Bettman's 15th anniversary

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=dw-bettman012907&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

The best parts are about the All Star ratings and the fat fans in the new Jerseys:

Bettman is on a 14-year run of bad ideas. His latest was a classic, moving the league's all-star game, which featured attention-grabbing young megastars, to midweek on the Versus Network – as opposed to NBC on a weekend. He claimed it would allow Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin to own the sports landscape, unlike some crowded weekend.

The result was a catastrophic 0.7 rating. That's a meager 474,298 households in the States that bothered to watch, down 76 percent from the last all-star game


You'd think a 0.7 was rock bottom, but then again, this is someone who surveyed the burning wreckage of the NHL and decided that what would really turn things around this time were sleek new uniforms from Reebok, which were trotted out last week.

"This is an evolution of our uniform," Bettman proudly crowed.

Of course, already fans who are carrying even a few extra pounds report that they look ridiculous in the new form fitting jerseys, which has led to predictions of plummeting apparel sales and jokes about how Bettman hatched the idea after watching George Costanza comically change the New York Yankees' uniforms to cotton.

 

Bettman is killing hockey.

The all star game should always be on Saturday night, held in Canada and the commish should be from Canada.

After that, get rid of: Florida, Carolina, Atlanta, Washington, TB, Nashville, Anaheim, San Jose, Dallas, Phoenix, Columbus and LA.

Keep: NJ, NY, NY, Philly, Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Vancouver, Calgary, MN, Colorado, Edmonton.

Put another team in Toronto, also put a team back in Winnipeg. Put another 3-5 teams in Canada, and leave it at that. Hockey is too watered down, and Americans have made it terrible.

 

fin

 

good read. Hockey isn't the problem, its Bettman and what he's done to it. Like I said, kill most of the teams in the south, and out west, put a couple more in Canada, and you'll have better hockey thats more exciting to watch.

 

problem with contraction is the NHLPA--cutting jobs doesn't sit well with any union.

 

eh, most is wishful thinking, but if things keep going the way they're going, there will be another lock out in a few years, and hockey will surely be done. So piss off the players union or NHL fold all together?