Respecting the game? Not so much

Here comes the latest tale of author Jim McManus, crusader of all that is pure and right in poker, courtesty of scottro from the BARGE mailing list:

Playing two games of $2/$4 6-max limit HE on FTP last night. After an hour or so, Jim McManus sits at my table. I have always admired Jim for his writing and his accomplishments at the poker table, and as some have noted, I side with him on his "respecting the game" issue. I said hi to him, told him I enjoyed his writing and that he was an inspiration to me and my writing. He said that was "cool" and that it was a pleasure to meet me. That was it. I didn't want to bother him too much.

All is well until this hand comes down. http://www.pokerhand.org/?2424570

I was SB, Jim was BB. I thought I played my hand in a typical aggressive blind on blind situation in a short-handed game. I thought he could've easily been on a re-steal, and when I flop a pair on a fairly non-threatening board like this, I'm going to see the river in most cases. I also was pretty sure I had a value bet on the river.

I won't post the whole transcript of what followed, but McManus goes off on me, calling me first a moron, then a "true moron" (whatever that is). He continues to berate my play, and I remained calm, asking him why he was behaving like he was. I finally told him my respect for him just went down a notch. He replied in kind, adding that his respect for me was very little to begin with. I was shocked that he was acting like this, and honestly, my feelings were a bit hurt. He's not my idol, but it's sort of like idolizing someone for years then finally meeting that person and they treat you like shit. Then he goes off on someone else. Very uncalled for and rude comments. I surmised that he was drunk and rather prone to tilt. I left 30 minutes later with a nice profit, more of which came from McManus.

I know this shouldn't bother me so much, but I keep thinking about it. I've always wanted to meet Jim (I'm guessing some of you know him personally, at least on a casual basis) and talk to him about writing and poker. Now, well, not so much.

Another BARGER added in the discussion that he suspected McManus would get a talking to since he was playing under FTP sponsorship at the time. Another one said his "respect level for Mr. McManus fell drastically" after he personlly observed the hand.