Parting remarks for the Gliebermans

I posted this on the CFL Talk board, but thought I'd re-post here.

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Dear Bernie and Lonie,

It is with absolute good riddance that your tenure in Ottawa and with the CFL comes to an end. We are all sorry to have known you and can't wait to forget you.

You are nothing more than egotistical, media-hungry liars. What is it, exactly, that our city, our country and our football league did to deserve what you have put us all through? What is it that you so hate about us that you would embarrass us with your continued uneducated, unprofessional and, at times, unbelievable behaviour? How is it possible that a pair of allegedly successful businessmen could be so incredibly inept and downright stupid in virtually every move they make? Twice!?!

Unfortunately, I was too young to fully understand the mess you made the first time around. Therefore, I was dumb enough to give you the benefit of the doubt and actually believed you when you said that you came back to Ottawa to "make amends". I thought you were actually telling the truth (gasp!) when you indicated that you were willing to bare the burden of short-term losses in order to profit from the long-term value and potential of the team and the league. I will never be so naive again.

You should be absolutely ashamed for what you have put Ottawa football fans through. Please leave and do not even think of returning. If we never hear from you or about you again, it will be far, far too soon.

Well vented gades1979.

Hey now, where’s Moscow and the other Glieberman apologists?

Exactly ! Where are Lonie's buddies now, Moscow, Smythcam and Gades. You three were always sticking up for that cockroach Lonie, that he had the best intentions of the team in mind, Look at us now. The Gliebermans are nothing but liars and bullshit artists. Let's see you make excuses for them now.

Unfortunately, not enough Ottawa football fans spoke out loud enough to prevent these complete imbeciles from taking over. I tried like you ORR, but felt like I was fighting half-wits on this site more than anything else; so I gave up. I still don’t believe the league or the media that there were no alternatives other then the Glibermans. If that was so, considering the state they have left this team in why would the league even attempt to find new ownership and not fold up camp and move on. OPEN THE BOOKS AND CLEAR THE AIR! That will explain much of the demise of this club and the real link to BRAD WATERS. He is walking away absolved of any guilt when he should be held primarily responsible. I don’t blame the baby that rubs shit all over the wall, but the babysitter that allowed it to happen. Ottawa football fans should not be beguiled, Brad Waters and Tom Wright are the real culprits of this disaster and likely the end of professional football in this city. It is a real travesty.

Right on, brother!!!

Well said Gades1979...

I'm man enough to admit I was wrong. Perhaps it's because I'm the type of person that likes to give second chances.

I will also include that I don't think the team will survive (let's hope I'm wrong again.)

and just to add... If the team doesn't survive we can thank Tom Wright for this mess. It was his bad leadership that has put the Renegades into this debacle...

FIX IT WRIGHT.....

Good one smyth cam. You have gained my respect.

Thanks ORR... let's see if we can get ourselves a real owner now. Someone as passionate as us when it comes to football in Ottawa...

Look -

The Gliebermans lost money last year. They sunk money into the joint. They didn't make a cent. W-T-F DON"T YOU UNDERSTAND? Where do you think you, me, the team, and the rest of us would be with that mess of a group that owned the team FOR THE FIRST THREE YEARS? Nowhere. At optimistic best, we'd still have had a piss poor last season because nobody would have put money into it, and we'd still be in an ownership search right now.

The Gliebermans apparently are good real estate developers. They sucked at football ownership. Repeatedly. So I say 'Thanks for coming out' in both the positive and negative senses.

Melnyk is a possible hope, BUT, and it's a big but, he won't run it as a charity. If he steps up to the plate, we'll have to as well. With our pocketbooks.

Actually, any decision someone with the stature of Melnyk makes, is going to be based on what we as fans have already shown. If a Melnyk looks at the gates from the past and doesn't like it - the party's over before it even has begun.

Euge - I've already got my season tickets in the lower south side. I sincerely hope I won't be getting my $ 280 back in a few months - from the league.

Listen here jacka$$, i don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone else. I made my decision to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them another chance. But near the end of the season, it was becomming clear that he was a joke. I also can admit when i was wrong and this is one of those moments.

