The Hive of Truth
Introduction: Welcome to the Hive!....of truth. I am (the) Xter Minayta, and I'm here to finally put the Minnesota Swarm lacrosse team to bed for good. In this "blog" you will finally hear about all the blunders and mishaps of the team and their stooges in the front office.
What- The Hive of Truth was originally going to be to expose the team and it's staff for what they are. Over protective lying frauds. That being said, since the team is likely on it's way out of town (Oh, they didn't tell you yet? Shocking) it is now going to be used to expose all the trash that has happened over the years that they conveniently forgot to mention to their "beloved" fan base, as well as to point out all mistakes both fans and the team made over the years, so we can learn and not have a repeat of this disaster next time the Twin Cities is handed a team that no one really wants (like that soccer team we're going to possibly, probably not, end up getting).
Who- Well I mean there will be a lot of names thrown around here, because quite frankly the team pissed off a lot of people over the years. Main culprits and victims, though? Andy Arlotta, Alec Schimke, John Arlotta, "Corporal", the entire roster since 2012 and yours truly.
When- Well in the long view, Around 2009, but the majority of the stuff went down from 2012 until the present day.. Oh yeah, and an incident in 2001.
Where- Mostly online and in St. Paul/the Excel Energy Center... Oh yeah, and an incident in Milwaukee.
Why- I loved the Swarm, but slowly saw a new owner and his son (mostly just his son) ruin a team and experience I enjoyed so much, and when I went online to vent I got "banned". I was not alone, but also, someone needs to hold Andy Arlotta accountable for his actions as owner/GM, as well as away from lacrosse.
Background
I have been a die hard sports fan since I was 5 years old, and growing up mostly in Minnesota have always loved the teams here. In 2005 the city of St. Paul experienced it's first winter with professional indoor lacrosse, as the Minnesota Swarm, of the National Lacrosse League (A "national" league with more Canadian teams than US ones). I got my first taste of lacrosse and the Swarm in 2007, when I was given free tickets to the game. I went with my family and we all had a blast. I was instantly hooked and tried to get to games as often as we could. I got to know the PA announcer at the time, as well as a few of the fans. In the middle of the 2008 season the Minnesota Wild (NHL team) were purchased by Craig Leipold. When he purchased the state of Minnesota's beloved hockey team he was given this little NLL team (Swarm) in the deal. After the season, he wisely decided he did not want the hassle of the Swarm, so he "sold" the team to his "friend" John Arlotta, a Notre Dame grad who is a self proclaimed "lacrosse guy", and apparently Leipold knew that, so he wanted to "enjoy" their teams in the same arena and city, as friends (as stated in this Lax Magazine article and this Q&A with Minneapolis' Star Tribune). Pretty cool, huh? Then John made the mistake of bringing in his son, Andy Arlotta, to "run the day to day operations". As a fan, at first you didn't realize much of a difference, but that changed quite quickly. In 2010, the Arlotta's 2nd year as owners, I got to cover the team in a story for my high school's "news" show. It was an awesome experience, and went very well, I thought. I hit it off well with their media guy, Alec Schimke, at the time. As someone who was also into sports and media at the time, as well as aspiring to venture into both fields eventually, I can honestly say I sort of looked up to him at the time. Anyways, while waiting for post game interviews, the guy I did the story with and I were on the field when a group of drunk Canadians went from the stands onto the field. They came over and grabbed the mic and started just going off on a hilarious drunken rants about the team, themselves, lacrosse and "star" player at the time Zack Greer. Obviously, we hit the record button, as high school students with some possibly questionable judgement at times, and let them go on. I threw in a condensed version of their rant as our credits for that week's show, not thinking it was that big of a deal, and we added the raw footage to our YouTube page. Soon after the show was released, I got an email from Schimke asking to take down the raw footage on YouTube, because it "made them look bad" (they are, though). While I disagreed with him, I obliged. The video did not contain any cursing or questionable language, and it was just fans playing around. Anyways I went along my way after and stayed in slight contact with him. After returning from college in 2011, I began covering the team for a couple of websites, including a well known and prestigious lacrosse site, who the team had worked with in the past, as well as got a gig doing a Minnesota Swarm only online radio show/podcast. This is where things get interesting...Lastly, this story has been documented elsewhere, as seen here:
First Major Blunders
