Ottawa Rapids

[Booche]

Depending on Saturday, Sunday is a slim possibility for us. I would love to go. Beer prices are a buck and a quarter cheaper. Apparently the lines for the concession stands were quite long but that isnt too surprising. There will be a number of kinks to work out.

It would be great to take in a game with you Hal. The park is awesome.

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

We went Saturday night. Took advantage of the free pair of tickets for entering the name the team contest. Crowd was just over 2000. No real lineups for the concessions. There was a great vibe. you can tell that they are really trying to generate support. Players greeted us as we entered and offered autographs. Ed Nottle was also there signing autographs. When I asked about the BoSox ring he was wearing he took it off to show it to me. It was an AL championship ring from 1986. He was the manager of Pawtucket that year. He joked that even though he sent up many of the players, they still fired him at the end of the season. The Rapidz girls ran through the aisles waving their pom poms (they're not going to get confused with major league cheerleaders, like the Laker Girls, etc..., but they still added some fun.) Programs are 25 cents. They've got better food choices than last year. But the $2.50 hot dogs are really small. The sausage was tasty but expensive at $5.00. Adult tix are $10 and kid tix are only $4. ANd you can get a family game pass for $23 that includes OC transpo transportation to and from the game. They also have bus service from Hurdman station.

The mascot was unveiled yesterday, but I can't find any news stories on what it is.

And the quality of baseball was not bad. I didn't notice any discernible difference from last year.

Looking forward to attending more games.

[ollie]

What kind of beer are they selling?

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

I'm not a beer drinker, but IIRC it was Alexander Keiths and something like Coors/Coors light.

And parking is now $5.

[AD]

Shitty

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey-It was fitting that the first road trip of the Ottawa Rapidz took them just down the road from New York, "the city that never sleeps," to the gambling metropolis of Atlantic City, where sleep is entirely optional.

Sleep, or the lackthereof, is what the past two days have been all about for the Rapidz. The team only left Ottawa yesterday, but manager Ed Nottle was already referring to this as "the road trip from hell."

Originally scheduled to leave Ottawa Stadium yesterday at 2 a.m. for what they expected would be an easy 10-hour drive, the Rapidz' trip took so many turns it ended a lot like Gilligan's after he suggested he was taking the Skipper, the Howells, the movie star, the professor and Mary-Anne on a "three-hour" tour.

After being stranded overnight in Ottawa without any means of transportation, the Rapidz didn't reach Atlantic City until some 18 hours after their planned Ottawa departure time, or about eight hours after they'd hoped to arrive and about two hours late for the start of the Atlantic City Surf home opener.

The long night and day began when the bus originally booked for the trip failed to show up.

About 8 a.m. yesterday, the team secured another bus from a second carrier, only to have that bus overheat several times on Interstate 81 south of Watertown, and again south of Syracuse. That left the embattled players, some of whom had been up since 7 or 8 a.m. Sunday, hardly believing that on any trip, as some say, half the fun is really just getting there.

"A single mom is out there in Detroit, working three jobs, just trying to feed her kids," said Nottle. "We have bus trouble going to a game we love to play. Somehow, I don't think the two situations compare.

"But it was the trip from hell and these guys hung in there pretty good. I didn't hear the griping. This is a good bunch of kids. They took it like men.

"I didn't want something like this to happen any more than anyone else. And I didn't hear a lot of bitching. Over the years, I have been in a lot of situations. This is not earth-shattering if we equate it to other things in life. In all my years in this game, I'd have to sat I'm proud of how they handled it.

"But I got up at 7 a.m. Sunday and I've been up ever since."

Some of the players made light of the experience. Others seemed resigned to the fact mistakes were made and will be corrected.

No one was refusing to play last night, despite the lack of quality rest.

Right from the earliest planning stages weeks before, the Rapidz' first road trip was never going to be a thing of beauty.

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S., the team was not going to get into their hotel before yesterday afternoon, so departure time was moved to 2 a.m. from Ottawa Stadium, some 10 hours after the New Jersey Jackals finished taking three of four from the Ottawa club.

The players and management staged a barbecue in the bullpen, then headed out to see downtown Ottawa, with the provision on being back to get ready by 1 a.m.

The team said a bus was booked to arrive for a 1:15 loading, and when it still hadn't arrived at 1:45, Nottle began calling the bus company.

Ever try to get a ride with OC Transpo at 2 a.m.?

Try getting a bus for 29 people to Atlantic City.

For a while, the bus company's phone was being answered. He was told there was a "problem" and he'd be getting a call back right away.

That call never arrived.

That precipitated Plan B.

So the players were told of what was transpiring and found anywhere they could to sleep.

The lights in the clubhouse were turned off and most of the players either caught naps in chairs or on the floor, or on any piece of furniture they could find in the lower levels of the stadium.

Nottle, meanwhile, worked the phones, finally securing another bus, from a different company, at about 5 a.m. He was promised an 8 o'clock departure.

By 8:30, the Rapidz were making their way toward the Thousand Islands border crossing.

The delay there was minimal, with just three players asked for further identification and visa updates.

So south they headed until south of Watertown, when the air conditioning failed and the bus began to overheat.

The turning point came halfway between Syracuse and Binghamton when the driver was able to repair the problem while the team ate at about 1:30 for the first time since Sunday night.

By 2:30, they were back on the road, destined to make a 6:05 start for the home opener of the Atlantic City Surf.

