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Author Archive for McPhan

We’re back!!!!!!

Published by Puckhead 2 weeks, 1 day ago in Nashville Predators and Bettman. 21 Comments

We sincerely apologize for our lack of posts this summer… it has been a very busy summer filled with higher priorities. We know we have missed out on covering some major and controversial stories surrounding our favorite little man… but we are hoping to get things back into full swing for the upcoming NHL season, and plan on increasing our coverage and making sure we do everything we can to get rid of the man we all love to hate… Gary Bettman.

In the meantime, here is an email that Paul Lefebvre from Delaware, OH sent us, which sums up the summer’s top Bettman stories and our opinions on them quite well:

“Not bad enough that Mr. Bettman threatens to strip ownership of the team in NY (Rangers), and decides to suspend the Anaheim Ducks owner indefinitely for off ice legal issues, now comes word that maybe he himself may have been caught with his own hand in the cookie jar. The Nashville Predators sale has stunk from the beginning. How does an owner (Craig Leipold), a businessman, turn down cash money from Jim Balsillie in excess of $220M for a financed deal of less than $200M tt which he himself contributed $10M? Here’s maybe how.

Mr. Bettman promises Leipold clear and very quick sailing to ownership in Minnesota. After the commish sees the investor group trying to buy the Nashville franchise having trouble getting financing together, he either A, closes his eyes and says go ahead boys, I don’t want to know, or B, gets on the phone to his two closest confidants in LA Kings owner and Nashville owner (Leipold) and says make this happen, Balsillie cannot have a team. Either A or B is cause for termination.

Gary Bettman claims he had no clue that two of his closest NHL confidants - L.A.’s Philip Anschutz and Minnesota’s Craig Leipold – had lent San Jose banker Boots Del Biaggio a combined $17 million (U.S.) to help him pay for a $25 million stake in the Nashville Predators. C’mon Gary.

Nashville investor, ‘Boots’ Del Biaggio filed bankruptcy. Turns out that the ownership group of the LA Kings, AEG Facilities lent Boots $7M. Also turns out that the Nashville owner (Craig Leipold aka Seller) lent him $10M. AEG Facilities also owns the venue for hockey in KC. Del Biaggio has long been searching for a franchise to move to KC. The reasoning for the seller of the team lending money to a buyer leaves the door open for many explanations and we’ll have to see what floats to the surface. How is this tolerated? Maybe these two owners are able to say to Mr. Bettman, “if we go down Gary, you are coming with us”. This seems to me to be the only way they can escape Bettman’s well documented wrath.

How in the world is Bettman getting a free pass on this!? He is quite the politician, and seems to always have an answer for everything, but I have seen or heard nothing of anyone press him since the series, before the wheels came off Del Biaggio.”

Thanks very much Paul!!!

We will try our hardest to help make sure that the little man doesn’t get a free pass on all of this… so get ready and look forward to more posts from the FB stuff. Once again, sorry for our lack of posts over the past few months… it is GREAT to be back and covering the worst commissioner ever!!!

cheers,
Puckhead & JB

Tags: boots del biaggio, crooked, crooks, gary bettman, nashville, national hockey league, nhl, predators, were back.

Bettman and NHL counterfile against and threaten the Rangers… plus other Bettman news

Published by Puckhead 2 months, 1 week ago in New York Rangers and Bettman. 29 Comments

Just when you think Gary Bettman couldn’t get more full of himself and ‘his NHL’… today he and the NHL filed a counterclaim against Madison Square Garden LP (owners of the New York Rangers), threatening disciplinary action for “materially breaching their contractual commitments to the league and the other 29 member clubs - as well as for compensatory damages stemming from those breaches.”

