This guy is getting paid millions of dollars per year to play a game, and instead of manning up and apologizing to his coach in person, he sends a lousy 10-cent text message. What a pussy.

I agree with Fisher. I don't accept SMS apologies either. They're the coward's way out. People are so afraid of confrontation, of hearing the disappointment in someone's voice, that they tap out a few keystrokes on their phone and think that's good enough. It isn't.

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Agree totally! Means nothing to me, heck, may not even be the person actually apologizing. HAS to be face to face.

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Bad move by Vince. Sounds like he needs to apologize twice now. This is a guy who does not shine in a crisis.

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I've been on the other end before, receiving an apology via text. When later mentioned, "I said I was sorry, I apologized, whats the problem?". I snapped back saying "I didn't get to look into your eyes to feel if the apology was genuine or simply lip service therefore you did not apologize. You simply made an attempt to take the easy way out, and failed".

I'm prefer (when having a 'serious' conversation) to look the person in the eye. You can tell a lot by looking into someones eyes. If I'm not afforded that opportunity, I feel the words are cheapened.

Kind of a funny 'example' of this is years ago Becca's mom cheated on me. She was playing it cool, but I noticed she wouldn't look me in the eyes. Then when I called her out on it, she then deliberately tried to keep her eyes from blinking. I told her a sign of someone lying is they tend to look down or blink often. lol. I told her I could see the guilt in her eyes and she broke down, started yelling and screaming saying it was my fault because I went with Jim to celebrate 4th of July while she went with her girl friends.



Women, ... Vince reminds me of a woman.

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I coach a college women's sport and in the last 6 months we had 2 people quit the team via email, 2 over the phone...none of them ever showed up in person afterwards.

I'm not trying to sound all "back in my day we marched both ways up hill in the snow" but I really feel the advent of texts/emails/twitter are retarding our social skills. Vince's apology just seems to be one of many examples that will become increasingly prevelant, unfortunately.

There's no questioning that at all. The advent of social networking, has actually done far more damage than good to our society. If you're with someone and not happy, you have a lot more potential replacements at your fingertips, instead of focusing on resolving the issues. Basically, first sign of trouble, run. Everyone seems to want happiness, now, and not want to put any effort into achieving it.

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I "have issues" with social interaction, as they say. I have serious phone phobia. I hate having to return merchandise because it means a certain kind of interaction. Etc etc etc.

And it appalls me when people think email or texting is sufficient for apologies and mea culpas.

Damn straight its hard looking someone in the face when you have to admit personal responsibility for having fucked up. But that's what adults do. Even with all my anxiety issues, I know the "in person" part is essential. And I find a way to do it that way.

I have occasionally sent email apologies. But only as a supplement to the personal apology. And only when the extent of the fuckup is so big that I feel necessary to add a public accounting of a "written" sort or where I can't logistically make the personal apologies to all.

For example, about nine months ago, I had to make a major apology for systematic fuck ups. I had been the first "vice president of marketing" for an academic organization. As such, I made a lot of bold promises regarding what I was going to do in the 18 months leading up to our first ever conference held on the other side of the Atlantic. Promises which, for a variety of reason, I fell far short on. And tasks which, though said conference was just a few months away, I knew I was simply going to be unable to perform. The other officers and trustees of the organization, however, as they are for most such other academic organization, were literally spread all over the world.

So there was no way I would be able to make the in-person apology until the conference itself, far too late for an admission that was already too late in the making.

So I ended up sending a email to all of those officers and trustees. One that pulled no punches, that stated in detail all of the failed promises.

And then, when the conference finally rolled around in late May, I repeated the apology at the annual trustees meeting and one-on-one with as many of them as I could.

In my job, I get apologies and "explanations" by email all the time. (I don't get texts but that's probably just because I rarely give my cell number out with ranting that is "for emergencies only" and I also try to make a point that I'm technologically well behind the times.) I get them for absences, for late papers, for imminent or missed exams, etc etc.

And I ignore virtually all of them.

Occasionally a student will ask, "did you get my email." And they are then shocked when I told them I don't respond to such emails. And when I remind them that I wrote the same thing on the original course syllabus.

The technologies of the internet have been a godsend in many ways for someone like me. (I've spoken before, and will again, about how important this "virtual" place called PackersHome is to me, e.g.) But there are some things it should not substitute for.

Not for adults.

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Maybe Favre could teach Young how to properly text message.....LOL!

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I think that some people feel like they can be different people via txt or phone then in real life.

But still... one man texting an apology to another? What is he, 12? Couldn't he have just gotten someone to pass Fisher a note in study hall?

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