However, burdened by road construction and a couple of accidents, the team didn't arrive until after 8 at Bernie Robbins Stadium. They dressed quickly, then took the field with little warmup.

"We're here!" joked pitcher Adam Hawes.

"Trip of a lifetime," said first baseman Jabe Bergeron.

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

Ah, life in the minor leagues!

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I want a chair by the pool

[AD]

well, that was quick. see ya, barely knew ya

Ottawa Rapidz strike out

Don Campbell, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Monday, September 29, 2008

The Ottawa Rapidz baseball club have struck out after only one season.

Team owner Rob Hall notified the Can-Am Baseball League his club will cease operations effective immediately after failing to secure a long-term lease with the city of Ottawa for use of Ottawa Stadium.

The Rapidz said they were told by the city in a meeting early this month that rent at the stadium would jump from its present $108,000 per season to in the area of $1 million once the current lease with the city expires following the 2009 season.

Hall said, through team spokesperson John Berard, that due to "significant losses" incurred in Year One of operation, the owner did not want to continue for just the 2009 season, with the expectation it would be the club's final season.

The club has hired a bankruptcy trustee and is preparing an offers to its creditors.

The Rapidz were only formed in March, just weeks prior to the start of the 2008 season, after the demise of the International League's AAA Ottawa Lynx, who left town after the 2007 season for Pennsylvania.

[Guest Low Roller]

Well that was Rapid.

[ollie]

And I was too hungover to go to the last game.

[Booche]

The Rapidz said they were told by the city in a meeting early this month that rent at the stadium would jump from its present $108,000 per season to in the area of $1 million once the current lease with the city expires following the 2009 season.

I would have said the same thing to the city. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck oooooooooooff."

[Guest Low Roller]

Baseball in Ottawa = fail x2

Football in Ottawa = fail x3

Roller Hockey in Ottawa = fail

Lacrosse in Ottawa = fail

This begs the question... How the hell do the 67's survive???

[rubberdinghy]

Jeff Hunt is some sort of mystical man.

[AD]

This begs the question... How the hell do the 67's survive???

The 67s are not football, baseball, roller hockey or lacrosse.

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

How the fuck do they owe that much money with a salary cap and a lease for $108,000? The Lynx never even lost that much in any season and they had MUCH higher expenses. The Rapidz had the attendance they said they needed to break even. Zip.ca/Hall is throwing in a red herring with that $1 million dollar lease discussion. The team had already filed for bankruptcy. And most of the debt is owed to momentous.ca which owns zip.ca which owns the Rapidz. there is something fishy going on here. These guys mismanaged the team from the start with things like the amateur looking logo, the firing of the original GM and further exemplified by the firing of Ed Nottle. I;m wondering if the plan was to have a big loss to use as a tax write off, right from the start.Hopefully Miles Wolff and Can-Am League can still salvage this and we can see the Rapids/Rapide in town next season.

[rubberdinghy]

Earl Mcrae actually got it right for once....

Yer Out

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I wonder how many seasons tickets earl mcrae bought for each of those teams

[Hal Johnson]

Interesting article. I bet the new soccer team actually does well though.

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

Earl Mcrae actually got it right for once....

Yer Out

not sure what he got right? The Can-Am league needed average attendance of 2000. Which, I thought they received. There are some hardcore baseball fans in this town (like me) who will go to the games if they are AAA or A level. The Lynx expenses were too high to operate with that level of attendance. Can-Am *should* have worked. I think the problem with the RapidZ had more to do with ownership than the city (although this city seems to have a history of bad team owners for some reason). I just posted this at the Rapids blog:

Am I incorrect, or were we told that a Can-Am team needs to average 2000 people a game. With 41 games, and tickets at $10 (ignoring the price of discount tickets, kids tix, etc…) that comes to $820,000. From that I would assume expenses were in the ballpark (no pun intended) of $800,000. Can someone please explain to me, how then, the team could have lost $1.5 million???

[Hal Johnson]

Did they pay any of their players?

[rubberdinghy]

Earl Mcrae actually got it right for once....

Yer Out

not sure what he got right? The Can-Am league needed average attendance of 2000. Which' date=' I thought they received. There are some hardcore baseball fans in this town (like me) who will go to the games if they are AAA or A level. The Lynx expenses were too high to operate with that level of attendance. Can-Am *should* have worked. I think the problem with the RapidZ had more to do with ownership than the city (although this city seems to have a history of bad team owners for some reason). I just posted this at the Rapids blog:

Am I incorrect, or were we told that a Can-Am team needs to average 2000 people a game. With 41 games, and tickets at $10 (ignoring the price of discount tickets, kids tix, etc…) that comes to $820,000. From that I would assume expenses were in the ballpark (no pun intended) of $800,000. Can someone please explain to me, how then, the team could have lost $1.5 million???[/quote']

Interesting....

[Davey Boy 2.0]

yeah too bad earl mcrae didn't bother checking the numbers, just thought a good Ottawa bashing based on stereotyping would be a better way to send out his 'message' (what the fack is a rube?!?!?)

shoddy

[bradm]

what the fack is a rube?!?!?

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+rube&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Definitions of rube on the Web:

• an awkward, unsophisticated person from a rural area; rustic
  
• yokel: a person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture
  
• A person of rural heritage; a yokel; An unsophisticated or unintelligent person

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

it was a rhetorical question

[Booche]

Earl Mcrae actually got it right for once....

Relax.