FireBC.com - (MLSE Comments on his future - Pg 33)

[J-Roc]

You have to include Jason Kapono in the money spent on free agents.

[Sojourn]

You have to include Jason Kapono in the money spent on free agents.

kapano was probably the worst of the bunch

[Waylon Mercy]

Did you mention that the Shawn Marion for JO deal was the biggest reason why Miami was
able to build a potential dynasty?

[James_Raptors]

Unlike in Baseball, Hockey or Football where you can win with a great "team" and not necessarily the best "talent", basketball is different. One superstar can make the difference between being a contender or a lottery team. That's an extreme example but the logic absolutely holds true. When you look over the roster it is not inconceivable to state that every single current non-rookie on the roster will never play in an all-star game and the majority of our starting rotations may be bench players on a club expecting to win a few rounds in the playoffs. That's not on the coach; his job is to get the most out of the players given to him by his General Manager, Bryan Colangelo. Even if you go back years, to the multiple-all-star-Chris-Bosh days, we knew then that we lacked "talent". Can anyone state with a straight face that our talent level has improved greatly since then? I sure can't.

Bryan's vision is schizophrenic in nature, with a mix of a first year lawyer-soon-to-be-fired-used-car-salesman-rookie-politician. He talks out of so many sides of his mouth that he can contradict himself in the same sentence. At this point I don't believe he even knows what he's doing, what he is supposed to be building, what he's said in the past, or what day of the week he is supposed to be stating <random rhetoric gibberish comment>. He seems to make decisions based on the notion that he can, with no clear longterm or short term plan. Sometimes the best trades or signings you make are those you do not pull the trigger on. For all his talk about assets, other organizations coveting players off our roster, talent, potential all-star, etc it seems like all these statements are lies and deception, delusion and confusion or a feeble effort to spay cologne on a piece of poop, hoping the public will not notice the brown piece of stool with pieces of corn lodged in it.

I despise losing, but I'm not completely oblivious to the fact that we are a joke in this league right now. Not only are we not a desired location because we're in a cold climate, a customs body search away and in a different country, but we're a losing franchise that is locker room comedy for opposing teams. They come to Toronto expecting "to get theirs". I don't know about you guys but I am sick of being a door mat for other organizations. The tone around this organization needs a shift. The fans aren't blind. We know the talent on this team is bottom-feeder worthy. If you look at every single team in the league, the pieces they currently have it's easy to compare. And most of those bad squads will have their draft pick in the off-season, dear Bryan.

Changing the culture around here must start at the top. We're not moving the team to a warmer climate or another country, but what we can do something about is winning. It's time we build this team properly, through the draft and not this accelerated nonsense. Toronto is a fantastic city worthy of a winner. As a fan we may feel helpless at times, but this isn't the 1970's. Social media is rampant and we have to make our voices heard. Whether it's emails, twitter, phoning into sports radio, showing up with signs to the game(s), not buying as much merchandise, etc. We need to show the Raptors organization that a)We give a crap, we care. b)We will not put up with a loser, year after year.

I will openly admit that when Bryan was brought in I had faith that we had were getting a "big name". Sure, like others I doubted whether his Phoenix Suns model was the type of squad, hypothetically, that would ultimately be NBA finals calibre. I also quietly questioned whether Bryan could succeed on his own and/or how much impact daddy Jerry had played a role in his decision making. It's 2012 , and my patience with Bryan has diminished to the point where I no longer have faith in him running our organization. Failing is one thing and a huge factor in all of this, but I do not trust his vision (whatever that actually is) or how to build this team or anything that comes out of his mouth. I don't expect him to shoot himself in the foot or lessen the value of the players on his roster (although I do believe he's done that over the last 36 hours). But lying and losing leaves me with little else to support him. There are not even fumes left. He's done. I want him gone. This is not just me looking at a 4=16 record demanding accountability. Bryan has failed, again, and he must be removed before his delusional mind can cause more damage than he already has.

Clean house, start fresh, build this team properly.

[draft]

You should clean up the site. Less is more. Get rid of the fan artwork.

[KingAmmar]

That's great James! Hope you contacted some people with that. On the General Board, someone pasted the response from MLSE's COO:

Sent out emails to all the people listed. I got a response from several people including this: (these response are probably delegated to some email response monkey, nonetheless)

Thanks for your email.

Sorry I was not able to reply sooner – I’ve been out of town. Obviously, this season has not started the way we or anyone wanted, and it has been disappointing.

We are focused on ensuring the situation is addressed and improves as quickly as possible.

Thanks for your support and your patience.

Tom

Tom Anselmi
President and C.O.O.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

[xstyles]

I also received a response - different than what the other poster received:

________,

Thanks for your note, and sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.
Obviously after a solid pre-season, this year hasn’t started the way anyone had hoped for.
We are fans too, and so we empathize with your disappointment about the team’s performance. The results are unacceptable.
Please know that we are focused on ensuring that it is addressed. We will get this right.
In the meantime, thanks for your support and your patience.