At the beginning of the 2007-2008 season, MSG LP sued the NHL for violating anti-trust regulations, and monopolizing teams’ promotions. The suit came after the NHL made every team turn over the private operations of team web sites and promotional activities to the NHL offices in New York. The lawsuit was taken to court three times, and the NHL won every time. The Rangers owners have challenged the decisions based on anti-trust regulations, and now the NHL will have nothing to do with it… so they have filed this counterclaim with an intent to stop MSG’s continuous actions against the NHL… with a threat of fining, suspending or making MSG lose ownership of the Rangers.

What?? The Rangers or no team can challenge the “rules”??? Everything the NHL does is completely correct and no one can say otherwise??? This is typical Bettman style… never admitting he’s wrong, sticking to his rules even though LOTS of people who know much more about business and hockey disagree, and doing anything he can to counter-attack and shed the blame when there is constructive criticism about the way he is operating the NHL (”NHL Hour” anyone??). Why would any team want to turn over their web site or promotions operations directly to the NHL? The only thing the NHL cares about is posting Sidney Cry-baby’s face all over their ads, putting teams in markets that will never survive, putting NHL games (even almost all of the playoff games!) on a TV network (Vs.) that no one really knows about or receives, turning the game into the NBA or other over-dramatic productions/sports, and making the owners money no matter how much it costs/hurts the fans and game.

In other news, apparently the NHL Players Association isn’t too happy with Mr. Bettman either. Before the infamous lockout of 2004-2005, one of the main reasons Bettman and his cronies insisted on a salary cap was to reduce ticket prices for fans. Just the opposite has happened… ticket prices have gone up… and there are still teams, such as Phoenix and Florida, who are losing money. Point being, no one but certain team owners are reaping the benefits of the salary cap and the new collective bargaining agreement. The players, fans, and many teams are worse off than they were before 2004-2005. It’s apparent the NHLPA is getting more frustrated with Bettman and his antics and tactics… as the article states “The union also agreed to form a committee to decide whether to opt out of its labour agreement next summer”.

Also, tomorrow night (June 20th) is the beginning of the official 2008 NHL Draft in Ottawa!! The thing we’re most excited about is to see how loud the “boos” are at Scotiabank Place when lil’ shit-fer-brains steps up to the microphone.

Tags: boos, counterfile, countersuit, draft, gary bettman, hockey, lawsuit, MSG, new york rangers, news, nhl, nhl draft, nhlpa, players association, Rangers.

Vincent Lecavalier will be today’s guest on NHL Hour with Gary Bettman

Published by Puckhead 3 months ago in Tampa Bay Lightning, Bettman, xm radio and "nhl hour". 0 Comments

Vincent Lecavalier

Update: To listen to yesterday’s NHL Hour please click here.

Today’s (05/29/08) guest on “NHL Hour” with Gary Bettman will be Vincent Lecavalier — the high scoring, powerful forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream. You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. If you miss the show today, we will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show tomorrow.

Tags: gary bettman, hockey radio, nhl, nhl hour, tampa bay, Vincent Lecavalier, xm radio.

Tracking the NHL…

Published by Puckhead 3 months, 2 weeks ago in Bettman, xm radio and "nhl hour". 5 Comments

Update (5/16/08): You can listen to the podcast of yesterday’s NHL Hour by clicking here.

According to Michael McCarthy of USA Today, the NHL and Versus are considering (re)introducing “puck-tracking” technology into broadcasts of NHL games, which they might put into effect as soon as next season. However, the Globe and Mail reports that this tracking technology would only be used in replays (see bottom of article) and not during live action.

When FOX covered NHL games in the 1990’s, they introduced a “glowing puck” technology… the puck had a blue streak behind it when traveling at low speeds, and then would have a red streak behind it when traveling at higher, slap-shot like speeds. It was supposed to make keeping track of the puck easier for fans watching the games on TV, but most people thought it was a foolish idea and interfered with their ability to focus on other aspects of the game. Players also complained that the FOX puck reacted differently than normal pucks and caused some problems for them.

