I had started writing this article earlier and as I started to finish it I noticed that Kevin O basically wrote the same thing titled, “Why do the people who should care act like they don’t care?” Read mine first of course and also read his.

I had hoped when I planned to start writing again around this time that things would have turned around like they appeared to be in December but instead the opposite has happened. Things are spiraling out of control very quickly for the Rochester Americans and it all seems to come down to communication. Here we are with yet another season with hope that next season will be different.

From the front office all the way down to the ice there seems to be a communication breakdown. The Panthers aren’t calling the Amerks. The Amerks aren’t calling the Panthers. The players don’t seem to be listening to the coaches. The players don’t seem to be communicating with each other. To top all of that off it did not seem like a good situation to see a player and a coach argue on the ice on Tuesday afternoon at practice.

It was absurd in the online chat with Ted Nolan when he was asked if the Amerks would do anything to try and improve the team and he said, “That question would go directly to Mike Santos. He has not contacted Jody in the last two months.”

I followed up asking if either he or Jody tried to call Santos and why does Santos have to be the one to make the call?

The answer from Ted Nolan was, “Usually the people in charge give the directions. I never asked one of my players what time practice was. I usually let them know.”

Yea but if one of your players all of a sudden noticed they stunk because they never had any practice time I would think they would approach you to say, “hey we need more practice time!” Who cares if Santos is technically in charge, this is YOUR team the ROCHESTER AMERICANS. Swallow your pride and make the call to try and salvage something from this god aweful season. At least when the Amerks were in last place during the 08/09 season they worked hard and became more competitive as the season went on. This team is just getting worst.

Nolan was asked, “Do you think Florida will be active come the trade deadline? With vets like Stillman and McCabe they could bring back some AHL players in return.”

His reply was, “I am sure Dale Tallon is looking at all options to improve his team.”

Ok, it’s technically Tallons team but why not call him to discuss things about YOUR TEAM that is affiliated with HIS TEAM?

Someone then asked, “Ted, Don’t you think that’s strange that Santos hasn’t called Jody in 2 months?”

And the reply from Nolan was, “Yes I do. In any successful partnership it starts with the simple philosophy of communication.”

Over the summer when Dale Tallon was hired as Panthers GM the Amerks placed a call to try and talk to him the day he was hired. They were told he was busy but would be in touch. Did the Amerks try and call again? No. They sat back and waited for him to make the call. I don’t know about anyone else but I would have been calling at least once a week or even offered to fly somewhere to meetup with him.

Communication goes both ways, it’s obvious over the past 9 months the Amerks have not had any good communication skills. I wish I could write something a little more positive but all of this is rather petty. I understand at one point Dale Tallon said, “we’ve got this.” And I understand at one point Tallon said they’d supply a team of players per the affiliation agreement but this horrid season is damaging any progress the Amerks have made in the community, in my opinion.

The best promoters of this team are those of us who are season ticket holders who talk about the team all the time. People know we’re die hards and when they ask us how the team is we say, “they stink.” When someone hears me tell a story about deciding to go sledding and skip a game because we knew they were going to lose how does that make a casual fan want to go?

I’m sick of hearing Ted, Jody, Lewis and Stan Jonathan when asked about what’s going on say something like “THEY are supplying the players.”

If the Amerks office doesn’t seem to care about reaching out to fix things can we get a refund?