Well I guess you could say the first major blunder was pissing me off. It was more so how they did it, though. You know how you Swarm fans always cry about the media not giving the Swarm any love? Well not only are you wrong (granted, it's nothing legitimate), but you are blaming the wrong people. It is not the media's fault. They cover what they are told, and what is a big deal. Quite frankly, the Swarm aren't a big deal to anyone, besides their fans and themselves. Blame Alec Schimke. Not only is he apparently uncreative in ways to get the team media attention, but he has straight up turned down media attention.Thinking I was still kind of cool with him at the time, I emailed him to see if I could get a media pass when I got the gigs covering the team with the websites, and the podcast. No reply to my first email. Okay, maybe he's busy. Tried again after a month. No reply, again. Whatever, I went along my way, writing my articles and doing quite well (in my humble opinion) without any resources, but it was definitely stressful to try to get home after a game, then have to spend hours checking my stats with the official ones, then putting that into words for two articles that had to be written and worded differently. Oh, did I mention there was a deadline? Yeah. This would honestly not had been a problem if, I don't know maybe, I was given media access like everyone else covering the team. Access to the press box, live stats, arena (media) WiFi and players/coaches would have been helpful, not to mention improved my work greatly. I then had the woman who ran the lacrosse site and the podcast email him. He replied to her saying that we could not have guests currently with the team on the podcast, because the team was going to be starting their own show. Not only is that an absolutely garbage reason, because a team like the Swarm is not in the position to turn down any slightly legitimate media attention, but also because their "show" was a short YouTube show that was released once a week. That fantastic show, ironically, didn't last long after we stopped the podcast (odd).
Meanwhile, I had the host of their YouTube show, Jake Elliot, messaging me and harassing me on both Twitter and Facebook. At the time, I had too much pride to just block the guy, despite him being an immature asshole. This dude was a grown man, working for a professional lacrosse franchise, who was using two different social media sites to harass a (at the time) 20 year old who was just trying to combine two loves and make something out of them. I was not getting paid for one of the sites, or the podcast, and the other site I got less than a penny per view. The ironic part about it, is despite having all the necessary resources to make something great of his work, he didn't. Looking back, given what I will uncover about the people in this organization, I am not surprised at all by his actions, but at the time it was a surprise. I am not claiming completely innocent, by any means, as well. I got my fair share of words in, but it was more defensively at that point, plus I was not working for and representing a professional organization. Unfortunately, he blocked me on Twitter (ironically), and I deleted the Facebook messages, so I do not have screen shots of them. The only thing pretty much I didn't get. Anyways, I eventually quit covering the team for both sites and the podcast.
So why would Schimke allow barely 18 year old me do a video story on the team for a south suburban HS of about 2,000 students, but not let 20 year old me, now hosting a team related podcast and writing about the team for two well known websites, get a media pass (or at least live stats and WiFi) or podcast guests? Simple. He was still upset over something very minor that he didn't like that happened two years ago (fans on the field), despite my professional style of work since then. Granted I can't prove this, but I'd love to see someone find a more logical explanation. Also, for anyone who says it was the illegitimacy of the sites I was writing for I present this:
Mike Peden was the other (St. Paul) Swarm writer for one of the sites (Examiner) I was writing for at the time. Why would you give media access and rights to one, and not both? Especially when Minneapolis is the more popular city and Examiner page. Just saying...
Things Start to Get Out of Hand
While all that was going on Andy Arlotta suddenly was worried about his dad's money. Instead of putting together a winning team (or at least trying to), like any logical GM/Co-Owner would, he comes up with the brilliant idea that ended up being known as "the youth movement". Youth movements can work in pro sports, but not a league as illegitimate as the NLL. Not to mention them working in major pro sports leagues takes a long time, and can be very unsuccessful. So what was sold to Swarm fans as an attempt to get a young, fast and talented team, in attempt to make a playoff run, was really just a cost cutting attempt in a league where a franchise player makes less than some MLB players make on one pitch (at the max). The difference between the rookie max and the franchise player max was less than $25,000 at the time. Sounds like a lot? Well it's not. This is professional sports. Not only do these players have to work 2nd jobs, travel a lot, then play a physical sport while being vastly under paid, often making less than $1K a game (Source), but these owners are often, like Arlotta, multimillionaires. Those numbers are from before the NLL went to an 18 game schedule in 2014, meaning players are getting even less per game now.
