e-mail sent to the management of Rivals.com:
December 5, 2009
Sirs:
On this Saturday afternoon, I brewed a pot of coffee and sat back to relax, watching the college football box-scores on Rivals.com.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I reasonably assume that your company assigns one individual to watch one particular game, and to punch in the numbers as they happen.
Not a particularly difficult job to do, watching television and occasionally tapping in a couple of numbers on the keyboard.
I was impressed at the speed and timeliness in which numbers were posted in all the games.....excepting one, the San Jose State-Louisiana Tech game.
While all the other individuals watching all the other games appeared to be doing their jobs--and so competently, so quickly--if one was a fan of either hapless San Jose State or the winning Louisiana Tech, one would have been driven to chew on the ceiling in utter vexation and frustration.
I first detected something was wrong when the game started, and the box-score remained blank. For a very long time. Nothing at all. Then suddenly out of nowhere the score 14-14 popped up, and it was already halfway through the first quarter.
And then nothing else for the longest time.
The second time the score was changed, it was suddenly 14-35, and near the end of the second quarter, near half-time.
I'm not exactly sure how much time is usually allotted for half-time, but in this instance, I found myself able to change the cat-litter boxes, wash the dishes, hang out the laundry, vaccuum the carpets, paint the walls in a bedroom, install a new commode in the bathroom, plough the north forty, and change the air in the automobile tires, before the box-score in the San Jose State-Louisiana Tech game revealed that the third quarter had started.
And then nothing for the longest time.
At the same time, all other individuals assigned to post the box-scores of all other games at this same time, industriously and diligently punched in numbers as they hapened.
The "time remaining" of "12:51," fourth quarter, allowed me to assist the neighbor in installing a new transmission on a pick-up truck, and then to erect a new barn. When I returned home, the "time remaining" was.....8:51.
It appears you have someone on the payroll who sleeps, or something else, on your own dime. Does Rivals.com by the way administer drug-detecting tests?
Thank you, and with my good wishes,
[real name deleted]
[real address deleted]
[real e-mail deleted]
