News of the Day

Well, I don't have to tell folks what the topic du jour is for today, as all eyes are on the situation in Tucson. There's lots to report, but the fun part is discerning fact from fiction. There's been a lot of comments posted on last night's post about Jeremy Law's resignation, a record number in fact. The count was up to 86 before Blogger.com went wonky and the posting link started generating an error. I don't know when things will be fixed, but if you want to read the comments, they are still available here. The first shocker from this entire episode has been the revelation that the Tilt were not owned in any way by the poker bunch. They put up the money to help purchase the franchise and secure the performance bond for the season, but did not sign into any partnership obtaining interest (or liability) in the franchise. Now, either the documents to the league defining the ownership group were false, or the WSHL is complicit in allowing Jon MacWilliams to market the team as being owned in part by Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu, and the rest. The second shocker is the state of the Tilt's finances. The word out of Tucson is that the Tilt's bank statements are circulating across most of southern Arizona. I have yet to see these statements, but I understand they are very interesting. My understanding is that approximately $150k funneled through the team. This includes $86,600 in tuition, the most tuition raised by any team in the WSHL. Where that money went is anyone's guess, but I understand the league office has a copy. I do know where the money wasn't spent, as four eviction notices were posted on team apartments last week. The apartments were located at 8110 E. Speedway Blvd. The Pima County Justice Courts have the receipts paid by MEB Management Services LLC for the serving of these notices posted here, here, here, and here. The team also bounced November's check for $11k to pay the rent at Tucson Ice. (Update: A lawyer friend clued me in on the above links. These are actually the court dockets to get the cases rolling. The hearing type is FD, for "Forcible Entry & Detainer," legalese for "eviction." It's the procedure they have to go through to legally re-enter and change the locks.) Surprisingly, to the best of my knowledge the league has not frozen the Tilt roster. Perhaps they are letting Jeremy Law find as many homes for the players as is possible before pulling the trigger. It could also be that the WSHL is waiting for the next suspense date to pass, as $20k in back league fees (the checks bounced, go figure) and additional performance bonds is due to the league by midnight on Tuesday. Something tells me we should not be expecting any miracles. Besides, with Law and the players already out of town, what is there to save? The next suspense date is Wednesday, when Phoenix is supposed to travel to Tucson for a game. Memo to Hoody, stay home and rent a good movie. Lord only knows what tomorrow will bring... stay tuned.