Costs is a terrible excuse, too, especially for a man like John Arlotta who, according to his profile on the Swarm website, has worked high up in multiple health care companies making billion plus dollar profits during his time at them. There can be very little doubt that the man has a net worth less than 9 digits, and could very possibly be near the 10 digit mark. Also, I get that no one wants to be losing money, something that is well known that the Swarm have been doing over the years- leading to pathetic pleas like this (side note, success on the field? Okay then). Thing is, if you don't want to lose money, instead of begging fans to buy season tickets and to sucker their "friends" into buying some, as well, how about you invest in putting a winning team on the field, so that fans will want to actually pay to see them. The "losing money" thing in the NLL has been used as a cop out for too long, and is just an excuse for the league and it's teams to use to dismiss their lack of care and incompetence. The WNBA, including Minnesota's very own Lynx, has been on the rise over the last 4 years, because they invested in both talent, and in getting that talent out there for many to see. You didn't see Glen Taylor, his fellow owners and WNBA execs going around making excuses and asking for handouts. Instead they were proactive and used plenty of that money they have/had to invest in better players, better coverage and winning. Now many teams, and the league as a whole, are turning things around.
Anyways, the "youth movement" went "well" in year one as the team made the 8 team playoffs, in a league with 9 teams. The team won their first round game, as a 3 seed, then came home to host the 4 seed (Edmonton) in the conference finals only to lose by 12. The next season was a disaster, the season after that was even worse and this season was no improvement. Despite the constant trades of "fan favorites" and the losses adding up, the fans kept along their idiotic ways. As long as they got to do the "Surfin' Bird" and "goal dance" a few times a game, they didn't care. I was different, and spoke of my displeasure. That, despite not crossing any lines, led me to being blocked on Twitter, and "banned" from the Swarm Facebook page (Schimke and I had stopped contact well before this, and he had "unfollowed" me on Twitter).
I drifted away from the team, and the NLL, for a while until I stumbled upon "The Letter", and it's contents. I know any Swarm fans reading this right now are asking "What is 'the letter'"? Good question. The team sure doesn't want you to know, but there's a lot they don't want you to know and I'm here to piss off the team (more than already). So here's "The Letter". There's also your answer to your questions about Corporal that the team didn't want to answer. They are the reason he went missing from the team's Facebook page, as well as other things team related. Andy and John Arlotta were so offended and upset about Corporal's request, for the better of the team, that they "banned" and blocked their 1st season ticket holder, their #1 fan, a guy who did more positive for the team than anyone in the front office, a guy the players knew and respected, a guy who had a Swarm dedicated site that was better than anything the team had put together and was great for lacrosse/the team, as well as a guy that both Arlottas knew. These are businessmen (apparently), who refuse to actually talk business with fans/peers, but instead resort to sending out a lackey (Schimke) to go make sure you can't put your opinion on their social media sites.This, and proving a point, inspired my comeback...
The Power Struggle/War
The first thing I decided to do was infiltrate the Swarm's page using my knowledge of the sport and the few remaining connections I had left to gain control and respect of the Swarm fans (AKA sheep) before the big reveal. Well the team decided that they needed to go on maximum damage control/censorship, despite nothing suspicious going on with my "new" page that was in no way linked to me and had been used for a personal matter two years ago and had plenty of posts, etc., and once again "ban" an account unreasonably. What terrible thing did I say? "2011 is hardly throwback" (It was 2014 at the time). REALLY?! Are you serious?!!! I mean give me a break! Granted, I guess, that was an opinion, I think many would agree. 3 years is now throwback? Come on.. Although I do not have a screen shot of that comment before it was removed, because I didn't see that one coming at all, I do have a screen shot of the lovely email I sent the team about the "incident"....
Again, this email was in no way threatening or contains any offensive language... Unless you're offended by the harsh reality of what it'll be like when your team folds. Was it meant to be in a demeaning tone? Absolutely, but there is no way they could prove that in such an email (besides my admitting it now, since it no longer matters). There was no reply, of course, and this incident led to me going on the offensive and inspired this thing that you are reading to come to fruition.
I decided that infiltration was no longer the way I wanted to go, but instead an all out attack on the team, owners and front office staff. I knew going in that this would lead to many "bans", comments being deleted/going missing and resistance from both fans and the team. Luckily, it is so quick and easy to make Facebook profiles that a 4 year old could do it in under 5 minutes. Also, knowing what was coming, I was a step ahead already.
