Lets Go Wings member come to worship at the altar of Satan

[bhaw]

Bettman isn't horrible, but he seems to spend energy and resources on things that are too far ahead. The whole Europe season openers are a great example. He's trying to expand viewership in Europe when he has several teams struggling to make any money in the US. Nashville, Atlanta, and Florida are always struggling for attendance. Why not focus on fixing them before we worry about Europe.

Officiating is an issue he doesn't address.

They keep talking about trying to reduce goalie equipment, put together a team to address the issue, then come back with suggestions to make the jerseys a little tighter and knock a 1/4 inch off the pads.

He also keeps mentioning expansion in a league that is already getting too shallow and has teams like the ones mentioned above who can't fill up an arena. Before expanding, they need to fix those teams (and that may involve moving them).

Lastly, he continues to let too many of the good ol' boys preside over important positions. They give us all this fluff about how the game is going to continue to evolve and change. Yet, it really doesn't change and guys like Campbell continue to let players get away with horrible hits that will eventually lead to someone dying on the ice if they don't fix it.

His positives are that Bettman himself is not afraid to address the fans and does try to give them "goodies" like the Winter Classic. I think he is doing a good job of reaching new fans and casual fans, but the details of how things work are wearing on the more knowledgable and die-hard fans.

[emptyfriend]

Best first post ever?

Close, but no.

Welcome to the board. the only thing i have to add is that the (chicken)Wings Are GOING DOWN HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Screw the Wing Wimp!

Other than that, good post, welcome to Hockey Heaven.

I think this was the best first post ever......viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7211&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=hate

[Idoit40fans]

I can't remember my first post, but i think it was me saying that i'm better than ouellet.

[enenvee]

I can't remember my first post, but i think it was me saying that i'm better than ouellet.

We've all made that post at one time or another.

[demondg1]

HAIL SATAN, not Cherry.

[JoseCuervo]

Satan8118 is definitely accepted into the clique.

damn, and I've been trying so hard.

[profpolisci]

hay

no hossa, no cup final last season?

best wishes, ya bastards

[PittPensFan]

The hell????

[Noise]

Bowman would make a great commish. Don't know about Cherry.

[Satan8118]

A list of Buttmans transgressions:

Had four franchises go bankrupt; Ottawa, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles.

Oversaw three work stoppages (1992,1994,2004). 94 resulted in a half of a hockey season and 04 resulted in a complete loss of a season and the moronic joke of the NHL being telecast on that hockey/sport powerhouse station OLN (Outdoor Life Network), a network with miniscule ratings and complete cluelessness about hockey. The only redeeming quality of OLN/VS is being able to hear Dave Strader call the games.

Allowed two Canadian franchise to move to the US. Winnipeg (to Phoenix) and Quebec (to Colorado).

Bettman is trying to turn hockey into basketball on ice. He thinks fans want to see cheap powerplay after cheap powerplay and knows squat about hockey.

The semi-new rules are absolutely ridiculous: the trapezoid area around the crease, the 2nd ref, refs coaches and players still confused about what actually constitutes a hooking/interference call.

Buttman is the worlds least funny joke and worst of all he doesn't even realize it!!!! By the way
Shanny is just as much to blame for the lame, confusing calls we see on an all to regular basis.

[Samsdog]

Cherry is a tool, if he were the commissioner he would be too busy going out of his way to make himself look like a hard (bleep) to worry about the league, although he never would have let Canadian franchises like Hartford and Quebec escape to the US.

I agree that the big problem with Bettman is his focus on the wrong issues. He is always trying to reintroduce rampant scoring but to me that over-inflates stats, and, to me at least, is boring. It's just teams trading goals back and forth rather than really competing. Boards of current and former goaltenders along with league reps. consistently decide against major changes but every season he's back with his ideas about increasing net size and decreasing equipment size. The only merit to his argument is that in the new-age, butterfly dominated world of goaltending equipment should be updated to meet the style, and even that is a weak argument IMO.

He ignores the fact that hockey could be a staple sport in the U.S. but isn't. Georges Laraque put it best when he asked why teams would open overseas to try and generate interest in the NHL when it can't even generate interest at home. Instead of trying to build up interest overseas he should be worried about the primary market.

He doesn't go with tried and true marketing techniques: in the NBA, great players are always compared to MJ by the league, and it works. Only the media outlets do that here, and comparing the new greats to the old would stop the massive loss of fans of the old NHL.

The fact that the later rounds of the playoffs appear only on VS. drives me insane. Very few people get Versus, and the ones that do don't know it exists. Showing the weekend games on NBC is a step in the right direction but the fact that the network does things like cutaway from a Cup Finals game that's in overtime is also ludicrous.

I could continue my rant but the bottom line is the guy has ideas that are too big and too far into the future for where the league actually is right now.

[Sigwolf]

although he never would have let Canadian franchises like Hartford and Quebec escape to the US.

[Samsdog]

Hartford? Brain fart. Make that Winnipeg. And now I am the tool.

[Sigwolf]

Hartford? Brain fart. Make that Winnipeg. And now I am the tool.

I knew what you meant, but it was still too funny to just pass up...

[Samsdog]

I would be a liar if I said I wouldn't have done the same thing to anyone else.