patmc16
05-24-2006, 06:21 PM
Well, it's about 18 months past due, but the Detroit Wheels have finally gotten some attention from the local media. The team was featured in a 5 minute segment on the local Fox station's 10pm news. The story was part of the Problem Solvers (the station's consumer reporting crew) "Hall of Shame". The story focused around the players not being paid despite having a binding contract. There were 3 players who spoke on camera. Justin Hall who had a contract to be paid $1k per month and said he had been paid $200 for the entire season. Dave Myers (sp?) was to be paid $1,600 per month. He didn't say how much he received. The third player was not named, nor did they say how much he was owed, but it is fair to assume he was not paid in full. The "confrontation" part of the segment (there is always someone to confront on the Hall Of Shame segments) was with co-owner Chris Dryer. Dryer presents himself as a business owner and a lawyer. According to the segment, he is not a lawyer but has been in court plenty of times being sued. He owes over $100k from court cases in which he was the defendant. He also fails to mention that the business he owned in Windsor, Ontario went bankrupt and he left owing the employees back pay (kinda like the Wheels players). He denied all of that and got angry when the reporter showed him the article from the Windsor newspaper about it. "Most of what you read in the newspaper is not true" was his response. He also claimed not to be the Wheels owner now or any time in the past. Joubert said Dryer is the owner. The reporter contacted Uncle Joe, who said they are both owners of the team. Despite claiming to not be the owner, he stated that the team is working on getting everyone paid in full (ya, right!). He doesn't own them, but felt qualified to speak on behalf of them. He denied ever promising payment to anyone but clammed up when the reporter told him he had a recording of messages that he left on the players phones. The players said that, the day before the playoff game againt Toledo, he promised to pay them after the game. Of course, he never did. I guess it would be hard to pay them when no one can buy a ticket to watch them play. Chris Dryer and the Wheels ownership are now officially in the "Hall of Shame".
A statement made by Uncle Joe when these two fine owners took control of the team:
Newman stated, "We're fortunate to have two very strong individuals at the helm there and are confident that they'll put together a first-class operation and team. Detroit is an important part of the league and we are pleased that we can move forward there."
Crazy Joe..... always good for a couple laughs.
A statement made by Uncle Joe when these two fine owners took control of the team:
Newman stated, "We're fortunate to have two very strong individuals at the helm there and are confident that they'll put together a first-class operation and team. Detroit is an important part of the league and we are pleased that we can move forward there."
Crazy Joe..... always good for a couple laughs.