My first profile I used the believable, yet cryptic, name of Manny Gowels (many goals). At first I "liked" the page and just hung out for a few days "liking" posts and comments... Then I struck. On a post about the assistant coach and the mascot (worst mascot ever) making an appearance on the local Fox 9 morning news. Sounds kind of cool, right? Unfortunately, it doesn't work. First off, depending on the hour, viewership can be real low. 2ndly, Kare 11 is way better than Fox 9. 3rdly, they've done this before and have had no real noticeable positive results from it. Anyways, I made my first comment about it, in a fairly tame comment to warm things up. I got a bite instantly and the following ensued:
1st off, Did this woman really take the time to find this mascot, just so she could post a picture of it and tell me my opinion was wrong? If so, wow. Or did she just type in "stupid mascots" and that popped up? I had to do a Google picture search to find out that, that mascot is for the Emerald Bowl. I then took that new found knowledge, and used it against her like any more knowledgeable person would do. 2ndly, I love that chick with the great input put in. Just agree, no need to explain why or anything. Spoken like a true Swarm fan. 3rd, this was so comically awful that I almost didn't want to color out their names/pics, because they deserved any slack they get/got. That ended there, and I (slightly) surprisingly did not have those comments deleted or get banned, yet.
The next turn of events are when things began to turn their ugly head. It began after the team shockingly, somehow, beat the 3 time defending champions, at home, in overtime. I go on post game, and see this idiot who was bashing the Knighthawks. I proceed, without any investigation, to reply. A different fan then replies to agree with this guy, only for me to post a comment destroying them. Thing is I started this comment with "You people" referring to Swarm fans, not knowing this guy was Native American. He goes on to reply, essentially accusing me of being racist, saying "his people" invented the game and are the only reason Rochester has titles. I destroy that garbage, too, only to get a reply to my long comment. At that point I was "banned" by the Swarm, because heaven forbid some jackass defend himself against racial accusations, right? Here's the comments:
First off, boom! Don't come at me like that. 2ndly, after the semi accusations of this guy, I finally did look at his profile. Native American man from NY? That, ladies and gentleman, is what we call a bandwagon fan. This man, who I hadn't seen on there before, is likely only a part of "Swarm Nation", because of rookie player Miles Thomspson. Which is cool, but don't go around trashing the three time defending champs (ironically in your home state) and acting like you've been a fan forever. 3rd, Not only are you apparently clueless, but you're also a jinx, sir. After your glorious comments, the Swarm went on to lose 6 straight, while that Knighthawks team that "sucks" went on to win 8 of their next 9, including a 10-2 ass beating of "Swarm Nation". Lastly, I hope so badly that Rochester lands Miles Thompson in the dispersal draft (to be), so when he's over there pumping up "Knighthawks Nation" I can drop that screenshot on their page, with a different profile.
Anyways, a guy replied to my long comment (first pic above), but before I could reply I was "banned". No problem. I reply anyways with a new profile, that doesn't last long, named Aru Kyddyng (Are you kidding?), which is a slight jab at the team for them waiting to "ban" me until I needed to defend myself. Anyways, this guy went on some clueless rant that my rant doesn't support the NLL at all, and gets lost in bashing Swarm fans. Uh, no. If it looked like I was just bashing Swarm fans, then mission accomplished. He goes on to talk about the difficulty of Minnesota and some BS to which I replied:
1st off where do people get this crap? I mean really? Minnesota is a hard place to grow sports teams? According to who? Wins/losses, maybe yes. This isn't just wins and losses here, though. Other teams are successful because their teams fill up the stadium to a respectable amount, at minimum, have their games on on live TV and legitimate channels (I'm sorry, but channel 45 is only good for the HS tournaments) and aren't run by complete cheapskate idiots (Well.. the Twins might be). Has nothing to do with the state. You value long term relationships? Well, dude, I have bad news, you are cheering on the wrong team. 2ndly, What does his reply have anything to do with my comment, besides the first sentence? Way to call someone else out for something, then do the exact same thing. 3rd- Sources! Media Market. Job market. Lynx attendance. Saints attendance. Sports in Minnesota. I already posted the NLL salaries and John Arlotta's profile above.