Either way, we don’t see how this would help the NHL or its fans in any way. The idea has been tried and tested in the past, and it failed. There are obviously plenty of people who can follow the game without being taken by the hand and told exactly how to watch it… it is pretty easy to catch on to where the puck is just by watching the motion of the players and the flow of the game. Furthermore, with HDTV spreading rapidly through North American homes and bars, viewers can almost read the “NHL” logo on the puck We see this as another decision by the NHL to help attract non-market fans, while turning off long-time and die-hard fans at the same time… which would result in a net loss in NHL fans’ enjoyment of the game and possibly the number of NHL fans. With Versus’ commentary of the games already being about the worst we’ve ever heard (try listening to Doc Emrick & Eddie Olczyk for a whole game) , they must be trying to see how far and low they can go with their awful coverage of the NHL. Who knows, maybe they’ll want to put virtual ads on the glass and ice during the game. Ahh, never miss an opportunity to make an extra penny Gary!!! You might need those pennies to pay off another owner in the future.

On a much brighter note, Diane Brady of Business Week emailed us a link to a video of an interview that she recently conducted with Gary Bettman. During the interview she asks Bettman what he thinks of sites such as ours, and also asks some other very good questions. Check it out!.

Additionally, today’s NHL Hour with Gary Bettman will feature guest Ken Holland — the great General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings. The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream (which now includes advertisements for your viewing pleasure). You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. If you miss the show today, we will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show tomorrow.

Tags: bettman, business week, fox, glow puck, glowing puck, hockey, interview, nhl, nhl hour, puck tracking, stupid ideas, versus, VS., xm radio.

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The one and only Don Cherry will be today’s guest on the NHL Hour with Bettman

Published by Puckhead 3 months, 3 weeks ago in xm radio, radio and "nhl hour". 6 Comments

Update: Click here to listen to last week’s NHL Hour podcast with special guest Don Cherry.

Today’s (05/08/08) guest on “NHL Hour” with Gary Bettman will be the best dressed man in hockey… you guessed it… Don Cherry! It should a very interesting show to say the least… Don Cherry is an outspoken critic of all things hockey, including Gary Bettman and the state of the NHL under his reign.

Tags: don cherry, gary bettman, guest, interview, nhl hour, radio, show, xm radio.

Scotty Bowman will be the guest on today’s NHL Hour

Published by Puckhead 5 months, 1 week ago in xm radio and "nhl hour". 8 Comments

Update: You can click here to listen to yesterday’s NHL Hour with special guest Scotty Bowman.

Scott Bowman One of the greatest men ever involved in professional sports — Scotty Bowman — will be the guest on today’s (03/20/08) NHL Hour with Gary Bettman. The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream. You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. So get some tough questions ready!!

We are STILL waiting to hear Gary Bettman address the ongoing issue of games on the NHL Network not being shown on NHL Center Ice… which is making fans who have already paid at least $145 a season, pay another monthly fee to get what they originally paid for.

We will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show early tomorrow.

Tags: bettman, Bowman, hockey, nhl hour, radio, Scott Bowman, xm radio.

NHL Hour with Gary Bettman - 03/13/08 @ 4pm EDT

Published by Puckhead 5 months, 2 weeks ago in Bettman, xm radio and "nhl hour". 2 Comments

Update: To listen to the NHL hour from yesterday (03/13/08), please click here (MP3 file). The RSS feed for the NHL Hour podcasts is http://www.nhl.com/podcasts/nhl_hour.xml.
The issue regarding games on the NHL Network not being shown on NHL Center Ice was not addressed by Mr. Bettman once again. And it appears as though nothing has been done about it. Tonight, the Atlanta Thrashers vs. Washington Capitals game will be shown on the NHL Network, but will not be shown on NHL Center Ice. Multiple emails have been sent to the NHL (including Mr. Bettman), the question was asked last week on the NHL Hour, and still there has been no response or reasoning given from the NHL, besides Bettman saying last week that he will “look into it”.
Gary Bettman must have gotten our emails… because he confirmed on this show that his email address is indeed gbettman@nhl.com, which we posted here on FB a long time ago. So keep sending him emails and demand action!

