theman19 47 Report post Posted March 3, 2008 Should he? Yes, Will he? Not a chance in hell. An to any person who tirelessly tries to defend his actions over and over again,...please tell me where we should place the blame on the sad state of the NHL right now. The owners? Which ones? The players, that was debunked post lockout, the fickle fickle fans,...utter bull-hockey (pun intented) He's the guy in charge,....it's no more stupid than every slack jawed college kid in america blaming every problem our country has on Bush, but ya know what? A good bit of it actually is his fault, and since he's the guy in charge he deserves a good share of the blame. If a team is tanking despite a good roster, the coach is the first to go. That's just sports, So why is our great and wonderful sport being run by a guy who is almost univerally hated across the board? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eva unit zero 271 Report post Posted March 3, 2008 Should he? Yes, Will he? Not a chance in hell. An to any person who tirelessly tries to defend his actions over and over again,...please tell me where we should place the blame on the sad state of the NHL right now. The owners? Which ones? The players, that was debunked post lockout, the fickle fickle fans,...utter bull-hockey (pun intented) He's the guy in charge,....it's no more stupid than every slack jawed college kid in america blaming every problem our country has on Bush, but ya know what? A good bit of it actually is his fault, and since he's the guy in charge he deserves a good share of the blame. If a team is tanking despite a good roster, the coach is the first to go. That's just sports, So why is our great and wonderful sport being run by a guy who is almost univerally hated across the board? People slam Bettman for not putting the NHL on ESPN after the lockout. Are you even old enough to remember the NHL in the 80s and early 90s? You know, back in the days when the NHL was NOT ON ESPN, and half the games weren't even televised? Bettman gets slammed because the current state of the NHL's TV deals are not quite as good as the previous ones HE ACQUIRED. It's like slamming a guy with 5 consecutive 50-goal seasons for only scoring 45. The NHL's revenue is WAY up from where it was even three years ago; in 2004, the players received 75% of revenue and the average payroll was 41m. Now, the average payroll is closer to 48m, yet players only receive 55% of revenues. The NHL is FAR better for revenue and television exposure than it was pre-Bettman. So then what is your complaint? You don't like the way rules are called now? Guess what; the only thing they changed at the top as far as penalties was to make sure refs were calling it by the book and the entire length of the game, no whistle-pocketing. The complaint for years was that refs would pocket their whistles at the end of the game, or that things wouldn't be called consistently. It still is like that to a degree, but now there is much more consistency between refs in what is or isn't a penalty. So the only reasonable choice for why people hate Bettman is...expansion? But the league already had a 30-team plan in place before he was even hired. He didn't even make a single decision regarding new expansion teams until 1997, when he was involved in picking which four cities would get teams 27-30. In conclusion, Bettman is hated because people are ignorant and assume that because he's not a 'hockey guy' that he is automatically bad for the league and that the league MUST be doing worse than it was before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
imisssergei 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2008 (edited) Is Eva the only one of sound mind here? Geez-us-krist! Bettman does what he is told to do and that is what keeps him in 'power'. Bettman hasn't done a perfect job in everything he has done, but no one does. To the person who called Leipold a 's*** owner' you need to get your facts straight. He pured more money into that franchise than nearly every other owner and lost nearly all of it. How can he be blamed for getting out of a bad business location? Seriously, he took the Preds from an expansion team, to a perennial contender. Yeah, come to think of it, you are right. Who would want an owner who is willing to spend money on his team, and try to win a Cup. That's just crazy talk. Edited March 3, 2008 by imisssergei Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