That profile, obviously, didn't last long because the name was so (intentionally) illegitimate. Next came the adaption of (the) Xter Minayta. I would end up using this name more than once, because of a lack of caring. I was sure Schimke was catching on by this point, and I didn't really give a damn. Also, multiple profiles was going to be used as part of a plan (B) that I never had to put into play. How do I know Schimke runs the Twitter and Facebook profiles for the Swarm? Simple. His profile on the Swarm website. As for the Facebook page in particular, here's a secret.. All "like pages" have to be/are linked to and made via a real account.
Anyways, Xter Minayta's "debut" was on a post by the Swarm saying something about how important it is for "Swarm Nation" to be at "The Hive" to help give Andy and John more-er, I mean for the team to win. Baltimore Orioles may beg to differ. Under the Xter Minayta account (of course) I just posted an annoying plea for Swarm fans to open their fucking eyes and look into their owners and front office staff. You know, because that had worked so well up to this point, right? Here's what it looked like:
I honestly can't remember how long this lasted or if I got banned right away. For the benefit of the doubt, let's say I did. Anyways, I'm sure the owners do actually care...about the money they're losing. Also, I'd love to see an all out mutiny and see how they handled that. "You're working overtime tonight, Schimke". Anyways, my next venture with Xter Minayta (Exterminator) was a bit of a cheap shot I took at the team, but they set themselves up for stuff like this, and I passed on more than enough good chances during this. Besides, gotta have a little fun on a business trip, right? Here it is:
Nothing special here people, keep moving. That led to the imminent ban, of course. So Xter Minayta (3) came back and had a question, this time, as well as a prediction. Here it is:
The ban button question was a slight joke/jab at the fact that they keep "banning" Xter Minayta, yet this person keeps posting. It was a literal question, as in "Is this really working?", and as in "Did I find a loophole?" to put doubt in their minds. Anyways, that line/prediction about the sheep.. Remember that one. Insta-ban, of course.
Next up I went to more believable names for a bit. The next ones had no clever name or background to them. Just to random names pretty much. After one fan posted something about being excited to see the Swarm win that weekend I replied "Good luck with that". And another fan directed a comment to Andy Arlotta, even addressing him. I told him Arlotta "probably" wouldn't ever see his comment. That? Ban worthy! Came back with the same profile name/pic and posted this:
1st off, can people please stop using their full names on Facebook? We don't need to know your middle name, maiden name and whether you are a junior or whatnot. Just more work for me. Fuck you, Derrick. Anyways, back on topic.. Honestly, not much here to talk about. Just me being a prick, to continue to get on their nerves and prove that censorship isn't the answer (hint, hint FCC). I did get one more joke in, before being banned (thanks, multiple tabs). Then I ran into a speed bump. Here's the joke:
Okay, first off if you didn't chuckle at that, fuck you. Was it lame? Yes, that was the point. Getting a ban off that is further proof the Swarm and this page are a "no fun zone". Whatever, though, I think you are getting the point by now.
A Little Speed Bump
Okay, so at this point I ran into a little issue. Facebook finally realized that my IP address was pumping out a lot of accounts, in a short time, that weren't being fully utilized (took ya long enough), so I essentially got shut down by Facebook from making accounts for a while. While I was on my forced hiatus, I checked the page now and then, only to find things that could be deemed "offensive" or "questionable", but were not deleted or led to a ban. Here they are:
Oh yes, threatening someone with a gun (not literally) over a picture of a dress, especially in this day and age, is completely reasonable.
Misogyny, for the win. That? Not ban worthy. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Andy Arlotta probably laughed at this. Also, I'm sure Leo would love that some jackass used a pic of him to paste their misogynistic text over.
1st off, Ryan either called and addressed the team as "bad" (he'd be right), or is just not good with this whole American English thing. 2nd, Fuck you Ross. Twitter is awesome, and you are a "douche" for not having a profile on it. Also, saying "douche" on there is fine, but don't question how "throwback" 2011 is, or the iron fist will come down! 3rd, Fuck you, Brenda for putting nothing but a name in the comment, so I had to do extra blacking out. There's this thing called a phone. Try one. Lastly, since this question won't disappear, Angela, "Dog Days" (It was only one day before) is every week, but they keep the dogs in the owner's suite now.
