Where have you gone Stevie Y?

by Gene

I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was my first communion and my mother gave me a present to celebrate. She handed me an envelope and a card. Inside the envelope were two tickets to see the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. I was 8. I still remember sitting in the upper deck, feeling so small and like I was a million miles away, but still, my dad and I loved it. Then, during the second intermission, a huge line of people formed on the steps next to me and my dad.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Oh, I think Gordie Howe is signing autographs during intermission tonight.” I looked up and sure enough, there was Mr. Hockey, signing away, shaking hands, always with a smile on his face. I was hooked.

Fast forward 22 years later and I’m still an avid hockey fan, or at least I was, until the events of today will most likely leave me scarred forever regarding my favorite professional sport. Today, for the first time in North American history, the NHL became the first professional sports league to cancel an entire season due to a labor dispute. Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announced at 11:00 A.M. and I’m sure him and his owners couldn’t be happier.

What a pathetic day it is to be an NHL fan. Here the millions of us are, listening to the signs that an agreement may be reached, and then learning that the season was cancelled due to a difference of $6.5 million in a salary cap proposal. The sad thing is, even with this cap, it wouldn’t solve the problems the league faced and I think most fans admit this. What’s even more sad is that the chief problem isn’t going anywhere…and that problem’s name is Gary Bettman.

Gary Bettman came to the NHL from the NBA in the early 90s. The owners voted him in as their first commissioner on the thought that he could do for the NHL what him and David Stern did for the NBA. Unfortunately, he did just that. Over the last 10 years, eight new teams have been added to the league, franchises relocated, tv ratings plummeted, and salaries and ticket prices escalated to never-before-seen rates.

Kudos Mr. Bettman to a job well done.

Pieces of blame lie all around in the shrapnel that once was the NHL as we once knew it – and don’t think for a second the game will ever be the same, not for a long time. The players caved to a cap, only after saying for months they would never do it. The owners, meanwhile, never really “negotiated” and after all, aren’t they the ones who have blindly thrown money around to third-line centers (thanks New York! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out).

But, when this is all said and done, blame can be squarely placed at the footsteps of the NHL Commissioner. The man came into what was admittedly the fourth biggest professional league in the U.S. With visions of grandeur and dollar signs (thanks to the hundreds of millions the league owners recouped in expansion fees), Bettman has successfully ignored the die-hard hockey fans of what is a niche-sport, and allowed it to fall below the ranks of the PGA and NASCAR. Instead of fast-paced action, what was once an exciting sport has turned into a dull, clutching-and-grabbins style of play that doesn't bring in any new fans. Of course, had Bettman made the league enforce existing rules, this wouldn't have happend.

There are so many mistakes, there isn't enough bandwidth to discuss them. Some of the biggest mistakes include: allowing for Wayne Gretzky to be fleeced from Edmonton to L.A., leading to unproven expansion in markets that don't care about hockey; focusing far too much attention to outlawing fighting in order to gain new, non-violent loving fans, thus alienating long-time fans; and last but not least, accepting a collective bargaining agreement in 1995 that did nothing to resolve the problems of the day. Today's lockout is simply an extension of Bettman's inability to bridge a gap with players over the last ten years.

How did it all come to this? The answer is simple. Greed and ego…with a lot of help by one man alone. The main person in charge. Gary Bettman.

May he rot in hell, becuase players like Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Chris Chelios and Al MacInnis don't come around every year. I've been watching those players since I was 8. And now, all of them have most likley played their last game, and it wasn't on their own terms. Those players deserve better. The league deserves better. The fans deserve better.

The sooner the owners and their patsy Gary Bettman realize this, the better. Unfortunately, it may be too late.