Published by Puckhead 6 years, 3 months ago
in Bettman and Blog Entries.
Apparently, the owner of the Buffalo Sabres has sent a letter to Gary Bettman about the fight that occurred the other night between his team and Ottawa… and overall, about cheap shots and blind-sided hits that are causing a lot of injuries.
I agree with him, and think there needs to be something done. Players don’t seem to have the respect for one another like they used to. I also think Gary Bettman’s speeding up of the game has led to some of these nasty hits. The collisions are harder because the players are moving faster than ever before… and like other sports, the players are bigger than ever before. What really gets me is that some players are getting away with these blind-sided hits and cheap shots… no penalties have been called on a lot of them. But then at the same time, guys are getting called for barely poking at someone with their stick.
Bettman needs to get the officiating in line, and re-prioritize what is a penalty and what isn’t.
So is he going to listen to this letter from the Buffalo owner and take any action? Let’s hope so… and let’s hope it makes him re-think the penalties that are being called, which shouldn’t be.
Tags: bettman, blind sided, cheap shots, hits, hockey, injuries, nhl, penalties.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 3 months ago
in Bettman and Blog Entries.
A couple links to great articles over at the Globe and Mail were sent to us by one of our readers.
Stephen Brunt makes some good points here…
What is obvious are more vast stretches of empty seats than ever before, most dramatically in what were once very good hockey towns: St. Louis, Chicago and Boston. The Blues, for a game against the Blackhawks this season, opened the doors and watched as only 5,400 fans (announced) walked through the turnstiles.
Tickets might be sold, but people aren’t at the games. This might make money for teams now, but isn’t good for the future of the game IMHO. Companies are buying seasons tickets, and no one is using them… this has negative effects on businesses that surround the hockey arenas, and also hurts the spirit of the fans. It makes me mad when I see empty seats at “sold out” games… I’m sure there are thousands of young kids and other people who are more into hockey, that would rather be in those seats than some corporate folks who really don’t know a thing about hockey… and just use it as entertainment for their business clients. I think this method of selling (and wasting) tickets is turning possible fans off from the game, and making people lose their interest in the NHL. It has pushed some ticket prices through the roof, out of the reach of your every day fan.
This article takes a look at the financial side of the NHL in Canada. For hockey’s sake, let’s hope the American dollar stays weak 
Being that Gary Bettman is/was a businessman, I have a feeling he knew what he was doing… and this was part of his plot to Americanize hockey and take the NHL out of Canada, and have Americans profit from it as much as possible.
I think each team should start brewing and selling their own beer… that may solve their financial problems
Tags: articles, bettman, bush, canada, economics, globe and mail, hockey, nhl.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 3 months ago
in Blog Entries and Videos.
Mr. Bettman, this is what the fans like to see:
Sean Avery and Martin Brodeur getting into the game!
Tags: avery, brodeur, fight, hockey, hockey fight, nhl, video, youtube.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 4 months ago
in Bettman.
Chris Russell over at the Sporting News gives us a little one on one with Gary Bettman, after his article “Bettman has done a good job” drew a lot of criticism two weeks ago….
SN: How about attendance across the board?
GB: Compared to last season, when we set an all-time attendance record, we’re about a half a percentage point behind, or about 90 total people per game behind. The attendance is growing. This past January was better than last year’s mark. February is looking good so far.”
Maybe the attendance was up so much last year because we went a year prior to that without hockey???? Ever think that was the reason why attendance was so great? People were dying to see some hockey games! And now it’s going down because that feeling has worn off, and because Bettman and all of his rule changes and terrible scheduling, etc etc are ruining the game.
I’m also sick of Bettman banking on Crosby and Ovechkin as the marketing ‘tools’ of the NHL. Two players are not going to sell the game… especially when one of them is on one of the worst teams in the league, and the other player’s team might not be around next year. I don’t think this will work: “Come see the great Sidney Crosby play next year… we don’t know where he’ll be playing, but it will be somewhere where ice is not natural to its area, and no one living in that area has ever had skates on their feet…”
Thanks to http://www.johntp.com/ for some great blog tips
Tags: attendance, bettman, crosby, hockey, interview, nhl, ovechkin, sporting news, versus.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 4 months ago
in Bettman and Blog Entries.
It looks like Brett Hull is speaking out against Bettman as well. I would like to see/hear more about what the players think about Bettman… it seems like if enough of them got together to protest him, they could have a chance of helping push him out the door.
Tags: bettman, bret hull, hockey, nhl, players.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 4 months ago
in Bettman, Blog Entries and Versus.
The New York Times had a quick little bit called “With Gary Bettman” published today. They ask him about his decision to put NHL games up on YouTube.com and Google Video… he says that the younger people these days are consuming sports differently (“multitasking”). Bettman doesn’t understand tha people are still watching hockey the same way…
In front of TVs and often with their friends, while drinking beer!!
I admit that it’s cool you can watch games over the Internet, but who really sits in front of their computer these days to watch a whole game??? I don’t know many people with great set-ups who can watch TV/movies from their computer, on their giant TVs yet. Apple’s getting us there… but I’m sure the average hockey fan could afford such a set-up.
Hockey should bring people together in front of a television, and not pull people apart and put them behind their own, individual computers. Doing so would hurt the game, by hurting the community that is built around the game.
Bettman has to get the NHL games on a TV network that more people get on their cable and satellite, and more importantly, a network that all people have heard of. I mean, come on, USA or FX, or Oxygen would be better!!! I don’t think it helped that the Outdoor Life Network changed its name to Versus either… that probably confused people even more.
Get it together Bettman… get in touch with your average hockey fan, and realize what the people want… not what NBA fans would want!!!!
Tags: bettman, cable, hockey, internet, new york times, newspaper, nhl, TV.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 4 months ago
in Bettman and Blog Entries.
An astute board of governors should relieve Mr. Bettman of his duties for several reasons:
10. He wants hockey played where no ice has ever been found.
9. He’s changed uniforms so they look bad on fans.
8. He signed a tv contract with the worst network.
7. He’s screwed up the rules so much that new and old fans alike are
bored with the game.
6. He watered down the league with the salary cap.
5. He moved the All-Star game to wednesday so nobody would watch it.
4. He destroyed decades old rivalries.
3. He stopped the sport for a whole year.
2. He took fighting out of hockey.
AND the number one reason why he should be fired:
1. He came from the NBA
Please add your reasons to the list!!
Tags: bettman, hockey, list, nhl, reasons, top ten.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 4 months ago
in Bettman and Videos.
Video of the day 
Enjoy…
Tags: bettman, hockey, nhl, video, youtube.
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Published by Puckhead 6 years, 4 months ago
in Bettman and Versus.
This article at Sportsnet.ca has been all over the place today.
Obviously Bettman is in the hot seat, and some of his quotes here put him in it more. Who cares if the number of households that get Versus has gone up from 64 million to 72 million? Who says those 8 million are watching the hockey games? And more importantly, what about the millions of households who don’t have Versus in their home? And still, I know people who have never even heard of Versus.
Let’s hope this media coverage continues, as it could place more pressure on Bettman and the owners to make a change…
Tags: bettman, commissioner, hockey, nhl.
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