This little segment is just to prove even further that Schimke may have a vendetta, and the team has an agenda, as well as a hidden "life" that it's trying way too hard to hide. I personally, am not offended by these comments, but in today's cry baby society, I probably can find people who are. Also, you can't allow comments like that to fly when you are deleting/banning comments with opinions on the year 2011, play on the field and front office moves. Just not right.
Turn of Events and My Comeback
After a while of being MIA, the team decided to help me by trading captain, "star" and fan favorite Andrew Suitor to New England. Fans were PISSED! I was loving it, just like I predicted, they eventually turned and it was glorious. To make it even better, I tried to get back onto Facebook and what do you know, success. I comment on the post reporting the trade and I go off! I took no prisoners. Jabs at the fans, owners, staff and even Suitor himself. I went all out on this comment, and shockingly didn't get banned yet. Here it is, in all it's glory:
That, and my replies to people trying to excuse the move/owners (below) were deleted fairly quickly, but the account was not banned (yet). Here's the rest I milked out of this account:
Just saying...
This guy was up in here making excuses for the owners about how they just can't afford it, it's just a toy (that 2nd part is kind of true) and that Suitor being traded had nothing to do what he was making/was due to make. Because this was different than every other trade, right? All this got deleted, of course, so I posed a question.
This was deleted, as well, but still no ban applied. The next day the team made another trade, one I actually liked, yet fans were still flipping out about Suitor, so it didn't go over well. I had to add my input, though:
After that was deleted...
This one actually got a reply! Then was promptly deleted. Shout out to Facebook, though...
Of course, drawing a reply finally led to the big bad ban. Thanks to the delay in finally "banning" that account I got a last jab in there. Jokingly suggest they ban two fans who were joking about booing the owners (as if you could find them). Here it is:
Fuck typos (1st reply).
To little surprise, that drew replies, but before I could defend the comment I made, the ban hit. Don't worry, though. We're not quite done, yet..
Yes, a 5 year old Kayne West, people. This was my last post, because I quite frankly grew disinterested and thought I had more than enough to prove my point. In case you still don't get it, though, here is further proof that you the fans, and the players you claim to love and adore oh so much, are nothing but trash to them:
1st off, Mad props for the quotes around GM in that last tweet. You are awesome Dean Hill, even if you have a Twitter which makes you a "douche" (allegedly). 2nd. Schimke, I don't believe you. Just me, though. Oh, wait that other guy doesn't seem to either. 3rd of a-oh wait, you didn't know that Dean Hill was released? No surprise. They only announced it on Twitter, which is where they likely get the least traffic. I'm sure you guys also didn't know Colin Achenbach retired... like 5 years ago. Understandable, though, he was only a key player/leader who was from Apple Valley (a St. Paul suburb), and was really the 1st kind of big name player from Minnesota in pro/college lacrosse. Not a big deal. At least you knew who he was, unlike fellow Minnesotan/former Swarm player Ryan Hurley. Oh, you've never heard of him? That's because they kept him on the practice squad before he drifted off out to no where. You didn't know we had a practice squad? This is really getting out of hand, maybe it's time to start wrapping things up.
Final Thoughts and Recap
I know this has been a long and grueling read, so far, but I ask you bare with me for a little longer. It's almost over, but there's just a few more things I'd like for the fans to know, and I'd like to address.1st off, John Arlotta- I don't hate you. In fact, I don't even know you personally. I've never actually seen or met John Arlotta. Hell, if it wasn't for Notre Dame lacrosse's field being named after you, and it constantly being mentioned during broadcasts of their games, I don't even know if I'd believe you are a real, existing person. You're not an idiot. That's for sure. Idiots don't get degrees from a school like Notre Dame, then go onto make millions, possibly even billions, in the medical care field for many years/decades. Unfortunately, you are apparently a sucker for your baby boy, and he appears to be an idiot. That will be the downfall of your sports ownership venture, and the Minnesota Swarm.