Tom

Tom Anselmi
President & C.O.O.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

[Sojourn]

bob mccowan on pts is totally on our side.

[Scorpion King]

Lets hope this site gets attention from the media.

Is it trending in twitter

[PdiC]

Nice work. I think this says it all:



edit: unfortunately, 99% of the comments only hurt things.

[mirrornick]

If BC doesn't get fired. All hell's gonna break lose on realgm.

[reptar15]

If BC doesn't get fired. All hell's gonna break lose on realgm.

I wish people would just stop buying tickets

[Yoga]

You have to include Jason Kapono in the money spent on free agents.

kapano was probably the worst of the bunch

hedo turkoglu - the party machine

[JaysRangers]

Fire that smug, delusional, spinning, thinks hes the smartest in the room but really a clueless **** right now.

[West Rouge]

If Someone close to BC is reading this please tell him it's over. Were Done. Lets move on.

[rapsfan8]

No matter what executives say, there is no rush to clean this mess up. The reason why? The franchise is doing extremely well financially even though they have missed the playoffs 4 straight years and well on their way to a 5th year. The Raptors are 8th in attendance somehow. That probably won't hold up after this break, but there is no concern that it will drop to 14,000-15,000. There is not going to be some crazy drop off like the Pistons from 2004-2009 when they averaged 22,000 a night to 11,000-12,000. I don't know how many seasons tickets of the Raptors are tied to the Leafs, but they always seem to do a damn good job filling this place for an organization that has given nothing to the fans except for a few years in 17 years. The attendance to win ratio has to be unprecedented in Sports (not including the NFL), except for MLSE's other main team, the Leafs.

I bet the last thing the board wants to do is fire Colangelo right now and trade as many players because it would give the notion to the average fan that the team is throwing in the towel for the season, and then financially it could hurt this team. Instead they can spin some BS about the "talent being there" and "doing everything they can to fix the problem" when all that means is hoping things will magically change so fans will still want to see this team throughout the season. Well everyone on this board is smarter than that. Much smarter and knows not to believe a thing that bull **** BC has to say anymore. The guy probably just decided to retire the "we miss Garbajosa" line during this tough time. If anything, why not wait until the end of the season when they can quickly come up with a new marketing platform that incorporates youth, excitement, hardwork, young guns, rebuilding, etc and other bull to sell to the fans.

MLSE has spent a fortune selling and hoping big names like Colangelo and Burke could fix two struggling franchises. They were given total control. Together they have had 10 seasons (11 counting BC's this year) and have 2 playoff appearances and 3 playoff wins combined. And like BC, MLSE will continue to allow Burke to fix things around, hoping and praying things change because they are scared what would happen if they had to admit that both hires were massive failures. Would the fans come back if they had to start over again? Of course for the Leafs, but it migh be a small dent in their armour. They never had a problem selling Burke or Colangelo, but it might be tough selling an MIT guy like Darryl Morey or an up and comer like Sam Presti that desevers a chance or whoever the hockey equivalent is.

Back to my main point. A site isn't going to do anything. They know fans are pissed. The only thing that is going to scare them is loss of $$$. That means perhaps a petition stating that until serious changes are made (trades, firings), us as fans will not spend a single penny on tickets, merchandise etc. The holiday season is upon us. The try and advertise big time with holiday packs with all the best teams. Maybe the only thing that will make them do anything is if they realize that they can't sell their wonderful ticket packages that include the Lakers, Celtics, Thunder, Heat, etc. No website is going to make them do anything if they see those tickets are moving. Bottom line.

The website is a start. But we need to take this to the next level. If not, they will keep writing the same letters that they are doing everything they can to fix this mess, while they continue to smile as they look at the revenue come in.

[Beardman]

No matter what executives say, there is no rush to clean this mess up. The reason why? The franchise is doing extremely well financially even though they have missed the playoffs 4 straight years and well on their way to a 5th year. The Raptors are 8th in attendance somehow. That probably won't hold up after this break, but there is no concern that it will drop to 14,000-15,000. There is not going to be some crazy drop off like the Pistons from 2004-2009 when they averaged 22,000 a night to 11,000-12,000. I don't know how many seasons tickets of the Raptors are tied to the Leafs, but they always seem to do a damn good job filling this place for an organization that has given nothing to the fans except for a few years in 17 years. The attendance to win ratio has to be unprecedented in Sports (not including the NFL), except for MLSE's other team, the Leafs.

