Un-American, & Anti-Canadian hatred?

This...gentleman...(because I don't wanna be rude and call him what he really is)...is Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the NHL.
To be brutally honest, he's been a horrible failure. He's changed the rules, gotten rid of tradition (remember the GREAT division names? they're gone now), expanded, expanded again, and expanded again until he had 30 teams, of which 5 or 6 were any good, ruined any TV exposure the league had, had two lockouts, one of which ruined an entire SEASON, helped send two Canadian teams to those noted hotbeds of hockey in Phoenix and Denver, and well, he's ruined the damn game for a lot of people.


This guy is one of the ones who got good and burned in the new NHL. He's Craig Leipold, the owner of the Nashville Predators. (Remember all those great games throughout hockey history in Nashville? No, because the city has NO hockey history) He estimates he's lost over 70 million dollars running the team. He can't get 14,000 fans a game despite being one of the better teams on the ice. That's because unless it's wearing a cowboy hat and twanging a guitar, no one in Nashville gives a shit. Jim Balsille, the owner of RIM (you know, the guys that make Blackberrys) wants to buy an NHL team very badly. He attempted to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins when no one in their right mind was interested in them, and they had no prospects for a new arena. Bettman and the NHL wanted noooo part of that. "We don't want YOU!" they said. Now Balsille has money, boatloads of it. He can handle the expense of an NHL team just fine. He's also a smart businessman. If you're going to sell a product, you need to be where your CUSTOMERS are. He didn't see Nashville as a great place for hockey. No one goes. No one cares. He did notice that Hamilton, Ontario cares a LOT. Might they be interested in supporting an NHL team?
Apparently they were. Balsille started taking deposits for season tickets and got three to five thousand people to pony up without there being an actual team yet. That's a pretty sure sign of interest.
Enter Gary Bettman.
"You can't MOVE the team you want to buy! Just because you're willing to pay 220 MILLION DOLLARS for something doesn't mean you have ANY rights to it!"
Say what?
Bettman wasn't finished yet. He effectively put the kibosh on the deal and told Balsille he wasn't wanted. Again.
Now, I am not a rich man, nor will I ever likely be one, but I understand business. If you are operating a failing business, as Leipold is, you want to get out, or get a partner, or make drastic changes, like.....location. Balsille knows this, he's made a ton of cash by being smart. Nashville's a loser's marketplace for hockey. Hamilton sounds like a damn good bet for hockey. So why would Bettman wanna wreck that deal? Some say Toronto doesn't want the competition in Ontario. I say that's baloney. They can handle it. You know what I think? It's the fact that Balsille wanted to move them to CANADA.
Where is the NHL's offices located?
New York.
Where's Bettman from?
New York.
Hmmm......
New news today: Leipold found buyers! Yep, a group of investors has banded together to buy the Predators to KEEP THEM in that noted hotbed of hockey in Music City. Wowie! Hey, waitaminute, isn't one of the buyers William "Boots" Del Biaggio III? Yes, yes it is. He's the guy who has a standing deal with another hotbed of hockey, Kansas City to move an NHL team there. (Remember all those great historical games in KC? No? Neither does anyone else because no one there gives a shit about hockey, either) Now wasn't the whole problem with Balsille that he wanted to move the team? Apparently it was the fact that it was a move to Canada that was the whole issue.
Small notice here to Mr. Bettman:
IT'S CANADA'S GAME YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!!!!!
You've done everything you can to take away the heritage of the Canadian people and ruin the game they created, loved and have followed passionately for over a hundred goddamn years!!!!
Noted owners of the various NHL teams, please note a REALLY pertinent fact here:
You are businessmen. You're there to make a buck. Due to this clown Bettman's interference in your game, and in operations that are none of his concern, Leipold is selling his team for 193 million. He had a firm offer on the table for 220 million from Balsille. That's right, Bettman cost Leipold TWENTY SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS. How much longer will you allow this bufoon to run the league for?
How much will he cost you?
He's already destroyed your TV deal, ruined the heritage of the game and cost you untold money with lockouts and other assorted stupidities.
Are you going to wait until the NHL is about as prominent as roller derby?
Or will you make a stand and remove this putz from the game once and for all?
You can get a really good guy to take the job, too.
One that knows the game, and will take a common sense approach to it.
I don't know which one, but if his last name's Sutter, he'd be a good bet.