Preds President Represents What’s Wrong with AFL

Adam Markowitz
Saturday June 16, 2007

Following Friday night’s game in the Jungle, I saw the most disgraceful act I’ve seen in all of my years around the Arena Football League.  It was the first time I ever saw a team official actually get into a shouting match with a fan.

The fan’s name is John Puchein, a 15 year season ticket holder and 12 year fan club member for the Orlando Predators.  He had been in a dispute with Orlando management over a security guard and called team president, Brett Bouchy to voice his displeasure with the guard in his section.  Bouchy never returned his phone call.  A verbal war broke out between Puchein, who was in the stands and Bouchy, who was at field level.  Bouchy threatened to have Puchein and his wife removed from the arena and told him to, “(Expletive) off.”  He followed that up by saying, “Then don’t (expletive) renew your tickets,” to Puchein and his wife.

I took a second to think about that.  “Then don’t (expletive) renew your tickets.”  Forget the extremely low level of professionalism Bouchy showed to his long-time customer with his use of profanity.  He actually told a paying customer not to come back.

This is yet another in a long line of problems that Predator front office has gone through since 2000.

In 2000, Allen Duckworth, better known as Klaw, the Orlando Predators mascot, was brought into the Preds front office and was told that he was being bought out.  Duckworth, who created and owns the rights to Klaw refused to sell his creation.  In response, the Predators introduced a mascot that looked like a cat with a red mop on its head.  Needless to say, the cat wasn’t around long enough to be named, as Klaw made his triumphant return after settling with the Predators ownership half way through the 2000 campaign.

Then last year, while the rest of the Orlando Predators were headed to Las Vegas for ArenaBowl XX, Duckworth was left home by the team, as the ownership cited a lack of financial funds as an excuse for leaving their icon behind.  He still made it to Vegas for the game, but it was absolutely no thanks to the ownership.

Now Friday’s little escapade.  Too bad for Bouchy that this saga doesn’t end there.

Puchein has a legitimate claim for being angry.  The security guard in his section had been nagging him for misbehaving at games.  Two of the games the guard claims that Puchein was a problem at, he wasn’t even at!  As proof of that, Puchein traded in his tickets for those two games and redeemed them for the Georgia game.

Even worse, after the incident, Bouchy was heard speaking to another team official about this incident, “If I could have reached him, I would have pulled him.”  Now we’re not just talking being unprofessional.  We’re talking about assault.

Is this what is representing my team?  What does this show?  We have an irresponsible and unprofessional team president and an ownership group that cares absolutely nothing about the team and only is into it for profit.

Profit.  Boy, has that word killed the spirit of the league and forced so many teams to fold or relocate in the past.

Just look at the Las Vegas Gladiators.  Former Glads WR Etu Molden came out and said that he was benched, not because of injury, but because he was nearing an incentive bonus in his contract.  The Gladiators wanted to put him on injured reserve, but he demanded a trade or release instead.  Funny, those “nagging injuries” that the Gladiators kept reporting on Molden seemed to all disappear when Chicago signed him as a free agent the same week he was released by Las Vegas.  Maybe it’s no wonder that Brian Jones was replaced as the starting quarterback and turned into a kick returner, Mike Pritchard was replaced as the color commentator on Gladiators radio, and reportedly, a number of front office officials resigned their positions this week.

Maybe the Gladiators are the exception to the rule in this league, but even so, it all seems to be about money.  Regardless of what anyone says, the ESPN deal wasn’t about exposure for the league.  It was about generating revenue.  ESPN can’t even get the names of the players or the teams right.  After all, don’t you know that the Phoenix Rattlers hosted the Los Angeles Express last Monday night?

Money is why I’m even more shocked that Bouchy stooped to telling Puchein that he wasn’t welcome back to Predators games anymore.

Memo to Brett Bouchy: The fans are all that is keeping the team going in Orlando.  There were over 10,000 season ticket holders for your product this year.

I already know the owners in Orlando and Las Vegas are doing nothing to fix these messes, so Commissioner Baker should step in fix what is wrong.  After all, that’s what his mission statement says, no?

“To serve our community with pride and passion as a quality example of individual and team excellence on the field, in the office, at the arena and within the community by consistently exceeding our customers’ expectations by demonstrating the highest character, appreciation and respect for our game, customers, teammates and partners as a cost-effective and visionary organization providing a total entertainment experience.”

So much for the “fan friendliest league in the world.”

I’m just so embarrassed.  There’s no excuse for Bouchy’s actions.  And for the Predators ownership group, I only have this much to say.

The money that Bouchy just cost the team could have sent Klaw to the ArenaBowl.