Letter to E. Spencer Kyte: Bleacher Report Sportswriter and Featured Columnist

Dear Spencer,

I apologize for not being more immediate in my response to you.

I will continue this conversation with you and you alone. I will do it openly so that others can see and understand that the issues that have been raised go far beyond you or me.

First let me just say that I acknowledge that you have become a constant target (and in some cases, quite unfairly) for as long as I have been writing here on the Bleacher Report and I know that a great deal of the division that has been created amongst this community is as a result of the unfair ranking system that the Bleacher Report has seen fit to implement. This of course, is not your fault.

Honestly, I don’t know if you deserve the #1 writer spot Spencer. All I know is… I do not.

So unlike what some others may want to believe about my motivation (or their own perceived writing abilities), please do not take my actions as a simple version of “jealousy rearing its’ ugly head”. This is about a clear understanding of fairness and nothing more.

Why did I choose you to make my point with? It wasn’t planned. Frustration has a funny way of showing up whenever it wants to and as much as I love our Randy Couture debates, I simply could not resist the opportunity to vent further.

With that being said, part of my whole “declaration of war” (note to self: do not attempt humour when irritated LOL) included a personal invitation to the B/R executives in the hopes that they would see fit to participate in this conversation (providing badly needed clarity) or at the very least, become aware of how their ranking system has taken a negative effect on this community and their business.

Bleacher Report is a great venue for guys like me and many others. They allow us to post our work (and websites) and they even offer assistance by way of helpful editors and community leaders. I like that a lot.

Something else that I like about the Bleacher Report is that they have created a system of competition amongst the writers. I actually love this concept (if done fairly) – for me, it drives my competitive spirit. I genuinely find it fun. I have no doubt that B/R has created this concept for that very reason. Not shocking to speculate that a group of sports lovers would embrace competition

Unfortunately, what has become increasingly clear over these past few weeks is that the ranking process is majorly flawed and it could easily be interpreted as nothing more than a system of lies.

As a writer and contributor, I was initially led to believe that my contributions would be rewarded on the merit of their quality and the positive responsiveness from my readers. My new “impression” is that there are a lot of internal politics and favouritism that goes on here. I obviously cannot prove this, but it’s not hard for the better writers to figure this out because they all know the difference between a good writer and a great one. I can assure you that I am not the only writer who is bothered by this revelation.

We all want to be recognized for our talents. We all want a fair opportunity to shine through and to be noticed. There must be an achievable goal associated to our purpose. No promises – just an honest opportunity.

At this point, trust has become the biggest issue.

Moving forward, I feel that it is the responsibility of the Bleacher Report to offer a clear and accurate definition of this system (and not simply refer writers to the vague and generic webpage that they have created in the place of rational explanation).

If it were up to me Spencer, I would eliminate the ranking system altogether. There certainly is a fair way to give equal credit to all top writers, as ultimately, any system of reward can only be subjective in its nature.

I do not expect however, that this would suit the agenda of the Bleacher Report who would sooner let us have at each other than get rid of the one and only motivational tool that they have to encourage FREE writing content.

I have a lot of ideas on how to improve the current system and I would be open to having a conversation with the B/R executives to discuss in greater detail. Anyone can complain, right? What I am offering are genuine and constructive solutions.

Then again, maybe I should just take these improvements and create my own website dedicated solely to MMA and the creative freedom and support for any amateur writer who simply wants to improve upon their skills (and possibly one day – get noticed). I could create an environment that encourages freedom of speech and greater exposure, while maintaining equal viewership for all writers. It could be a safe and friendly place for all writers to feel comfortable, that would also be professional in every aspect, at all times.

But for now, I like it here

As I am sure that you have noticed in the short amount of time that we have gotten to know each other Spencer, I am a very passionate person (which has been known to backfire at times LOL). I always stand up for what I believe in. I have my values clearly defined and as a writer, that’s probably the strongest thing that I have going for me.

My weaknesses as a writer also happen to be the strengths that I see in you. Turning out a new and insightful article each day is very challenging for me. Turning out three or four new articles per day as you have done in the past, must be extremely difficult and I would not even attempt it. For that I offer you praise. The aspect of quantity can be just as challenging as quality.

Now with that being said, I would also like to say that I’m not seeing as much of that from you lately and I think that the result is that the quality of your work has been steadily improving. Writing several articles per day got you to where you wanted to be in the ranking (for increased exposure) and now you are doing a very good job of keeping yourself there. Hard to complain about that because if someone else feels that they deserve the top spot, then they should then see fit to just try and take it from you – if they can. I sincerely doubt that I could. Others perhaps, but that’s entirely up to them to try.

There are a lot of good writers on here and if I didn’t think that I could learn something, I wouldn’t be wasting my time. Instead, I would focus on my own endeavours and everyone else could have a nice day, no one would miss me and life would go on after I left. It would be as if Mr. James Ryan never existed at all

I don’t personally feel that it is necessary to revisit all of the details of what was said in the comment thread, but if you feel concerned or have questions about something that I may have said to you, please feel free to ask for clarity and I will do my best to accommodate your request.

Otherwise, it is my sincere hope that we can put this behind us and move forward. After all, we’ve done it before. I’m sure we’ll do it again (By the way Spencer, one more fight and we officially become brothers

Oh, and one last thing. On the issue of the POTD’s (article picks of the day); I have very strong beliefs about common courtesies and social etiquette (the burden of being Canadian, eh? LOL). In hindsight, I acknowledge that it is not the obligation of anyone else to mentor or support each other and I should not have tried to impose my personal beliefs on others.

I was being judgemental and for that, I do apologize.

Thank you Spencer and I hope that you enjoyed the Randy Couture victory tonight as I look forward to discussing his upcoming retirement with you. LOL

Sincerely,
James