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NHL commish Bettman has stated that the proposed sale of the Nashville Predators to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie will not result in the team leaving the country music capital. Yet…Bettman goes further to state “What’s clear to me from meeting with Mr. Balsillie is he’s passionate about the game, he’d like to own a franchise and certainly has the resources to do it. Beyond that, there have been no promises, there have been no predictions.” Hmmm…no promises? or predictions? More Bettman double-speak. Balsillie will only have to avoid a lease agreement with the city in order to take the team where ever he wishes. There is certainly a lot of legal wrangling that will occur but count on Bettman to blow that. The city has the opportunity to make up the seat deficit since the Preds couldn’t reach the 14,000 plateau written in the lease. If the arena lease is not in effect when Balsillie signs the NHL’ consent agreement for team purchase, then Balsillie can say good bye to the southern country music enclave and take the team to… Where in North America could they land? I’m sure Gary could help the team find another loser-for-hockey city. That’s one thing he can do right.
Archive for May, 2007
Bettman bettin’ Nashville! (but what’s Jim thinkin’?)
Published by 3 years, 2 months ago in Blog Entries. 6 Comments
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Gary Loves Heidi
Published by 3 years, 2 months ago in Bettman, Blog Entries, TV and Playoffs. 9 CommentsA new low in televised pro hockey was achieved this past Saturday, when NBC cut to horse racing coverage, after the Senators-Sabres game went to overtime. Gary Bettman is now the butt of criticism from all corners for his STUPID contract with NBC, which does not require the network to carry overtime. The most exciting part of an NHL PLAYOFF game comes, and they cut it for horse-whippin’ fun!
Wherever Bettman received his juris doctorate, he must have slept through the contract law classes. Only an idiot would give complete control of his product to someone who doesn’t care about the product. Yes, Gary, you are a border line imbecile to allow the NHL to slip back to 1960’s football coverage. Remember the football game that was cut to the movie “Heidi” (see previous post “Horse Hockey” below)? But that wasn’t a PLAYOFF game, was it? Congratulations, your tenure will now go down in pro sports history, infamous as it may be.
The owners of the Senators and the Sabres can’t be too happy with you. Of course, you don’t care what the Canadians think - since after all, you screwed Canada royally with the playoff scheduling after absconding with millions from the CBC. For the love of the game Gary, PLEASE, PLEASE resign!
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Anaheim Head Hunters
Published by 3 years, 2 months ago in Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, Versus, Videos, Penalties and Suspensions. 29 CommentsPost Update @ 5:45p.m.: Chris Pronger has been suspended for one game by the NHL.
Just in case you missed it - which is very likely, since VS. is only available in about 60% of American households - here is the video of Rob Niedermayer and Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks, simultaneously throwing high elbows and crushing the Red Wings’ Tomas Holmstrom’s head into the glass in the second period of game 3:
As a result, Niedermayer was immediately given a game misconduct, and the Red Wings received a 5 minute power play. However, Chris Pronger did not receive any discipline for his illegal and dirty hit. And as you can see in the video, Pronger actually threw a higher and harder elbow than Niedermayer. So why was Pronger not penalized or given a game misconduct?
These cheap, blind-sided, unsportsmanlike hits on opposing players are nothing new to this year’s NHL. Some of the highlights this year included the Chris Simon baseball swing to the face of Ryan Hollweg, Jordin Tootoo’s knockout punch on Stephane Robidas, and Jamie McLennan’s impersonation of Simon on Johan Franzen. The NHL has handed out some suspensions, fines, warnings, and the usual slap on the wrist…
There are a lot of arguments for why the NHL needs to come down harder on players and teams for such unsportsmanlike actions. Many feel that since the players are the largest investments for owners, the league needs to do more to protect those investments. With Chris Pronger not being disciplined at all after his high elbow on Holmstrom last night, it leaves us wondering which players the league is trying to protect…
Do you think Pronger and Nidermayer should be suspended? Will Colin Campbell and the NHL finally say enough is enough, and let the players know that they aren’t free to try to take opposings player out with a cheap shot?
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The Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals Game between the San Jose Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings, thankfully for fans, ended in regulation time. The game was destined to be a Heidi game if it went to overtime due to Bettman’s wording of his contract with NBC. The local Detroit NBC affiliate did announce that they would cover the game in it’s entirety including overtime. The rest of NBC was set to cut to the premier horse-whippin’ race, AKA the Kentucky Derby, which lasted all of 2 minutes. Yes, the banter about the gambling stakes, the queen, and blah-blah-blah took another hour, but just the thought of cutting an NHL playoff game demonstrates how little respect the game is receiving from the marketing world of television. 17 years ago the thought of cutting an NHL playoff game in favor of this horse race would have resulted in the dismissal of the thinker. Today, after 16 tumultuous years of bone-headed Bettman marketing, the league is in the network toilet. Horse heads were told by NBC Producer Sam Flood regarding the potential conflict “I promise you, everyone will get to see the Kentucky Derby on NBC and anything else they want to see about the Derby.” What’s next? Alligator wrestling bumping the Cup Finals? The owners better wake up before the last fan out turns off the rink lights.
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