Heroes Owner Responds to Legends False Statements

[Gene]

Heroes Owner Responds to Legends False Statements
06/15/07 - American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) Huntington Heroes

Heroes owner Greg Ramey would like to clear the air air on what was an upsetting claim against him and the Heroes. Last week the Canton Legends released a story saying that the Heroes tried to get them to switch the playoff game to Huntington. Legend's co-owner Paul Cipar and head coach Bobby Olive were quoted in that story and claimed that Mr. Ramey had contacted and talked to them. That was false. As with any story the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

"We did discuss two weeks before we even played them about agreeing to host the playoff game in Huntington", said Ramey. "But I have never even talked to Paul Cipar and didn't talk to Bobby Olive about this so for them to say the things they did was false." Before the playoff field was expanded to four teams Ramey and the Legends other co-owner Joe Hoffman had a conversation about agreeing to have the game in Huntington. The reason being was because the Legends had just lost a ton of money hosting the Brooke Hogan concert. "They lost money on the Hogan concert," said Ramey. "On the Monday after the concert they didn't want to host the playoff game and lose any more money. We agreed two weeks before we even played them the first time and had a plan worked out to submit to the league and then I heard nothing else from there."

When the week of the first round playoff game came up the Legends in an effort to stir up their fan base and team released the damaging story. "I sent an email to Joe Hoffman after the playoff game looking for an explanation and to wish them luck," says Ramey. "The response back was it was just business, nothing personal. Well I don't know about you but it looked like a personal attack on me. I never did talk to Olive or Cipar and for them to say the things they did hurt."

The Legends continue their quest for a repeat league championship when they visit the top seeded Reading Express in the North division championship game on Saturday.

[expresszac]

This sounds like another miscommunication. There has been alot of that this year. All I have to say is go to Huntington next year and Legends I will see you tomorrow. Hopefully in a losing effort on your behalf.

[Gridiron Battle Sports]

Something definately sound fishy about this story. I tend to believe that some type of offer was put on the table and Canton backed out and tried to turn it into some type of rallying cry for their fans and players. It worked.

[herowebman]

That pretty much sums it up, Gridironbattle. They were working on it and an agreement was made then it just kind of died out. This was weeks before the final regular season game. A few weeks went by and nothing was said until the week of the playoff game when Canton put out that release. Canton used it in an effort to rally their fans and team. The point Greg wanted to get across was he wasn't trying to buy away a playoff game that Canton earned. It was a business deal that could have helped out all involved. All they had to do was tell Greg behind closed doors that they'd rather play it in Canton and he would have been OK with that. They earned the game. Instead they put out an unnecessary attack. Throughout the whole conversation I had with him though he was complimentary to the Legends and Joe Hoffman, just a little hurt by the accusations.

[Canton Cougar Fan]

I don't know who said or did what.

I don't get involved in this .

But I will tell you this ... if the team earned a home playoff game and suddenly it ended up in another town ... they wouldn't ever have to worry about drawing fans again because no one would ever give a damn again after that.

If it's a ploy to draw fans, it failed last year and it failed this year. Don't do it again next year.

[scooter]

A situation similar to this happened prior to the Erie at Canton playoff game last season. Joe and I were on the field after our regular season finale with the RiverHawks. We were standing with our owner Dave Hodas and we had got word from AHaines that Canton wanted to switch the playoff game to Erie instead of Canton. The reason given was that Canton didn't believe the fan base was there to support the game, and because of the Freezes' history of good attendance they were hoping to striking a deal where both teams would benefit financially from a game played before a few thousand fans at the Tullio Arena instead of playing in front of a few hundred at the Canton Civic Center. We were of course stunned by this info from AHaines and couldn't believe what we were being told. We informed Dave of this and he was finding it hard to believe also. Then at the start of week leading to the playoff game, the Canton newspaper was reporting that Dave had called the Legends immediately after the RiverHawk game begging them to get the game switched to Erie. And that he promised the Legends the "Home" take of the game and a bunch other things.
The fact that we were with Dave and the members of the Freeze Org. for the better part of that evening and did not witness any calls made to anyone, had us on the defensive side of this supposed "offer". So, that just stirred the pot and fueled the rivalry and just created a situation that had all of us here at the time on both sides of the rivalry chomping at each other. We and our respective newspapers were firing shots and stories at each other. It turned out to be a real big diversion from the game itself and caused a lot of extra stress and aggression between the two Orgs.,
Of course, after the game was played and won by the Legends(in Canton). Conversations held immediately after the game the discussions between all parties involved revealed that the "activities" of the prior week were slightly embellished and exaggerated to throw interest in the game towards the citizens of Canton. Getting them into a frenzy and thru the turnstiles for the game.

