Well, the thin ice broke

The Greg Smith Marching and Chowder Society has spoken on the Fresno SCOUT Save Mart Center message board and we will not be their guest speaker anytime soon. If by some chance the GSMCS ever graces us as their pinup selection it will be as dartboard fodder.

Our 'take' on Bulldog recruit Greg Smith was quickly tossed into the wood chipper and chopped, sliced, shredded, pureed and finally, eviscerated as inaccurate, incomplete and ungainly biased.

You GSMCS folks (that is, if you are still reading this), we have no bone to pick with you on or about Greg Smith. Hopefully, he does well at FSU and eventually moves on to a long career in the NBA. We wish him nothing but the best.

Our ego is not connected with what was typed about Smith -- try a dose of that as it cures many ailments.

To answer your questions:

*** our expressed opinions on Smith were simply that -- we deem them no better nor worse than those of anyone else and we will be happy for Smith if we are proven incorrect

*** we have previously seen Smith, Jones and Brown play but none of them in 2008

*** we used the term 'program-changer' in the framework of say a Michael Beasley, who elevated previous Big 12 K-St. from a generally second-division finisher to a Top 10 ranking and a national power in his one season

*** We have no objections with Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Cal and USC offering Smith -- if indeed such is true as we have no way of verifying all the solicitations. We will resist getting 'cute' with comments about some of those schools and their recruiting practices and simply say good for them and for Smith if that was their assessments.

*** Your references to our bias for another WAC school is silly -- here's your assignment: please go through PTW to locate any favoritism we have expressed, send that to us and we will post it

It's fine if you disagree with what was written. That happens every day here with many of the PTW readers.

May Greg Smith prosper. He (and we) certainly already possess the knowledge that nothing we write about him will have any effect on his being.