"Corporal"- Honestly, Corpsy, you might be the biggest disappointment of all. When I was a kid going to games, I would say I looked up to you in a way. Then you inviting me to hang out with you guys and the players after one of the games was awesome! Hands down, my best/favorite experience as a Swarm fan. Then after my "ban", I drifted away from the team and you eventually stood up for a great cause (despite what some "fans" might say) and my respect for you grew even more. Then you got the same treatment I did. Thing is, this may have been worse considering you knew the Arlottas more personally than I did, and had done so much more (positive) for the team than I did. You were treated like shit for standing up for something that was right, and was being swept under the rug, and for looking out for the best of the team/franchise. I have no doubt this team would be successful on and off the field, if you had Andy Arlotta's job (to be fair, I feel the same way about myself, too). So what do you do after that? Crawl back to them and back to Swarm it up! Why?! That just makes everything you did/said completely irrelevant now. You had a great website to use to take down the "evil empire" that is the Arlotta ownership, but you just went back to kissing ass for them. And even then, they didn't unblock/ban you! Geez. You say you do it to support the players, but that is kind of silly. You know as well as me that those players are not seeing much, if any, of that ticket/concessions/merchandise money you (or anyone) spend at a game. Not to mention, you also know (probably better than I do) that those players are essentially just playing cards for the team, until they get bored and decide to re shuffle the deck. I lost my respect for you over that. Sorry, man.
Andy Arlotta- I met you once, and I'm sure you don't remember me, but I'm also pretty sure you won't forget me after this. You're a terrible GM, an even worse president of the team and, most of all, the worst representative this team could possibly have. Not only do you hold the largest restraining order I've ever heard of, but you also have undoubtedly the silliest scalping incident you're going to hear about. I mean, really? Who taught you to lie (which, according to the courts, you were)? A 5 year old? Looking past that, though, even. What were you thinking while running this team? Not only were you reckless with the roster, but you lost the fricken Chipotle sponsorship! Replacing it with Treasure Island wasn't bad, until you lost that, too, and made your worst mistake to day by replacing them with a Native American tribe in Wisconsin! WISCONSIN?! Are you out of your damn mind?! You can NOT have a team in Minnesota sponsored by any business based in Wisonsin! EVER! No, no, no, no! To make it worse, they are the team's top sponsor! Come on! Moving on, ALL your roster moves were stupid. Every one of them... Besides Miles Thompson, I guess, but when you have like 5 of 8 1st round picks every year, you're bound to get lucky once in a while. I'm sure, if the team wasn't likely meeting it's doom this off season, you'd trade him soon enough as well. The youth movement was stupid. Okay? It was stupid in 2012 when it began, and it looks even more stupid now. As for your excuses for roster moves, I can crush all of them. Jobs? You had players living and working in state, before the youth movement. Good ones, too. 4th best job market in the US (2011 and since), and you're telling me these guys (all with college degrees) couldn't find jobs in any of their fields? Did they all major in astrophysics or some shit? No, you're just full of crap. Remember Ryan Ward? Remember Sean Pollock? Remember "Neverland"? All players (or things consisting of players) that were both working/living in Minnesota, and were good lacrosse players. I know you remember "Neverland", because you tried to use it as a promo tool for a while. That was stupid, too, because no one outside of the die hard fan base understood what the fuck it was, and it in no way got anyone outside of that to care any more than they already did, or didn't. Trading Zack Greer was the dumbest roster move ever. Did you see he scored over 40 goals this year, including 4 in one game against your team? I want you to imagine a roster with him, Miles Thompson and Ryan Benesch. Now wake up, your team sucks again. Money? Really? We are going to sit here and complain about thousands of dollars, when the man who writes the checks (your dad) has millions. Uh, no. Try again. The one time I met you, you were friendly enough, I guess. Fake, but friendly enough. I don't hate you. I don't even dislike you. I just kind of pity you. Lastly, why do you always sound like you just swallowed a gallon of helium?