Today’s (03/13/08) guest on “NHL Hour” with Gary Bettman will be Maple Leafs executive Richard Peddie. The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream. You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. So get some tough questions ready!!

We’re waiting to hear Gary Bettman’s answer/solution to the ongoing issue of games on the NHL Network not being shown on NHL Center Ice… which is making fans who have already paid at least $145 a season, pay another monthly fee to get what they originally paid for. If you listened to the NHL Network last week, you probably heard a question asked about this problem.

We will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show later today.

Tags: center ice, email, gary bettman, gary bettmans email address, nhl, nhl hour, nhl network, xm radio.

Bettman on Steroids…

Published by Puckhead 6 months ago in Bettman and drugs. 7 Comments

Gary Bettman took to The Hill in Washington, D.C. today, along with fellow NFL, MLB and NBA commissioners, in a hearing held to discuss the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs in professional sports. Bettman testified about the rare documented usage of such performance enhancing drugs in the NHL, the NHL’s drug policy, and shared his rosy view of the overall situation in the NHL.

The following are a couple highlighted quotes thus far from Bettman during the hearing:

“This is not surprising when one considers the alleged benefits of steroid use, significant large muscle development, are not consistent with playing hockey at the highest level of the sport, and the resulting bulkiness attributable to steroid use simply is not the desired characteristic of skilled NHL players.”

“Indeed, while our historical experience indicates that performance-enhancing drugs are not a problem in the NHL, we nevertheless agree that the public at large and our fans in particular are entitled to have confidence that our games are being played in an environment free of performance-enhancing substances.”

The hearing will continue throughout the day. You can stay updated on the latest from the hearing at USA Today’s blog.

Just imagine Zdeno Chara on steroids!!

In the meantime, we have an update to make on our previous Stopping pucks for more bucks… post. We reported that Gary Bettman’s salary was $2 million per year. New data from the Sports Business Journal shows that Gary Bettman made $5.9 million in the year ending on June 30, 2006. So now we can save/earn the NHL another $4+ million per year by giving him a $1 million annual salary, further decreasing the need for advertising on goalie’s jerseys. But geeze, $5.9 million a year for Gary Bettman?!!! Give us a break… this is just another example of executives making off with millions, while the product they offer is turned to junk, and the company eventually runs itself into the ground. There are PLENTY of better qualified candidates out there who would accept a much more reasonable and lower salary to be commish, and would do a WAY better job than Gary Bettman has done.

Tags: commissioner, drug testing, drugs, gary bettman, national hockey league, nhl, politics, salary, steroids.

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Stopping pucks for more bucks…

Published by Puckhead 6 months, 1 week ago in Bettman and advertising. 15 Comments

In this past Sunday’s Toronto Star, columnist Rick Westhead reported that the NHL is considering using goalies as billboards to generate more revenue for the league. According to Westhead, there is a “Goaltender’s Club” — consisting of at least Martin Brodeur, Marty Turco, Dominik Hasek and Dwayne Roloson — that has presented the idea of having advertisements from sponsors put on all goalie’s jerseys in the NHL. It is speculated that this advertising could generate up to $30 million in revenue for the league. Can’t you see it now? Dominik Hasek, brought to you by Requip (restless leg syndrome drug)…

The NHL is either really hurting for money, or they are really trying to turn fans off from the game…. Gary “Blue Skies” Bettman always says things have never been better financially for the league because of the collective bargaining agreement that was reached in 2005, and because of the overall health of the game. What Gary Bettman always forgets to mention when being questioned about the league’s financial health and the reason for it, is what Westhead points out in his article: “Consider that while just six of the NHL’s 30 teams are based in Canada, they account for close to one-third of the league’s overall revenue. And since September 2005 alone, the Canadian dollar has surged some 19 per cent in value, from 83.9 cents U.S. to parity. The loonie’s climb may be responsible for as much as half of the league’s revenue gains since the lockout, says one source familiar with NHL finances.” Furthermore, ticket prices are higher than ever this year (wasn’t the CBA supposed to help lower ticket prices for fans?), which is also the reason for greater revenue.

