Thank You, Adam!
The following comes from
the heart in some parts.
The warning within the message, however, is VERY real.
Dated September 22, 2001
L.A. fans, you have NO idea what a classy, nice player you acquired
back in February (or, perhaps you do...I don't know). Please bear with
me. It's quite the ordeal I encountered.
I got what has to be the best letter in the world today. Last month,
somebody tried to rope me into believing they knew Adam personally.
Then, they went one step further and linked me to a chatroom here on
AOL, where they were sitting with a chatter named "TEAM USA GOLD
96." So we chatted, and what was weird was that "Adam"
kept tossing these off-the-wall, puckbunny-quiz questions at me, like,
"That Adam Deadmarsh....what a hottie, huh?" Things like that.
It was really awkward. So then this one girl came into the room, and
"Adam" asked her how to spell his last name and she typed
in "Deadmarsh." I played along. That's when "Adam"
invited me into a different chatroom to get away from her, so I went.
*Shrug* When I entered that room, he was typing in things like, "Hi
honey" and "hi sweetheart", etc. Did I care? No. Did
I play into it? Yeah, kinda. Why? Because I was curious to see what
was going on here.
So the one friend finally came in that introduced the two of us, and
then the "Can you send me a pic of you? I'll send some of me for
your site that no one has ever seen before." Now what got me to
thinking is this: Here is this 26-year-old young man, two years my senior,
married with almost-newborn twin daughters he hated leaving behind in
CO after the trade. Why in the hell would he be asking me for a photo
exchange? Especially of the bribe-nature? I run the Sheldon Kennedy
website for quite a few reasons, and awareness about predators on the
internet is one of them. That's why I played into it. I knew they were
trying to scam me for the simple fact that a married man with a family
he cared so much about wouldn't ask someone he doesn't know for a picture,
especially in that manner.
Anyway, to get back to the story, he started inserting the comment "my
wife, Amanda" into the chat, and that REALLY set me off. So, after
a little badgering on their part, I sent a picture of myself and Ray
Whitney and that's when the whole Panthers-bashing began. "If you
ever wore that jersey in front of me, I'd throw trash on you."
Gee....would the man I spent so much time making a website about REALLY
say something like that to me? Especially if I had *just* met him in
a chatroom? Let's be real here.
Not only that, but he claimed that there were millions and millions
of websites on him. **looks around......really? WHERE?**
The comical thing (to an extent) was that he pulled out and linked me
to some of THE most *outdated* AVALANCHE pages on him I'd already seen
(I'm talking 1996-1997, folks!). So I proceeded to ask him if he'd seen
my site, and he said "No." And told me the millions of sites
thing again and how he has no time to read or even care about sites
on himself.
So after that, the duo got petty quiet, and "Adam" left. I
bid goodnight to Glenn and sat, looking over my website and looking
at the cards of Adam's that I bought and thought hard. One thought that
came to my mind, and I hate to even write this here, was to tear down
the site. If I was the impulsive type, I very well might have.
But I'm not, as you can see. :)
Instead, I took it upon myself to keep looking the cards over as I proceeded
to write to the STAPLES center and explain what had just happened to
Adam while it was still fresh in my mind. I wrote it on 8/24 and sent
it the following day. I said not one word to the trio about my plans,
and waited patiently, including writing my new address on the letter.
So I've been here 3 weeks, and over this period of the last 2, I got
emails from Billie, the girl in the chatroom. Now, I feel sorry for
her, as she honestly believes that this person that she's never met
in person is Adam. I tried to tell her what caused me to question it,
and she kept replying to me, "I don't care if he's famous",
etc and "believe what you want to believe, it doesn't matter to
me or Adam."
I haven't heard from her since after the last real update I did prior
to the 11th of September.
So, in the letter to him, I simply asked for some way of knowing whether
or not it was him.
Fast forward to today, when I go to HockeyFest here in South Florida.
I get home, and about perhaps 2 1/2 hours ago (it's 1:45 AM on Sunday,
9/23) my Grandmother tells me that I've got mail. So I open it....cool.
An Adam Deadmarsh card from Germany.I get to the second one, and knowing
that I didn't order anything else, I open it, thinking it was from someone
for my move.
It was confirmation about the ordeal above from Adam himself.
**IT WAS NOT HIM.**
That's as much as I care to indulge, because it wouldn't be fair to
him if I went any further than that. All I can say, though, is that
I emailed the little trio with this information, and anything they'd
like to tell me is perfectly fine, because I know who's who in the zoo
now, so to speak.
All I do know is that it is illegal to pretend you're somebody you aren't,
and it's rather cruel to try and get the real Adam in trouble, TEAM
USA GOLD 96. I think that this announcement is the least I could do,
in case anyone else is approached by this person and his little troop.
TEAM USA GOLD 96, please don't try to ruin someone's hard-earned career
because you want to be twisted. It's not fair.
Adam, on a personal note, I'd just like to extend a big-time thank you
to you. You've taken a LOT off of my mind, and I sincerely, wholeheartedly
appreciate it. Best of luck to you this season, and enjoy your time
with your family.
Hopefully, I'll be at the 10/26 game in Ft. Lauderdale. :)
The moral...be extremely cautious who you talk to online and what you choose to believe. Always take things with a grain of salt, so to speak, and if something doesn't seem 100%, go with that feeling and try to figure out a way to get the facts.
~Amanda~
Follow-Up
You know, a lot of thinking comes along with this site every time I work on it now, and when I glance up at my wall to see the two frames of pictures of Adam over my desk, I can't help but wonder if Glenn ever got the answer he desired. I got a hold of Billie the day or two after I got the confirmation from Adam and Glenn's reaction was rather different than Billie's. I kind of felt bad for her. I got questioned as to why I did it, and when, and I told them the truth. I was asked what the address was to the Staples center by Glenn so that he could write to Adam and ask him himself, but I told him if *I* found the address, then he could do the same.
I do think about it a lot, and I wonder if Adam saw my sign as the bus left the National Car Rental Center. It was just a simple "Congratulations on your 300th point" sign. I did make it to the game...one period into it, of course. It was fun to go to watch live hockey again, and have it be my first game back here in Florida.
I see TeamUSA online from time to time when I have my buddy lists on. There have been times where I've wanted to IM or email and just ask "What were you thinking?", simply because he/she was the only person out of the three that I never got a reply from in response to what I had to say. I guess I'd like to take this moment to express that if anyone has any doubts as to whether Adam is kind or generous or fan-friendly...I hope this experience can do away with those doubts.
L.A. fans, don't doubt it. You definitely had a fan-favorite-worthy player on your team.
~Amanda~