Bett Against Balsillie...Again

Everyone knows there are a bunch of NHL teams wasting away in American cities that seem reluctant to pay to watch a foreign sport. Hockey doesn't mean much in the home of country music or an artificial desert oasis. But those (and other) cities are the creation of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's vision. He sees the spread of hockey into all large American markets. Unfortunately, the fact that those cities won't support hockey doesn't seem to mean much to him.

The latest news is that the struggling Phoenix Coyotes, who've been borrowing money from the league to pay its bills, have filed for bankruptcy. And, connected or not, Research-in-Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie has taken another shot at bringing a second team to Southern Ontario. Bettman has shot Balsillie down before, ostensibly because Bettman likes to support NHL teams in their current markets.

So why has Bettman remained so steadfast in his dedication to failing teams? Because those teams are his babies. Letting Balsillie take one of those teams to Canada means Bettman's vision is blurred. Never mind that everyone can already see that's true, in Bettman's mind, there's no real evidence that his idea is a bust. A moved team would be that real evidence.

There is no other explanation for why Bettman would consistently bet against the sure thing that Balsillie offers. A billionaire buyer who's putting money up-front (and whose business is still growing in a contracting economy) and who wants to put a team in the most under-served hockey market in North America seems like a safe bet. Another team in Southern Ontario would increase revenues for the league, thereby helping Bettman's other struggling babies. But Bettman apparently misses that point.

Why, logically speaking, would the NHL put a team in a city that is missing the two key ingredients for hockey? No cold and no water to freeze anyway! Because, for Bettman, there is media money, corporate money, and a large population base there. Forget that Phoenix media, corporations, and people don't really care about hockey.

Why is Bettman telling Balsillie to buzz off? Because Bettman isn't interested in another Canadian team. He's got his eye on the city of sin and lights.

This year's NHL Awards Ceremony is being held in Las Vegas. Various teams have been rumoured over the past few years to have been talking about relocating to Vegas. It is the fastest growing city in the United States and its specialty is entertainment. Never mind that the city has never had a successful major professional sports franchise (the city currently has 3 minor-pro teams, only one of which is more than 6 years old, and the list of failed professional sports teams is surprisingly lengthy). It seems Bettman is blinded by the lights of the Strip.

Bettman has improved the game, no doubt about it. The new NHL, with no tolerance for clutch-and-grab hockey, is a vastly improved product over that of the slow '90s. But the league is now bogged down with struggling franchises in weak hockey markets. Why not bring another team into Southern Ontario (K-W, Hamilton, Toronto...), Winnipeg, or Quebec City to help stabilize league revenues, then look into expansion into promising American markets (Kansas City, Milwaukee, Seattle...)? After all, there is rumour that Bettman wants a 32 team league.

Give Balsillie his Hamilton Coyotes, then put teams in Winnipeg and Kansas City (or Seattle) by 2015. This gives the NHL another strong franchise to prepare for expansion, then levels out the temporary east-west asymmetry.

What do I think will really happen when Bettman gets his way? The Coyotes stay in Arizona, and the league expands into Las Vegas and Kansas City within 10 years.

Ironic...

I started a new blog on www.wordpress.com (I wouldn't normally advertise the competition, but it has some features I like better) today.

I'm not giving you the URL or giving you any hints how to find it because I want to remain anonymous, but eventually I'll point you towards it.

Anyway, after writing the "About" page, I clicked the spell check button and it identified only one misspelled word: "blog".

How ironic.

Two New CDs

I recently took advantage of a 2 for $20 deal at the local record store. I bought Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Rust Never Sleeps (1979), and the Who's Live at Leeds (recorded in 1970).

Rust Never Sleeps has quickly become one of my favourite albums. From the acoustic "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" to the proto-grunge "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)", the album gives you everything you need from music.

Young uses the first five tracks to assuage the listener with classic folk excellence. "Pocahontas" and "Sail Away" combine with "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" to give the first half of this album the credentials required to be listed among great folk-rock works.

Then comes "Powderfinger", "Welfare Mothers", "Sedan Delivery" and "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Blue)" to jolt the listener out of their lull. These four tracks, highlighted by the first and last, rock with an unabashed distortion that could easly have come from Seattle in the early 1990s.

Live at Leeds is my first Who record. I previously bought their greatest hits package Then and Now! 1964-2004 and was disappointed. The collection features many of the over-produced, over-exposed classics we all know. It was only when a friend lent me his copy of The Who: Live at Kilburn 1977 that I decided to give the band another look.

The DVD showed my why the Who are so highly regarded and it prompted me to buy their classic album Live at Leeds. This album shows the Who in their prime and in their element. Songs that seemed too clean, like "Substitute," "Magic Bus," and "I Can't Explain," come alive on this album. Songs that I always loved, such as "Shakin' All Over" and "My Generation," take on a whole new life. This is how the Who should be heard.

Political Polarity

A few days back my good friend Pat McIver suggested that we combine our efforts into one blog. I was flattered that he thought highly enough of my babblings to invite me to post them alongside his own. So we now have a new URL:

http://www.politicalpolarity.com

From this point forward the vast majority of my posts will be made to that address. I will, however, continue to post apolitical notes here.

The new format will allow our readers to view both sides of the arguments on one site, thereby eliminating the need to follow links between our two sites. I hope you enjoy the new blog!