I wouldn’t defend anyone who intentionally spreads false information. The world already has enough of that, no question.
But at the same time, hard questions about the Flint franchise need to be asked. Not, I’d suggest, to intentionally rock the boat or upset a dedicated fan base, but instead to offer the current and future players some semblance of transparency so they can make reasonably well-informed decisions.
Please let me explain.
A typical minor midget prospect is drafted the year he turns 16, just a few months before he finishes grade 10 in high school. He is a minor — too young to drink, drive, vote, serve in the military, purchase a lottery ticket, rent a hotel room, get married without parental consent ..... the list goes on and on.
He is a kid. I know, I coach them before they arrive at your doorstep.
Remember, these young men have 2 full junior seasons to play while they are still high school age, and then up to 3 additional seasons following this. They are not in any way, shape or form “grown men” when they arrive in Flint, and they won’t even be 18 year old high school graduates until their 3rd season in the league.
Do these young men and their parents have the right to meet the people who own the franchise that drafted them? Remember, these players did not fill out some form stating, “Please send me to the Flint Firebirds (or the Sarnia Sting, Guelph Storm, etc.).” Teams chose them, not the other way around.
Should they be told that a franchise is or is not planning to stay in the same city moving forward? Should they be told if the current owner or ownership group intends to remain in place moving forward? In the case of Flint, should they be told if the currently suspended owner intends to pursue reinstatement in the future?
Remember, they are kids, not adults, and they are usually moving far away from home and their parents for the first time in their lives. This is not the same as taking a part-time summer job at a local diner. No, this is a life-altering change with real-life ramifications.
As fans, you must remember that the players provide you with entertainment for your hard-earned dollars, but you do not pay them and they are not beholden to you. They perform for you at the leisure of the club’s owner, the individual who owns your team, the facility, and collects your money. They work for him, and anyone else to whom the players must answer is simply the owner’s proxy.
Which brings me to an issue about which I am well-informed from the source (I coached the individual in the past) but hesitate to raise on this board.
Please keep in mind that I am and always have been a “Players First” kind of guy and have no personal axe to grind with any posters or the Flint organization in general.
So here is the situation: one of your young prospects (unlikely to play on the team this upcoming season) and his parents wanted to meet the owner of the team. The young man’s parents wanted to ask direct, pointed questions and get answers from the source. They were not given this opportunity. To their credit as parents of a boy who just turned 16 a few weeks ago, they stuck to their guns and insisted on meeting the owner face-to-face as “Step 1” of their own due diligence process. They were rebuffed.
I do not know, nor do I claim to know, “inside information” about the franchise. But I do strongly believe that parents of minor-age children have a responsibility to ask hard questions, and the club has an ethical duty to provide honest, forthright answers so that parents can provide the guidance they are supposed to.
