Interesting read from Canis Hoopus.
In light of the finalization of the ownership transition, I finally want to spill the beans on my insider story with ownership. It's mostly embarrassing for me, but it's also pretty pathetic on Glen Taylor's part, and also shows how **** the people he was in bed with are. It's primarily related to one of Glen's largest minority investors (who will remain unnamed throughout this comment).
I alluded to this previously a while back. But never felt comfortable spilling the beans until some time had passed.
For those that don't want to read further; the short version is that Glen Taylor was so threatened by A-Rod and Lore's presence, that he was actually banning his minority investors from certain areas in the stadium. He rolled back their rights and access to certain amenities (maybe without notifying them first) all because he was so concerned that giving ALore access to those spaces would allow them to 'take control.'
Mind you, his minority investors are the people that were "on his side," encouraging him to sue the new buyers, shilling for him, pretending they are his biggest ally, basically metaphorically fellating him. And in return, they got to turn around and get scoffed at by him.
Here it goes...
So this was pretty random. I was looped into a situation where me, and a group of nine other guys, did a huge favor for this unnamed minority investor. The favor, which I am going to be very vague about, happened over the course of a week and part of the weekend during the playoffs. The only thing I will say about the favor is that it was a very significant time commitment, and it was also done with zero expectation of compensation. Effectively, it was volunteering for someone because they were connected to a community and had asked for some help.
That said, the whole time we were with each other, the unnamed investor bragged about their position. Flexing that they were a huge fan of Glen (side note: this person recently sued Glen, so I doubt they really liked him; just wanted to maximize the value of their shares if the franchise sold).
The bragging was incessant.
But I suppose that's what you do when you're a near billionaire. You pump yourself up all the time. To give a sense of the delusion, this person claimed that they were responsible for multiple Wolves' recent draft successes... like c'mon. But, more believably, they really enjoyed hyping up the fact that they had access to the stadium and all the super cool suite areas and the Lexus Club.
Seemed pretty awesome. But who cares. The group of volunteers was of the mentality that we were helping to help. Not to receive anything in return. And nobody was asking for free playoff tickets. Just didn't make sense to ask given the circumstances. The journey was the reward yadda yadda...
But regardless, somehow it was offered. Not free tickets, mind you. But the investor said if we helped them and also came, during the weekend, on game day, they couldn't get us tickets, but we could go in the Lexus Club and "have a beer during the first half" (this was during the Denver playoff series). We all shrugged and said, hell yeah why not. "Sounds pretty suite."
So, we showed up at game time.
I can't really explain it, but there was a vibe switch. The investor just acted different. A little more antsy. Almost like they were the one about to play basketball, and were getting pre-game jitters. They weren't talking to us the same way; eye contact was flighty; lots of pacing around.
But ok. Who cares. Maybe they were nervous about the Wolves chances. Denver was a tough opponent after all.
Either way, we proceeded to hang out until it was time to go to the stadium.
When it was time to head over, the investor rallied us all and led us to the Lexus Club entrance. Side note: there was still one small aspect of the favor that needed to be finalized. The investor figured it would be cool if we did it in the Lexus Club. Again, whatever, seemed like a nice perk of helping him out. Why not.
So he brought us to the Lexus Club. The woman at the front door clearly knew who he was, but looked at the group and stopped us nonetheless. There was some back and forth, but the investor was still clearly confident and explained the story as to why he had a group of ten with him. The door person seemed reluctant but understanding. But her response was a little weird:
"Okay, yes. We can get them all bracelets... but they need to leave right after you're done"
When she said that, the investor kind of shrugged, turned around, and reassured us that it's normal and that it doesn't matter. We would still be able to hangout in the Club afterwards and watch the first part of the game. Rules aren't really rules for them. "Suite!"
This is the part where things get really frustrating (embarrassing).
Once we were in the Lexus Club, instead of grabbing a table or something to finish. The dude brought us to a **** broom closet. I am not joking. He literally led us to a tiny, cramped broom closet; fully equipped with employees' lockers, mop buckets, unfolded napkins, the whole nine (guess we should punch an old fashioned time card and get to work for this bozo).
We all kind of looked around confused. But he's just like this is where we should do this. It makes sense to be away from the public...
Sure, I guess.
But wtf...
In hindsight, this should have been a major wtf moment. Like we didn't even need to finish up this voluntary thing at the stadium. Sure it sounded cool, but none of us asked for this. And we all had way more dignity than to be crammed into a broom closet like we're Dudley Dursley's unwanted step sibling. If this dude had any sway whatsoever commensurate to his $100MM+ investment, he should never step into a broom closet.
But that's all water under the bridge now. We finished up the last piece of the job. It took less than 10 minutes. Got through it quick so we could have a drink and watch the Wolves in the playoffs.
After we were done, the investor said thank you and exclaimed that we could all go into the Club and grab drinks, emphasizing that they were all hosted by him. As he opened the door, it revealed the woman from the front door standing there with two security guards. She was holding scissors.
"Ok, everybody, give me your wrists."
She took our wrists, cut our bracelets, and pointed to a door immediately to our right. It was the exit. There wasn't even room to take one step into the Lexus Club.
But of course, before any of that could happen —and before any of us could process that we were being evacuated from the stadium all together— the investor took a side step around the woman, looks back briefly (seemed a little confused) and just booked it into the Lexus Club without a word. Leaving us all behind to get effectively shoved out onto Hennepin Avenue.
Why am I telling this embarrassing personal story?
To me, it sums up my view of Glen and the saga with ARod and Lore. This minority investor was the environment that Taylor fostered. He bred an organization that couldn't follow through on promises. They did the absolute bare minimum as a franchise, and in the end, things spun completely out of his control.
It takes a lot for me to support someone like ARod (**** the Yankees). I've heard a lot of intel about Glen and his people. But this event really put the nail in the coffin for me. Just a group of goofies that somehow backed into owning an NBA franchise. I could go on, but if you've been patient enough to read this far I will just leave it with a big thank you and I love you.
Peace
