My email to Art Dore:

Art & Richard:

Thanks for the call today. I appreciate you getting back to me. It might have been more appropriate back in May when I was receiving threatening letters from your lawyer (Mark Schneider) or when I wrote you a personal letter in June. Nevertheless, you made the effort to call me today and that does count for something. Thank you.

I told you that I would get back to you about my future involvement with Toughman and your website. I've thought about it today, and I've come to the conclusion that I really don't have the desire to run a fan site any longer. I originally set it up back in June of 2000 because I loved Toughman. I watched ever episode on TV and attended every Toughman within driving distance. As sad as it is, I even planned a vacation around going to Tunica to see the light-heavyweight tournament. I was truly a FANatic. I wanted to share my enthusiasm with others and so I set up the website. Unfortunately, the entire situation with you and your lawyers has left me soured on Toughman and API. My entire motivation for running a fan site is gone. I used to do it "for the love of the game." That love is gone, replaced by indifference. I am no longer a fan in the true sense of the word. I did everything I did for free and spent my own time and money without giving it a second thought. I would go to a Toughman and spend $20 on a ticket plus around $70 for film and developing costs. That doesn't even count all the time devoted to maintaining the website. I don't have the same motivation to do that now.

However, if you are interested in having a photographer cover events in the Texas-area I might be willing to do it if if you make it worth my time. Your website could certainly use up-to-date photos and coverage. It is very weak in that area, which is one of the reasons I set up my website in the first place. I'd be willing to bet than fighters would pay for pictures as well. If you are interested in paying me cover events either in a photographic or journalistic sense, let me know.

I may still watch Toughman on TV from time to time. I may even contribute on your message board. At any rate, I will tone down the rhetoric on the board. You made the effort to call and give me the explanation that I have waited for since May, so you deserve at least that much.

If I change my mind about the website I will let you know.

Go back to What Happened to The Original Toughman Fan Page?