I bet the last thing the board wants to do is fire Colangelo right now and trade as many players because it would give the notion to the average fan that the team is throwing in the towel for the season, and then financially it could hurt this team. Instead they can spin some BS about the "talent being there" and "doing everything they can to fix the problem" when all that means is hoping things will magically change so fans will still want to see this team throughout the season. Well everyone on this board is smarter than that. Much smarter and knows not to believe a thing that bull **** BC has to say anymore. The guy probably just decided to retire the "we miss Garbajosa" line during this tough time. If anything, why not wait until the end of the season when they can quickly come up with a new marketing platform that incorporates youth, excitement, hardwork, young guns, rebuilding, etc and other bull to sell to the fans.

MLSE has spent a fortune selling and hoping big names like Colangelo and Burke could fix two struggling franchises. They were given total control. Together they have had 10 seasons (11 counting BC's this year) and have 2 playoff appearances and 3 playoff wins combined. And like BC, MLSE will continue to allow Burke to fix things around, hoping and praying things change because they are scared what would happen if they had to admit that both hires were massive failures. Would the fans come back if they had to start over again? Of course for the Leafs, but it migh be a small dent in their armour. They never had a problem selling Burke or Colangelo, but it might be tough selling an MIT guy like Darryl Morey or an up and comer like Sam Presti that desevers a chance or whoever the hockey equivalent is.

Back to my main point. A site isn't going to do anything. They know fans are pissed. The only thing that is going to scare them is loss of $$$. That means perhaps a petition stating that until serious changes are made (trades, firings), us as fans will not spend a single penny on tickets, merchandise etc. The holiday season is upon us. The try and advertise big time with holiday packs with all the best teams. Maybe the only thing that will make them do anything is if they realize that they can't sell their wonderful ticket packages that include the Lakers, Celtics, Thunder, Heat, etc. No website is going to make them do anything if they see those tickets are moving. Bottom line.

The website is a start. But we need to take this to the next level.

Smart man.

[SirHuey]

So, who's gonna make the FB page?

[Scase]

No matter what executives say, there is no rush to clean this mess up. The reason why? The franchise is doing extremely well financially even though they have missed the playoffs 4 straight years and well on their way to a 5th year. The Raptors are 8th in attendance somehow. That probably won't hold up after this break, but there is no concern that it will drop to 14,000-15,000. There is not going to be some crazy drop off like the Pistons from 2004-2009 when they averaged 22,000 a night to 11,000-12,000. I don't know how many seasons tickets of the Raptors are tied to the Leafs, but they always seem to do a damn good job filling this place for an organization that has given nothing to the fans except for a few years in 17 years. The attendance to win ratio has to be unprecedented in Sports (not including the NFL), except for MLSE's other team, the Leafs.

I bet the last thing the board wants to do is fire Colangelo right now and trade as many players because it would give the notion to the average fan that the team is throwing in the towel for the season, and then financially it could hurt this team. Instead they can spin some BS about the "talent being there" and "doing everything they can to fix the problem" when all that means is hoping things will magically change so fans will still want to see this team throughout the season. Well everyone on this board is smarter than that. Much smarter and knows not to believe a thing that bull **** BC has to say anymore. The guy probably just decided to retire the "we miss Garbajosa" line during this tough time. If anything, why not wait until the end of the season when they can quickly come up with a new marketing platform that incorporates youth, excitement, hardwork, young guns, rebuilding, etc and other bull to sell to the fans.

MLSE has spent a fortune selling and hoping big names like Colangelo and Burke could fix two struggling franchises. They were given total control. Together they have had 10 seasons (11 counting BC's this year) and have 2 playoff appearances and 3 playoff wins combined. And like BC, MLSE will continue to allow Burke to fix things around, hoping and praying things change because they are scared what would happen if they had to admit that both hires were massive failures. Would the fans come back if they had to start over again? Of course for the Leafs, but it migh be a small dent in their armour. They never had a problem selling Burke or Colangelo, but it might be tough selling an MIT guy like Darryl Morey or an up and comer like Sam Presti that desevers a chance or whoever the hockey equivalent is.

Back to my main point. A site isn't going to do anything. They know fans are pissed. The only thing that is going to scare them is loss of $$$. That means perhaps a petition stating that until serious changes are made (trades, firings), us as fans will not spend a single penny on tickets, merchandise etc. The holiday season is upon us. The try and advertise big time with holiday packs with all the best teams. Maybe the only thing that will make them do anything is if they realize that they can't sell their wonderful ticket packages that include the Lakers, Celtics, Thunder, Heat, etc. No website is going to make them do anything if they see those tickets are moving. Bottom line.

The website is a start. But we need to take this to the next level. If not, they will keep writing the same letters that they are doing everything they can to fix this mess, while they continue to smile as they look at the revenue come in.

What we need to do is raise money to get a billboard or something in DT T.O. to get the message out to the casual fans/general public that this team doesn't deserve such great fan support while putting out such a bad product. That would get their attention.

[C_Money]

The sad part is we wouldn't have to reach this level if we had an ownership group who didn't just care about money. Mavericks fans will never have to create a fire ______ site because they know Mark Cuban is just as pissed off as they are.