This just sounds like another attempt to do the same thing they did last year. It's just too bad that it didn't work (again). I attended both of these playoff games and they were both poorly attended, regardless of the tales spun by the Legends.

Sounds like a second by the Legends in 2 years!

along with a possible charge of & !!!

They might want to consider taking this out of their playbook for 2008!!!

[Canton Cougar Fan]

scooter said:

A situation similar to this happened prior to the Erie at Canton playoff game last season. Joe and I were on the field after our regular season finale with the RiverHawks. We were standing with our owner Dave Hodas and we had got word from AHaines that Canton wanted to switch the playoff game to Erie instead of Canton. The reason given was that Canton didn't believe the fan base was there to support the game, and because of the Freezes' history of good attendance they were hoping to striking a deal where both teams would benefit financially from a game played before a few thousand fans at the Tullio Arena instead of playing in front of a few hundred at the Canton Civic Center. We were of course stunned by this info from AHaines and couldn't believe what we were being told. We informed Dave of this and he was finding it hard to believe also. Then at the start of week leading to the playoff game, the Canton newspaper was reporting that Dave had called the Legends immediately after the RiverHawk game begging them to get the game switched to Erie. And that he promised the Legends the "Home" take of the game and a bunch other things.
The fact that we were with Dave and the members of the Freeze Org. for the better part of that evening and did not witness any calls made to anyone, had us on the defensive side of this supposed "offer". So, that just stirred the pot and fueled the rivalry and just created a situation that had all of us here at the time on both sides of the rivalry chomping at each other. We and our respective newspapers were firing shots and stories at each other. It turned out to be a real big diversion from the game itself and caused a lot of extra stress and aggression between the two Orgs.,
Of course, after the game was played and won by the Legends(in Canton). Conversations held immediately after the game the discussions between all parties involved revealed that the "activities" of the prior week were slightly embellished and exaggerated to throw interest in the game towards the citizens of Canton. Getting them into a frenzy and thru the turnstiles for the game.

This just sounds like another attempt to do the same thing they did last year. It's just too bad that it didn't work (again). I attended both of these playoff games and they were both poorly attended, regardless of the tales spun by the Legends.

Sounds like a second by the Legends in 2 years!

along with a possible charge of & !!!

They might want to consider taking this out of their playbook for 2008!!!

Yeah, that's what I said. Just with fewer keystrokes. LOL

[scooter]

Gotta love that rumor mill MML!!!!!

[TNmike]

Looks like the Legends owner is up to his same ol'

[Tatonka]

It was fun when we did it last year to the Freeze, just because of our familiarity and the rivalry... but it did ring pretty hollow to most Canton fans who see the same story the following season. The story actually won the league's "Press Release of the Year" award last season so it wasn't a bad idea, just a bad idea to run it again two years in a row...

[Canton Cougar Fan]

tatonka said:

It was fun when we did it last year to the Freeze, just because of our familiarity and the rivalry... but it did ring pretty hollow to most Canton fans who see the same story the following season. The story actually won the league's "Press Release of the Year" award last season so it wasn't a bad idea, just a bad idea to run it again two years in a row...

Agreed. Well said.