Quote:
Originally Posted by HockeyCA
A whole lot smarter? Gary Bettman has driven the NHL straight into the ground. First, its bloody near impossible to catch a highlight on Sportscenter these days if you live in the United States. Kind of important because, you know, its the biggest sports network on the freaking planet. He has allowed the NHL to become a sports "punchline" among casual fans in the United States. He has presided over 3 consecutive lockouts. Has already lost one full year, with a STRONG possibility of another missed season. No other major professional sports league has suffered ONE. He has expanded to markets that are having trouble supporting teams, and is thus, one of the main reasons we are all in this mess. Continued to ignore the Canadian market, which would bring a significant increase in more revenue.
Further, this guy runs the NHL like a bloody Mickey Mouse league. Changes to the All Star Game every 5 years, not outlawing big plastic elbow pads and shoulder pads that have led to an increase in head injuries, not doing anything about no-touch icing, letting reporters interview coaches and players DURING the game. There is a reason us Canadians boo the tar out of this guy. I think we are qualified to know what is best for the sport. We are all lucky that the sport of hockey is so unbelievably great that it can hopefully outlast such an out of touch Commissioner, who does not act as a steward of the game, but as a watchdog over the owners' pocketbooks.
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Gear down there big rig. How on earth has Bettman driven the league into the ground? Adding the winter classic, allowing Winnipeg to return to form, changing up the stale all-star game have all been great for the league. How is it a punchline? I noticed a few blunders by announcers over the 'Doty' thing, but overall there was a terrific amount of positive attention from the media over the Kings Stanley cup league.
You
really come across as one of those xenophobic Canadians I go to University with. The ones that keep bragging about Mike Richards and how Saskatoon should be given a team. Do you even know what went down between Sportscenter and the NHL? For all you know it could have been the worst deal for the NHL so Bettman went for another network.
NBA just had a strike. Imagine if Fehr was heading that one, I could still see it going on.
NFL just had a referee strike, thankfully that was resolved after a few too many Seahawk touchdowns.
You can focus your bigotry on Bettman much as you want, but when players are posting spoilt messages on twitter and websites; Bettman becomes much more likeable.