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ESPN's MacGregor on the lockout, the NHL and Bettman
As October and November and now another NHL season slip away, it's important to remember why we're reading about this. We're here because a handful of people think you and I are responsible for their own impulse control problems. They overpaid. They made bad investments. Bad choices. So the rest of us -- the fans, the players, the networks -- are on the hook for their mistakes. Sound familiar?
And having just seen the same in the NBA and the NFL, it's worth noting while the owners play us for suckers and pick our pockets, that no special-interest group in North America has ever had it tougher than aggrieved billionaire sports hobbyists.
"We're past the point of give and take," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly growled on their behalf last weekend. Grrrrrr.
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And in the whole, long history of disasters and capitalism, has there ever been a bigger disaster than the National Hockey League or its mortician, Gary Bettman? The decommissioner has managed in just 20 years to make the league invisible. An afterthought. An unfunny punch line to a joke no one recalls. By his own accounting, the league is poised on the brink of insolvency. Again. Still. A constant invalid.
Bettman's legacy will be $60 million league "relocation fees," a shell game of mishandled franchises and indifferent cities, ineptitude and cupidity and a National Hockey League too big in fact and too small in the imagination. And a long history of bungled union-busting. On behalf of his owners, whenever the CBA comes up for renewal it has been Bettman's practice to bring a gun to what should be a butter knife fight. And even those fights he loses. The game staggers on. In arenas built by taxpayers.
And here I thought it was ESPN that was doing its best to make the nhl invisible.
Also, who the heck is Jeff McGregor and why should I care about the opinion of someone who wrote a book about NASCAR when it comes to discussing hockey?
Yea, that was a pretty horrible article. Dude just wants to ***** and rant about everything it seems. Someone out of an OHL audience can run a major sports league better! What a clever line huh?
OK The owners agree to all the players demands but inturn want one two things.
50-50 and the shut down of the 5 -6 biggest money losing teams.
Have the players vote on it .How do you think the players will vote.
Bettman is there to help the weaker teams and the league as a whole.
There's only two options .Help the weaker teams with the offer the NHL has proposed or Shut down 5-6 teams which inturn will make a more healthy league.
You pick one.
It reads like the emo teen version of how evil Bettman is.
"And in the whole, long history of disasters and capitalism, has there ever been a bigger disaster than the National Hockey League or its mortician, Gary Bettman? The decommissioner has managed in just 20 years to make the league invisible."
I get the feeling this dude picked the short straw at the espn.com senior writers meeting and much to his chagrin got stuck with this years NHL column.
Quote:
And in the whole, long history of disasters and capitalism, has there ever been a bigger disaster than the National Hockey League or its mortician, Gary Bettman? The decommissioner has managed in just 20 years to make the league invisible. An afterthought. An unfunny punch line to a joke no one recalls.
We all get the the labour situation is a cluster... well it's a mess. We also all understand that the NHL in the US isn't as popular (visible) as things like the NFL, NBA, MLB or Tiger Woods. We would also all probably agree that along with the CBA issues there is plenty of other things the league could do better but it would be nice if these writers could at least stop pretending the NHL (or hockey in general) has been on some steep decline over the past couple of decades when just about every measuable metric suggests the opposite.
OK The owners agree to all the players demands but inturn want one two things.
50-50 and the shut down of the 5 -6 biggest money losing teams.
Have the players vote on it .How do you think the players will vote.
Bettman is there to help the weaker teams and the league as a whole.
There's only two options .Help the weaker teams with the offer the NHL has proposed or Shut down 5-6 teams which inturn will make a more healthy league.
You pick one.
You don't have to go that far yet though: KC, Hamilton and QC (somewhat) are ready to go right now.
I'd shutdown two teams, though: Make it a 28 Team/ 4 Conference league, and you still have Seattle, Portland and Houston waiting to be added at some point ( add LV and you're at the "magic 32").
Not surprised to see fugu posting more anti-bettman rhetoric, no offense.
Let's make a deal. I'll find the anti-Gary articles and make sure they're posted, and if I miss a pro-Gary article (or if anyone else does for that matter), --> you <-- can post the link.
Let's make a deal. I'll find the anti-Gary articles and make sure they're posted, and if I miss a pro-Gary article (or if anyone else does for that matter), --> you <-- can post the link.
I'm not Pro Gary, just no longer anti-Gary, due to the PA stupidity
You don't have to go that far yet though: KC, Hamilton and QC (somewhat) are ready to go right now.
I'd shutdown two teams, though: Make it a 28 Team/ 4 Conference league, and you still have Seattle, Portland and Houston waiting to be added at some point ( add LV and you're at the "magic 32").
Kansas city has an arena, but no ownership group. Is boots del baggio out of prison yet ? Despite the past I am completely unconvinced that kc is either willing or able to support a tem. Qc is getting closer but is not there yet.
I thought the seattle deal was contingent on dual use with the nba and i dont see lv being viable. You cant double down on stupid, simply looking at population density and potential fans is what got us into this mess.
It reads like the emo teen version of how evil Bettman is.
"And in the whole, long history of disasters and capitalism, has there ever been a bigger disaster than the National Hockey League or its mortician, Gary Bettman? The decommissioner has managed in just 20 years to make the league invisible."
This alone shows the article is a near sham.
Granted I've not been the happiest with the job Bettman has done, but he has done a far better job than those before him. He now has a national TV contract, players salaries have grown through the roof.
The growth he has orchestrated has been greater than baseball and basketball. Hockey is more popular in the States, and watched by more people than ever.
My only real displeasure with him has been his ability to not connect on a more personal level with the sport and its fans. But the same can be said of every commishioner in the 4 majors though, so maybe it just comes with the territory.
Question for all the player supporters who do you think would have the better ideas and structure to grow a business. A bunch of billionaire business men or 700 players a lot of which have a high school education? The game and the players have prospered since the last lockout. The salaries have doubled. What exactly about the last lockout did the players lose? Go to 50% tell the league to shove the free agent changes, agree to the 5% get a few other perks and work your ass off to grow the game so you are getting 50% of 4 billion dollars it's really not rocket science. And most of all shut your freakin mouths. Every time a current player does an interview or sends out a twitter they sound like a spoiled kid who's dad bought him a BMW but he wanted a Porsche. Making more fans dislike them which in turn gives the owners more power when they keep reading from fans "lock them out forever, break the union etc.