Just like us, we’re sure you are all sick enough of all of the advertising that already exists in the NHL… from the ads on the boards, ads on the ice, ads all over arenas, ads on TV (especially during the games), ads in the newspapers, ads in magazines, ads on our web site and others, etc… but to put ads on our favorite players?!!! That is an insult to fans and to the players, we would think.
We understand the need for the NHL to make money to survive, but we also think there are a lot of better ways that the league could $30 million per year. What about moving the Nashville Predators to Hamilton, where they were going to go if Bettman hadn’t interfered and taken the team away from Jim Balsillie?? There needs to be more hockey teams in Canada! That is where the biggest fan base is, where the game of hockey got off the ground, and right now, where the league is earning its most money! Next, get rid of the teams in the markets that are failing… Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville (move them to Hamilton) and Florida. That would give us 26 teams in the league, and allow each of the teams to play one another more often, creating more rivalries (and bringing back old ones), thus increasing the enthusiasm from the fans. Next… lower the tickets prices so that you start selling out the games more… with the way the economy is, we would guess the reason why many teams aren’t selling out is simply because the average fan cannot afford to go to many games. Lower tickets $5-10 and you might see a higher turnout, and thus, more money if the difference is made up. Plus think of all the extra money these extra fans would spend on concessions, team paraphernalia, and so on. And lastly, reduce Gary Bettman’s salary from $2 million per year, to at least $1 million.

Our idea of lowering ticket prices so more fans come to games also requires the fans to want to go to games… if you start putting more ads on players, this could be a huge turn-off for fans, and keep them away from games. There are a lot of other reasons why fans still might not go to the games, but we don’t have room to cover all of ways that Gary Bettman has messed up the game here.

However, if the NHL does decide to move ahead with this plan to put advertisements of sponsors on the jerseys of all goalies in the league, we would be first in line to put a FireBettman ad on each of the goalies! What would Gary Bettman think of this money making idea then?

Tags: advertising, cba, gary bettman, goalies, hockey, jerseys, nhl, sellouts, sponsors.

Human life or more hockey?

Published by Puckhead 6 months, 2 weeks ago in Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Bettman and Videos. 9 Comments

In last night’s game between the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, Richard Zednik was accidentally cut across the neck by teammate’s Oli Jokinen’s skate… cutting his carotid artery and causing a significant amount of bleeding. Zednik barely made it off the ice to the bench, and then was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital, where he received life-saving surgery. Here is a video clip of what happened:

After the injury took place, Colin Campbell (who was at the game watching his son play) talked with Gary Bettman and they decided to let the game continue. What were they thinking? A teammate just had a hockey player’s worst nightmare occur, sustaining a life-threatening injury, and all Bettman and Campbell could think about doing was making the two teams finish the hockey game? Even Oli Jokinen said “We shouldn’t have finished the game”. We at FB didn’t get to see the game, but from what we’ve read, the remainder of the game was very “solemn” and no one really seemed to care about winning. The game could have easily been called off and re-scheduled for a later time when all players, coaches and FANS knew the status of Zednik and were not all in a state of shock. We think this was terrible judgment on the part of Gary Bettman, and really aren’t surprised by it… just add it to the long, long list of terrible decisions that Bettman has made. However, we are very happy to report that Richard Zednik is currently in stable condition and it appears as though he will be okay.

On a much lighter note, we’d like to apologize for the lack of updates to the site lately. Travel and other commitments have been dominating our time… but we promise to get back on the ball and have all the latest, breaking hockey and Bettman news coverage for you. Thanks for your patience, and as always, for your support!

Tags: bettman, buffalo, Campbell, decisions, florida, hurt, injuries, injury, nhl, richard zednik.

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