The Fans- Well isn't this quite the predicament we have here? You guys are not only victims, but enablers in this situation. Now, I'll begin with saying that I, too, was guilty of falling for the Swarm/Arlottas' ways early on, but I was a kid then, and once I saw the reality, I would no longer support. You are all victims, or going to be, when your beloved team folds (whether this off season or next). You guys are going to be the ones who lost something you cared about, enjoyed and loved. The Arlottas? They'll walk away with their millions, still, and probably their (false) pride as well. It almost makes me feel bad for you guys, until I remember that you did not heed any warning signs, and that you all are just as guilty as those who are destroying the team from the inside. You "loved" all these players, but probably very few of you knew enough to know which ones were living/working in Minnesota, or how little they were getting paid to play, as well as other personal life things about them. For so long, you took all the crap, every excuse, every loss, every trade and just digested it and moved on like they wanted. Never questioning why the Swarm wouldn't tell you what happened to Corporal, or others. I mean go down the Swarm's "posts by others" on Facebook and notice which kind of questions and posts don't get replies. I bet if you look hard enough, a pattern will appear. It is all of you who did exactly what Andy Arlotta wanted for so long. Not question anything. Going back to the toy analogy quick. The Swarm are Andy Arlotta's "toy", he wants you to come watch him play with his toy, and he wants you to tell him how cool his toy is, but he does not want you to question his Sid from Toy Story like play/motives with his toy, and he does not want you to give any suggestions on other ways to use/play with his toy. Doing those last two will get you kicked out of his play room, and not invited back. You let Arlotta get out of control with the team, and then let him get away with sweeping ridiculous incidents under the rug. There are more female fans for the Swarm than any other local team, I can think of, besides the Lynx. None of you care or are concerned about his restraining order, though? Okay, then. Fine. The problem with you fans is you are all uneducated on how sports work, you don't research enough and are all gullible pushovers. You're the reason Swarm games turned into hootenannies with a game going on in the background, essentially. You didn't hold this team and it's staff, or league, to any standards. Donald Sterling was publicly crucified for months and even lost ownership rights for telling his "girlfriend" to not bring black men that she was screwing to his games, in a private conversation! That's it. Andy Arlotta stalks ex-girlfriend and gets huge restraining order. Not a peep. Why? Because you, the other teams and the league don't hold this league to a higher standard. Had Arlotta been an NBA or NFL co-owner, during this incident, he would have been killed on SportsCenter for weeks, at the minimum. You need to hold the NLL and their teams/staff to that same kind of standard. No one will take the NLL seriously, until the NLL takes the NLL seriously. That includes "fans". Then the one time you got mad, you got over it in a couple of weeks, and are already asking for season tickets for next year. I hope you don't actually expect renewal forms for next year. And if they do come, remember they're non refundable..
Lastly, Alec Schimke- 1st off, fuck you. You seriously couldn't get over a video clip from two years earlier that, because I still gave in back then and you got your way, no one even saw? Also, that incident just goes to show how terrible you are at this job. That footage was fucking hilarious, and would have been commercial gold! Like I said, it wasn't inappropriate at all. There was no suggestive or questionable language/comments, and there was no cursing or derogatory terms (can't say the same about the team's Facebook page). It was just funny as hell. If you (or someone competent enough) had thrown a 30 second clip of that together, then got some commercial spots (somewhere other than channel 45, because nobody watches that), that could have been huge! News channels, websites and papers would have eaten that shit up! Whatever, though. I get it. You were hired out of college, so they could train you to be a corporate bitch of a "yes man", who ended up turning his college degree into a career of covering up the many blunders of his idiot boss. That's all you are now. You do the bare minimum for media attention (cost too much?), and spend most of your time covering up and trying to explain every fuck up Andy Arlotta makes in and away from the organization. How can you wake up every morning, probably not making much, look in the mirror and take yourself seriously? How can you just stand by and watch this guy ruin the organization you work for, as well as your current job/career? You might as well wake up every day and watch Titanic in slow motion. I guess the good news for you is that "yes men" are wanted all over. You, from all evidence during your time with the Swarm, lack any knowledge of how to actually get media attention for your team, as well as any creativity. You have your little box that you were taught to think in, and your college degree, and that's it. Congrats. You were outsmarted and outplayed here by a guy who left college after 1 year. Way to go. Better luck next time.
In conclusion, say what you want about me. You can say I'm bitter, put too much time in this, have too much time on my hands to do this, whatever. I don't care. Yes, I put my personal feelings and opinions into this but, despite that, all the evidence to prove my point is there, in links and screenshots. There is no more "reasonable doubt" or reason to deny that the current front office of the Swarm is a mess, and are screwing up this once promising franchise, as well as have questionable morals and history. It may be too late now (More than likely is), but if there is in fact another year of Swarm lacrosse (unlikely), then it's time for you fans to actually step up, say/do something and force change. Whether it be a whole new ownership group or just the release of the current staff below John Arlotta, including his son Andy, it needs to be done if there is still time. Now you know the truth. Use your new found knowledge for good.
Xter Minayta, out...
