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How can Bettman remain as commissioner...?


SDS

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Seriously, how can the NHL continue to have this guy get booed unmercifully every time he pops his head out of the rabbit hole? It is an utter embarrassment to the league that the Stanley Cup can't be presented w/o the highest ranking official treated like an axe murderer.

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Bettman should get a tremendous amount of credit for saving hockey in Pittsburgh and he gets booed there.

 

What kood-aid are you drinking? Let's also thank him for adding those hockey stalwarts Nashville, Miami, Columbus, Phoenix and Carolina to the league. The man who folded like a tent during Brett Hull's goal will always earn a boo from me. I have friends who work in Sports marketing and love hockey. They comment on how badly the NHL is run and the piss poor marketing job the league does in both nations.

 

ok I'm done venting.

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What kood-aid are you drinking?

 

Not the Pittsburgh kind. The guy saved Pittsburgh, and made that team the central focus of the league's American marketing. Many reasons to boo the guy. I am just pointing out that Pittsburgh may be the one place where the guy probably believes he shouldn't get booed.

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Not the Pittsburgh kind. The guy saved Pittsburgh, and made that team the central focus of the league's American marketing. Many reasons to boo the guy. I am just pointing out that Pittsburgh may be the one place where the guy probably believes he shouldn't get booed.

 

And then there's that other thing that no one here wants to hear. He did quite a bit to keep the Sabres here as well. Would another commissioner have done the same thing? Probably, but this is the one that did.

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And then there's that other thing that no one here wants to hear. He did quite a bit to keep the Sabres here as well. Would another commissioner have done the same thing? Probably, but this is the one that did.

 

which is all fine and dandy. this isn't even a comment on his performance (at least directly). I'm just amazed that someone so unpopular can remain the head of an organization that is struggling to make gains. Having your top guy booed during the climax of your season is unfathomable.

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And then there's that other thing that no one here wants to hear. He did quite a bit to keep the Sabres here as well. Would another commissioner have done the same thing? Probably, but this is the one that did.

 

Yea, but he kept them here just so he could screw us again in the future. It's basically on a check list:

 

Expand the salary cap again: CHECK

Crap TV deal with Versus: CHECK

Half-assed marketing job: CHECK

Screw Buffalo: CHECK

 

Haha but seriously, I am in the crowd that is still mad about the Hull goal. I'll never be OK with it, and I don't wanna hear from people (especially fans of other teams) how I'm living in the past and need to get over it. So I'll leave you with two words that will be the final two words of this post...NO GOAL.

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What kood-aid are you drinking? Let's also thank him for adding those hockey stalwarts Nashville, Miami, Columbus, Phoenix and Carolina to the league. The man who folded like a tent during Brett Hull's goal will always earn a boo from me. I have friends who work in Sports marketing and love hockey. They comment on how badly the NHL is run and the piss poor marketing job the league does in both nations.

 

ok I'm done venting.

 

Do you really want the commissioner of a sports league to play referee/video replay official? Did you ever have a secret desire to see Tagliabooboo under the kinky curtain?

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Yea, but he kept them here just so he could screw us again in the future. It's basically on a check list:

 

Expand the salary cap again: CHECK

Crap TV deal with Versus: CHECK

Half-assed marketing job: CHECK

Screw Buffalo: CHECK

 

Haha but seriously, I am in the crowd that is still mad about the Hull goal. I'll never be OK with it, and I don't wanna hear from people (especially fans of other teams) how I'm living in the past and need to get over it. So I'll leave you with two words that will be the final two words of this post...NO GOAL.

You're living in the past! So am I, no goal. Either way, Bettman knows what to expect being the commissioner of the NHL. Anyone watch the NFL draft? Here comes Goodell! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Everyone will always have a problem with the big wigs of any league. Hell, i was a yankees fan for a while but always hated Steinbrenner.

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Do you really want the commissioner of a sports league to play referee/video replay official? Did you ever have a secret desire to see Tagliabooboo under the kinky curtain?

 

With the Stanley Cup on the line with a goal that CLEARLY was illegal and he's in the building? - YES!!!

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Not the Pittsburgh kind. The guy saved Pittsburgh, and made that team the central focus of the league's American marketing. Many reasons to boo the guy. I am just pointing out that Pittsburgh may be the one place where the guy probably believes he shouldn't get booed.

All very true. I think that just goes to show how widely reviled the guy is.

 

 

I'm just amazed that someone so unpopular can remain the head of an organization that is struggling to make gains. Having your top guy booed during the climax of your season is unfathomable.

I think part of how he's received around the league is a product of the age - fans are quick to jump all over a person in such a position of authority and once they've turned on someone, there's no going back.

 

But there's a larger part of it that is a product of the visceral reaction that so many people have to the guy - that unwavering instinct to distrust him. For my own part, he's done nothing to make me want to shake that instinct, and has done much to reinforce it.

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which is all fine and dandy. this isn't even a comment on his performance (at least directly). I'm just amazed that someone so unpopular can remain the head of an organization that is struggling to make gains. Having your top guy booed during the climax of your season is unfathomable.

