"I'm just a little guy"

Last night I promised some juicy news about the Rhinos. I DO have some Rhinos stuff, and I will post a little something here. However ...

On his blog tonight, the D&C's Jeff Diveronica notes that he'll have a pretty big Rhinos story in tomorrow's (Friday's) paper. In light of that, I'm going to wait and see what he's got tomorrow and react to that. To be honest, I don't want my Rhinos stuff competing with Jeff's big Rhinos stuff.

And actually, given Jeff's connections and clout in Rochester, his big Rhinos stuff might dwarf my Rhinos stuff, and I'd feel dumb writing something I think is big on my blog now, then have him come out with Bill Gates buying the Rhinos or PAETEC Park being turned into a giant nachos and cheese bowl. I just couldn't handle a blow like that. Seriously, if that happens, there's a good chance I'd be listening to Hank Williams (that's Hank Sr.) and eating Ben and Jerry's all weekend.

What Jeff has might have something to do with rumors of a big-time investor signing on with the Rhinos, someone who could provide relief to the entire Rochester Sports Group. A reader of this blog mentioned such a rumor, and Jeff mentioned it tonight in his blog. If that's the news he has, then, yeah, that's bigger than anything I have.

HOWEVER, I DID promise y'all something Rhinos-related, and I'll stick to that. It's not much, but it's fairly intriguing, I think. Here goes ...

For a few weeks I've been talking with a local vendor — I'll call the guy "Bill" — who does business with the Rhinos and has run into trouble dealing with the team. He doesn't want to say much at this point, because he and the team are trying to work things out, and he doesn't want to mess that up.

In fact, he won't even directly say what the exact problem is. An associate of Bill's told me Bill hadn't been getting paid by the Rhinos for services rendered on time. When I asked Bill if the team has, in fact, been delinquent on its payments, he declined to answer.

However, I then asked him if the Rhinos were having financial issues. His answer was revealing. "They're slow," he said.

He said he was very optimistic that he and the team could amicably settle their issues. "It's an odd situation," he said. "It's something that's been dragging on. I have to get together with them" and find a solution.

Bill also expressed a fair amount of concern for the Rhinos and their ability to function.

"I think it's something that will come about," he said. "It's something they have to straighten out. I'd just like to see everybody happy. They just have to pull together and hang on. That (PAETEC Park) is a big investment."

What he said next made me smile.

"I'm just a little guy," he said. "I don't have the money those people have."

Very ironic, given that the Rhinos allegedly don't have a lot of money.