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coronamouseman
01-05-2002, 06:02 AM
So Tony the Tiger has called it quits and the man to find his replacement is none other than - Paul Pressler!

Tony the T should be complemented for the way in which he got the Angels a new stadium and got the Mighty Ducks off and running in their early years; however, he should have left the job of building the teams on the field and on the ice to the baseball and hockey people and stuck to selling t-shirts and jerseys as opposed to meddling with players and coaches.

It's a good thing that new blood will be brought in as there were a number of rifts between the players, coaches and managers and TT .........

But it's very potentially a bad thing if PP believes he knows anything about sports and picks one or multiple puppets to run the baseball and hockey operations.

PP - have the nerve to choose someone to run each operation who knows the sport and who you will back with authority and money (within Disney's modest means at least) to bring some life back to these once-proud (yes, even the Ducks were proud once after a first-round game-7 win over Phoenix!) franchises .........

Nigel2
01-05-2002, 10:27 PM
Soo..... does that mean paul is out of the parks now or not?:confused:

coronamouseman
01-05-2002, 10:34 PM
Nooooo! (At least according to the LA Times)

TT reported to PP - this means that PP is running both the parks and sports (aren't those the two big losers right now?)

Nigel2
01-05-2002, 10:41 PM
Great now he will be spread too thin and do a crummy job in both parts and (I have seen it done before) quit due to unwanted stress.

coronamouseman
01-06-2002, 09:17 AM
Nigel2:

The saga only gets better - somehow Disney wags convinced the LA Times that the focus of PP on the sports operations is a step forward over our old buddy TT! The article went on to state how Disney was going to spend the money to have competitive teams as opposed to simply providing a complete entertainment experience. This "revelation" sounds more like: we can't peddle white elephant franchises unless they at least look like they have a chance to make the new owner some money ..........

It's pretty amzing how TT is being painted as the complete fall guy at this point - yes, he made some mistakes but he was still being hamstrung by the Disney brass (including PP in the last year) right up until the end. It's even more comical how PP can be seen as a savior in two businesses he knows even less about than amusement parks .........

I'm not much of a baseball guy but as a Mighty Ducks Season Ticketholder (one of the few remaining!) I most certainly am hoping for (1) increased free agent spending to bring some offense to the team (bring back Teemu! - I have heard all he wants is $5M-$6M a year and a lifetime front-of-the-line pass to Space Mountain) and (2) at least some small success that will attract a meglo-maniac win-at-all-costs owner like Little Caesar in Detroit or Mr/Mrs Walmarts in Colorado and St. Louis.

Nigel2
01-06-2002, 02:00 PM
Yeah, my mom is one of the original Suite owners as well (she mainly uses it for work though). But yeah, that is terrible that they are trying to put the blame on TT while the lackluster performace of PP in parks means nothing to them. I can't remember but didn't they smear Ovits when he left? You are joking about the SM pass right (sarcasm and jokes don't travel well in here)

Morrigoon
01-06-2002, 02:12 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, we're missing the overall wonderful point here! The thinner PP is spread, the less damage he can do! By all means, take his attention away from the parks so they can begin recovering from his mismanagement. Anyway, I gave up on the Ducks long ago (yes, I was one of the original fans too, but I decided to root for a REAL hockey team - Go AVS!). So having Paul in charge of them is no real loss. It could even (dare I say it?) be an improvement. Paul is no showman. And the last thing the Ducks need is a showman. I'll never forget the season opener a few years back where we were all forced to watch a 20-minute, Steps-in-Time-esque dance performance that made a mockery of the great sport of hockey. (Some hokey premise that the other teams were "taking over the rink", very cartoonish). I've heard some booing in my time, but never so loud, so long, or so unanimously, have I ever heard booing at a hockey game. Since Paul would not wish to spend the money on such a spectacle anyway, it could be that his involvement in the program is not wasted.

I'm not suggesting I think he'll be great at it, that remains to be seen, but I am suggesting he could do no worse.

Anyway, anything that takes his attention away from the parks is fine with me. Let Cynthia have more power, she understands the parks much better than Paul.

Nigel2
01-06-2002, 02:39 PM
But he also could get spread so thin that he could also screw things up as well. We don't know how he acts when he is spread too thin, does he let more go by undetected, or does he just say no to things without even reading them?

Morrigoon
01-06-2002, 02:47 PM
I was really just thinking of him having less time to push any of his own foolish ideas through (New TL). That, and I really am hoping more good ideas slip by him unnoticed. Hey, let's increase the mtc budget for (ride) because (blah blah blah), etc. I'm hoping he delegates more decision making to Cynthia, who seems to have some grasp of the parks and how they ought to operate. I'm not saying she's a saint, but she's much more in tune to the parks and guests like ourselves than he is.

ralfrick
01-06-2002, 04:12 PM
If Paul can do for the Ducks what he did for Tomorrowland, then I say make him the GM. Oh, yeah, that would be sweet for this Sharks season ticket holder. And if he keeps playing the way he has so far, I'll drive Teemu to the airport myself. The Ducks have been like a theme park with 2 great rides, Kariya and Selanne, plus a bunch of stuff like spinning state fair rides, carnival games, an impossibly horrible dark ride......hmmmmmm. Maybe he's already the GM.

Morrigoon
01-06-2002, 04:47 PM
LOL-
Mighty Ducks - the DCA of the NHL