But regardless, i still feel that the fans of ottawa are still partly at fault for all this mess for not attending games, instead, they would b!tch and complain about this and that.

seeing as this is a anti glieberman i will be suicidal and defend him. *+(notice i said him not them... nothing good to say about lonnie) the gades are not in this mess because of the gliebs this time. waters and smith ran this team into the ground and refused to put the required money to make it a success. the city of ottawa(not the fans) is also somewhat responsible because of the ongoing stadium issue. last year waters and smith decided to refuse to work together and so something needed to be done. they decided waters would flee and smith wanted the gliebs to take over the majority. this was their right as they owned the team. not tom wright or anyone else. bernie was willing to dump money into a moneypit and even pay for the losses that had nothng to do with his own ownership up to that point. then one year later smith pulls another smooth move refusing to pay for his share of the losses again. why should someone who owns 51% of a company pay for 100% of the losses. it would be crazy. do you think, that if the gades made money last year smith would be saying no bernie i insist.. you keep all the earnings. i doubt it. bernie was still willing to pay his share of the losses and continue owning the team. i blame lonnie for being the disaster he is but i blame watters and smith completely for the lack of present ownership.

now you can all call me crazy and continue to mock the gliebs. they may be an easy target but try to remember what got us here.

I'll tell you exactly what got us here.... Tom Freakin' Wright... The Waters/Smith group was told that a salary cap was going to be in place. Wright didn't have the balls to enforce this back in 2002. To try and compete, the Watters/Smith group had to pony up money. They lost a ton of money (thanks to Tom Wright). Then, Tom Wright made the decision to sell the team back to the Glieberman's (a big mistake as it turns out). Watters/Smith group were sold on the idea that there was going to be a salary cap. Why do you think they got millions of dollars from the league so they wouldn't sue???

There are a lot of reasons why the Renegades are at the sorry state that they are at right now, but the number one reason is Tom Wright. Tom Wright also denied Bernie Glieberman's 4.5 million dollars for funding the team this year and instead took the ownership away from him. He is a bad leader, and if he doesn't find a new owner for this team, I hope he rots in the stinkpot that is Toronto.

As far as I am concernder this has nothing to do with Wright. The Gleibs never took the team of the league seriously. They played it as a hobby and didnt care if it sank or swam.

They ran the team as a joke plain and simple. Think about it! They neer want to make money. Season tickets for 99$ What would they have done if they sold out? No way they could have made money on that deal.

Blaming Wright is just denying the truth that Ottawa was taken for a ride>

Guys & Gals,

I hate to say it, but I think the best we can hope for is the team going dormant for the 2006 season. It looks like Gene isn't interested, and I can't blame him.

It's a pity because, although I'm not that sure about the run and shoot, I'm sold that Jenkins is a good recruiter. I really believe that if we fielded a team this year, at least the american talent would be surprising. I say american talent because apparently, we only have about 22 canadians signed, and we should be going into training camp with about 35 canadians, according to Eric Tillman on the radio this afternoon.

I think it's all a moot point. I think that the team will go dormant for 2006.

Wright never enforced the cap.... Wright went on vacation the first time there was an ownership problem. Wright let that first ownership probelm drag on from the end of the Grey Cup in Ottawa, to the beginning of June of 2005. Wright let the Glieberman's buy the team. Wright went on vacation again in a time of crisis this year, when he found out about it, Wright never came back.

Wright, Wright, Wright.... Fix the situation or fire him for his incompetence...

good fucking riddencene!!! never own another CFL team again! go back to that "All American football league"!!!!

wright did not sell the team to the gliebs, watters and smith did and it was that or close the doors last year already. wright never enforced the cap because the govenors did not support the cap. wright has no actual power in this league and maybe that should change but it is probably better to keep the power with the board of govenors. otherwise one bad commish could really hurt the league. now it takes a few bad govenors.
moving on from the blame game. we have been in a bad situation for a couple years now and it needs to be remedied. firing the commish who has found two solid owners in the last few years does not appear to me to be a step towards solution. the potential solutions seem to be: find a new solid owner within a few weeks, put the team on hold for the year (don't see how this is possible-need to kill this team and start a new one in this scenario), or close the doors for good. If it was possible looking to move the team to another potential city might be worth consideration. but i cannot imagine another city ready for a team by next year.

Wright actually had to approve the sale of the Gades to the Gliebs, so in fact, he had a hand in that. If Wright had any balls at all, he would have enforced the cap, he's the comissioner for god sakes, act like it instead of a puppet to Braily and Campbell.