Crawling Through The Desert

September 25, 2009 @ 12:55

This is a paragraph from Damien Cox's column in the Toronto Star today, and it just about says it all.

"Right now, had the NHL seen the future and cut a deal with Balsillie, the sport would be abuzz over the arrival of a new Hamilton franchise, with all those young players gathered by the Coyotes organization finally having a meaningful place to showcase their talent.

It's so true. Just think if the NHL had done the right thing and allowed a billionaire to buy a trouble franchise and move it to a rich and hungry for hockey market.

A Balisillie take-over of the Coyotes makes so much sense on so many levels the current situation has only done damage to everyone concerned.

The Coyotes, because they're a like a ship without rudder. The league because they look petty and silly and incompetent for rejecting such strong ownership. And to Canadian hockey fans who have been nothing short of insulted by the whole process.

The team belongs in Hamilton, has the building, money and ownership to be Hamilton, but the league says no simply because it is Hamilton.

Damien Cox makes a great point. What if. What if the league had taken the logical route by recognizing the failure in Phoenix and giving the team to the rich Canadian guy who wants to put it in a city that would absolutely adore it.

Gary Bettman could have looked brilliant rather than as Cox puts it - "a man whose lost his mind over this disaster and become nearly delirious, like a man crawling through the desert unable to distinguish reality from mirage. He doesn't seem to know what it's fighting for any more, just that it's fighting against Balsillie."

Amen

Category: Sports

31 Responses to "Crawling Through The Desert"

Boomer
September 25, 2009 / 14:57

Not on Gary's watch. The little man would be admitting defeat.

Pauly Walnuts
September 25, 2009 / 17:17

That little weasel would sooner let the team fold then let Jim have the team. I agree with Boomer, it won't happen on Bettman's watch.

Jake
September 25, 2009 / 17:23

Rich people get even--do they ever---remember Ballard and Bassett when the Bassett's wanted to buy the Argoes...revenge of the billionaires.

Mike from Lowville
September 25, 2009 / 17:57

"What if the league had taken the logical route by recognizing the failure in Phoenix and giving the team to the rich Canadian guy who wants to put it in a city that would absolutely adore it."

I would have 2 season tickets to watch NHL hockey LIVE for the first time in my life!

Butt-man is a true example of a guy with little man syndrome. I think the doctors call it a Napoleon complex.

Line of Sight
September 25, 2009 / 18:55

Bettman was sold to the NHL by the NBA who were really just casting him off. He's been a complete failure as a manager, as a leader, and as a representative of the sport. Little man syndrome certainly. Napoleon complex? No way. At least Napoleon conquered Europe. The only name Bettman will make for himself is as a pathetic excuse of a footnote.

Horonymous
September 25, 2009 / 23:35

Why is Bettman so against more teams in Canada?

Alan Gee
September 26, 2009 / 00:34

Bettman is a putz.

Oliver (a/k/a Dizzy)
September 26, 2009 / 03:25

The Winnipeg Sun's front page on Friday had Don Cherry guaranteeing that Winnipeg would get an NHL franchise for 2011 or something.

Here's hoping. I live in Winnipeg and would love to see them here.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/2009/09/25/11109196-sun.html

cragar77
September 26, 2009 / 20:14

Buttman represents the last mistake of the late Billy Wirtz that has yet to be corrected. Look at the job his son has done since he has been in charge of the Hawks. Billy Wirtz was the idiot who recommended to the rest of the brain dead owners to bring him on board as commisioner.

Mikey
September 27, 2009 / 02:32

Who honestly gives a shit about this anymore? To think we could have a colony on Mars by now if people didn't waste their time obsessing over Gary Bettman. He's an idiot, and Jim Balsille is a lucky fool, get over it.

buffaloboymike
September 27, 2009 / 15:56

I finally figured it out...If Bettman allows this move to happen and Phoenix loses its team, Bettman has failed as commissioner of the league. Hes done if this happens. His goal was to promote the sport in the US and make it a major sport down here. He would rather see the team struggle and put on a happy shiny exterior to the team than to let it flourish in a Canadian city or somewhere closer to the northern states that would appreciate the sport more.
If the move happens it invalidates all the moves he has made to expand the sport.
Carolina should probably go back to Hartford
Florida, Tampa, Dallas should go back and become the second team in Minnesota...or put them in Madison Wisconsin That would make more sense.
But Bettman has no sense he has wasted time expanding a sport into markets he didnt need to expand it into. All he had to do was fill cities in favorable markets in the northern US and Canada not give it to the southern states where they would rather see a college football/basketball game over the NHL.

Sid
September 27, 2009 / 19:18

Someone wrote this here before so it ain't original.
Bettman's mandate was to expand hockey around the USA and get a salary cap. He did both.

Balsy...maybe another owner doesn't like him? Maybe it's the Leafs. Maybe it is Bettman? Who knows?

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