A guy getting booed during his climax can never be a good thing.

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which is all fine and dandy. this isn't even a comment on his performance (at least directly). I'm just amazed that someone so unpopular can remain the head of an organization that is struggling to make gains. Having your top guy booed during the climax of your season is unfathomable.

 

The value of teams has gone through the roof since he's been in the league. I'm sure the same would've happened with any other commissioner, but he's the one that was in office during that time. Yes, some teams are losing money, but as a whole, the league has made quite a bit of money. As long as the guys that employ him are the ones stuffing their pockets, they won't change a thing.

 

Don't other commissioners get booed at the end of their season too? I want to say I've seen it with David Stern, but then again, thats basketball and I could care less. It gets to the point where the fans are booing the position of commissioner itself and not the person. So many of those fans don't know a thing about Bettman, but they boo because its cool.

 

By the way, in case anyone thinks it, I'm not defending the guy (I'd have to shoot myself).

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How would that have worked? Would you have had Bettman take back the Cup from the Stars?

 

Video review the goal? I wouldn't have given them the cup in the first place until the arguments were settled. Remember the entire team was going postal on the refs. The game ended late, he got lazy and wanted it finished.

 

But I'm not alone in that thinking...

 

 

The rule that caused all the trouble no longer exists. At the time, players were not allowed in the goalie's crease unless the puck was already there. Here's how the rule was worded:

 

"Unless the puck is in the goal crease area, a player of the attacking side may not stand in the goal crease. If a player has entered the crease prior to the puck, and subsequently the puck should enter the net while such conditions prevail, the apparent goal shall not be allowed."

 

This rule was strictly enforced, using video review. Players carrying the puck were allowed to take it into the crease (as long as they didn't interfere with the goalie). But if any player on the attacking team arrived in the crease before the puck, it was no goal. This helped protect goalies, but too many goals were disallowed because players inadvertently had the toe of a skate in the crease before a teammate scored. It was a dumb, frustrating rule.

 

When Brett Hull scored his early morning Cup-winner in June, it looked like a classic case of no goal:

# Hull shoots; Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek saves.

# The rebound bounces outside the crease.

# With his skate, Hull kicks the puck forward to his stick. But as he is kicking the puck, his left skate slides into the blue paint. If you freeze that moment, Hull is guilty. He's in the crease, the puck isn't.

# With his left skate planted in the crease, Hull shoots again. This time he scores. The Stars celebrate, the Sabres freak out.

 

So how did the NHL justify the decision to let the goal stand? Here's what Bryan Lewis, NHL Supervisor of Officials, had to say:

 

"A puck that rebounds off the goalie, the goal post or an opposing player is not deemed to be a change of possession, and therefore Hull would be deemed to be in possession or control of the puck, allowed to shoot and score a goal even though the one foot would be in the crease in advance of the puck.

 

"Hull had possession and control of the puck. The rebound off the goalie does not change anything. It is his puck then to shoot and score albeit a foot may or may not be in the crease prior to."

 

"Did he or did he not have possession and control? Our view was yes, he did. He played the puck from his foot to his stick, shot and scored."

 

So in the NHL's view, the entire sequence - shot, rebound, kick, second shot - constitutes one instance of "possesion" by Brett Hull. As long as he and the puck are one, his presence in the crease is not illegal.

 

Throughout the season, goals very similar to Hull's had been disallowed. Considering all the evidence, I conclude that the league blew the call and then scrambled like hell to cover its ass.

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what he said.

 

after a brief review and correct call (without any covering of the ass), have the ref come out to center ice, and wave off the apparent goal. clear the ice and continue the game. simple.

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Hockey fans are smart, they understand the game and are passionate about the sport. Having a clown like Bettman drive the ship hurts.

 

Well said. I think that concisely sums it up. He comes off as as sneaky little weasel businessman who doesn't know hockey. None of that appeals to die-hards.

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How would that have worked? Would you have had Bettman take back the Cup from the Stars?

PA,

 

All he had to do was not allow the throng of people onto the ice until after the play was reviewed. Real blankin' simple and IMHO not done because the league thought they'd look bad if the SC winning goal came after a review. They looked 1000 times worse by giving the SC away on a play that CLEARLY wouldn't have been a goal had it occurred in regulation time without the Zamboni doors open and pouring people onto the ice.

 

The replay of the play in question was never shown on the Jumbotron. I know for a FACT that the reason the play wasn't shown on the Jumbotron is the LEAGUE wouldn't allow it. (And who was the highest ranking league official in the building at the time?)

 

Also, the league's argument that Hull was in control of the puck is bull. Control and possession are 2 separate things; if they weren't, a guy fumbling the puck as he crosses the blue line wouldn't be offsides as a player in CONTROL of the puck may proceed it over the blueline. Possession is NOT equivalent to control. Hull did possess the puck (Holzinger could have legally sent him into Monday morning) after he shot. How in the hell does one control something he shot away?

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