ability to win by working out harder than others. Now, each athlete had the choice to work harder than the other but it was more in terms of physicality.

When Ben Johnson won in LA in 1984, as I watched him jump from his blocks like a Puma and continued to accelerate in 9.84 and Carl Lewis could not catch him, I said "He's juiced". It was later revealed that he was. Carl had trained from a physical standpoint. He had done things above board. Johnson had went and got chemically enhanced to simply win. If he would have shared that same exact juice with everyone else, nothing could have been said. And if it was considered legal, then there really could have been nothing said. But as long as there is inequality by chemically altering because you want a decided advantage over another person in order to win, I will continue to think that is wrong! We may agree to disagree. But I think in your hear of hearts, you know that if you can chemically alter something way better than others and have no want and desire to help that person learn or even equally build his team like yours, is that really fair?

Now in miniature football, if your league allows boiled bases, that's your league! No one is stopping your league from doing what they do best. But when you are not able to understand why guys will not come to a tournament which host boiled bases, you really are not trying to feel what people are telling you. If you want people to come together, those are things that you address. Some people are scared to speak openly and honestly on this subject because they have seen guys verbally lash out at them over principles.

My thinking is as long as I know that I don't have equal access to what you have, how can you think it is fair? In all good conscience, it's like me taking a butter knife into a gun battle. But again, I would say host a tourney with boiled bases and maybe that along will get you guys who will come out to Los Angeles to play in that manner.

My answer to Eric was that he wanted that opportunity to showcase what the brothers do out in LA. My suggestion was simply for one weekend, allow a tourney where bases that everyone can readily get on an EQUAL bases was available, maybe people would come. I don't know. I have no knowledge. I know for one, I would come to LA to play if it was a non-boiled tournament but again, I can only speak for me. A lot is changing in my life so going to things like this is fast becoming a thing of my past. But this would have been one that I would support.

I don't think this opens up a can of worms. These worms have been crawling around for years! It comes down to LA likes boiled. Nothing wrong with that. Every league like what they like. And yes Vince, no doubt, everybody tweak their own teams using their own physical methods. I totally agree with Eric on that.

Just my opinion

Reg