MLRH Travesty

[Colorado]

What is being said is absolutely true. I don't know why the post was taken off, but Bill Raou screwed us. First, he promised us that the Eastern Champions would have tickets purchased for them to make it to our rink. When he didn't buy the tickets, he made up a story about the air conditioning not working. Our facility is new and the a/c works fine. We decided not to worry about it and would go to Marples rink. Bill told us he would take care of the tickets like he promised. A couple days before, Marple calls us and we know nothing about the game except what we see on the website. Again, Bill did not buy the tickets for the flight. Of course, Bill is at a loss for words and is ready to just fold the league. With the help of Marple and our sponsors, we were able to get out there and salvage the championship. It was ridiculous that we had to go through this. Bill is totally unprofessional. I don't know if he has some affiliation with this site, but please don't take down this post like you did the last one. People need to know the truth about MLRH.

[mgct20]

Richard before you remove this I edited out some thing that might have been the reason you removed it the last time!
The people have the right to hear this and you should not worry about protecting the roller hockey industry from someonee who hurts it and the people in it. Please let the readers decide whats true or not.

On Tuesday of this week Captain Mike Jacobs recieved an E-Mail
from Colorados Derick Thede. The E-Mail stated that they just
got back from NARCH and were shocked with what they saw on the
MLRH website. They had no travel arrangements to come to
Philadelphia to play in this game. Bill had not informed them on
what was going on at all nor did he purchase any tickets.
Colorados Derick Thede appoligized to Jacobs and said with this
short of notice they would not be able to come. After
screaming at Bill all day on Tuesday and Wendsday Bill had decided
that they would have to have an imposter team play as Colorado.
Marple had pre sold over 300 tickets and was expecting 100s more.
Jim Jacobs of Marple had worked on getting Comcast Sports Net to
the game for weeks in advance. They had already hired a
professional video company to film the game and rented a lift
for the camera man. They had hired a company to cater the event
and ordered 250 red and white pom poms to give out. They also
spent over a $1000 dollars on advertising and hired Plex from
the Phantoms to come to the game. There was no way to cancel the
game at this time so Bill had plans to have a group of Boston
Players come down and pose as the Crush. He was very worried
that people might recognize that Mike Vickerman wasn't there. So
he was going to say Vic could'nt make the trip because of work.
He was also very worried that the New Jersey Scorpions might
recognize them but he had to do it anyway. On Thursday Morning
Jamie DiDomenico called Derrick Thede and asked him if there was
any luck on coming out here. Derrick said yes but it was a cash
proble now. Marple's Owner worried for his own organization
offered Colorado $1000 towards plane tickets and picked up the
hotel cost and the van rental. Paul Turner from Gear Roller
Hockey put up $1000 also and the rest came from a private
sponsor in Colorado. Jamie DiDomenico never told Bill on
Thursday about the good news. Bill was working his tail off on
getting the imposter team ready. He had Colorado crush Jerseys
printed up. And some pants ready. The Boston guys were still
ready to come down and were on stand by all weekend. The Boston
Contact was Karl Infanger an ex ECHL pro and Merrimack friend of
Mike Jacobs. Marple realy didn't want to play the imposters but
they would have had no choice because of all the things pre
arranged. For the record Bill had no intentions of paying for
anyones plane tickets and colorado will confirm this. The story
about Colorado's no air conditioning was false and Bill flat
out told Thede that he had no money to fly them out
here.Investing a team in MLRH is high risk and Bill is a scam
artist. He put Marple through much undeserved grief just like he
did to teams all season long. He always has a deal cut with
someone and someone else always gets screwed when his shady
deals fall thru. The league was only two days away from a scam.
If it wasn't for Marple's Jamie DiDomenico and Colorados Derrick
Thede getting together last minute there would have been a huge
fake out and Bill was 100% ok with it. If anyone doesn't believe
this ask Marple or Colorado they will tell you the same thing.

[ant4977]

Mlrh is on it's way out. Any teams thinking about joining will just be funding Bill's vacation!

[dcdawgs]

I don't think anyone should support Bill. I know that this isn't the first time he has screwed people over. I have several friends who use to play in MLRH in 1998. He has screwed owners, coaches, and players with their money situation. I know a guy who use to work for MLRH, and he left because he got screwed over.
As a former Coloradoan, Congratulations to the Crush. The best roller hockey still remains in Colorado!
Josh

[Rebecca]

I find this information to be very sad and disturbing. I really am a bit speechless and just have no comments. Unfortunately and rather sadly, not much surprises me with anybody in this industry anymore.

The one thing that perplexes me is that the refs knew about the game and the changed date more then 3 weeks ago. I don't frequent the MLRH website often anymore, but had only noticed the new date posted about 2 weeks ago. We assumed all was fine, or more like, all was 'usual'. However, as usual though with many schedule changes in the past, we did make a few contacts to confirm the game was proceding as we had been originally informed (since the refs were both driving 3-4 hours to get there). Never once were we ever told about any of the 'issues' that you mentioned. In all honesty, this is the first time we are hearing of all of this. VERY sad.

Well, on a more positive note, the game was INCREDIBLE and thank goodness and thanks to all who helped 'pull it off'. The refs both enjoyed the game and the CO team was awesome.

Thanks also to BAUER for the Referee sponsorship.

Rebecca Breitel-Rabatin
Best Refs of L.I.
http://ecrha.net

Rebecca

[SpeedDemon]

As someone who played in MLRH in some of the seasons it has operated, including this past one, I have to say that if it wasn't for hard working owners, MLRH would never have finished a season. Who knows where the league registration and other monies go to, except to provide a measly weekly newsletter and insurance I never signed papers for.

Playing in NARCh and similar events is much more exciting. Lets hope lessons will be learned from past mistakes.

Go Mudcats :P

SD