The_Admiral

The Jets are ineligible for revenue sharing this year, having made too much money. The NHL's revenue disparity is officially absurd.

Haha. Hey, something you could help me out on: when she was talking about all the cuts she had to make because the city is out of money, she was talking about firing the libraries' IT staff, since it didn't make sense to her that the library systemhad its own IT people and were "too good" to use the people the rest of the city uses. Wouldn't libraries kind of require specialists in that department? This city is kind of dumb. A non-stupid person at HFboards transcribed the entire relevant portion of the council meeting. It's amazing stuff; everyone should read it. http://hfboards.hock...9&postcount=298

I watched the video of the city council meeting. The mayor was on the verge of tears. Best part, at the end: "Now is there any reason they'll feel sorry for little old Glendale? Maybe not. But maybe there is. Because they want to take this team someplace else, and maybe other places should know what they get involved in when they get involved with the NHL. This is how I feel based on two...how long have we been fiddling around with these people? Two and half years? Three years?" "Four." "Four?!"

Isn't this thing set up so that Glendale puts each year's $25 million in escrow beforehand from the NHL to draw from? I don't think you can just say "we're not paying."

The guy who said "I want them to go bye-bye" seems to have Tea Party leanings, but he's also the same buffoon who paraded an eight-year-old boy before the council and said they just plumb couldn't say no to his sad little eyes. So I dunno. From reading that piece about the mayor resigning, I think some of the newer council members (the ones opposed to her) are against wasteful spending, but the older At Least She Got It Built types seem poised to keep the public-private combine going.

That's why Eric Lindros spurned the Nordiques. Eric Lindros spurned the Greyhounds, too. Maybe Mommy and Daddy thought Sault Ste. Marie was francophone. I think "we close libraries and swimming pools to subsidize a failing sports team" is a blow to civic pride. Or it should be. I don't know. All those teabaggers in the desert really cherry-pick which socialism they like and which socialism they don't like.

I really hope it is when and not if. I'm just an eternal pessimist. Given everything that the clown college has provided us with, it's like I'm bracing for one final parting f-u to us in the form of a fourth bailout. I'm also fearing that some of the league's power brokers will get cold feet about the American appearance of not only retreating to Canada in consecutive years but going to a city where people really don't speak much English. The Canadiens are just as English as they are French, and the Senators pay the merest of lip service to Gatineau. This would be as French as it gets. Some owners may be against the perception, albeit misplaced, of a 29-team league plus that weird French team in an otherwise English league. This is a stupid fear, since francophones constitute some of the sport's most reliable consumers, and Quebecor is primed to exploit this fact across multiple platforms, but as widely embraced as the Nordiques will be among the fans who count, I have to acknowledge that there's a real risk they have zero marketing potential beyond the province, and what should be celebrated as an important part of North America will be disregarded as foreign and misplaced. I'd like to think this shouldn't be a problem, though. It's not like they've never been in Quebec City before.

Afraid they won't. The more I've thought about it, I don't trust the lame duck mayor/council not to throw more money at the NHL since they won't have to answer for it.

I don't know what happened, but I'm losing faith that this gets done. I have a bad feeling that they'll pay another $25 million for next year, even though they don't have any money, just because the crowds were semi-decent the last few nights and the team will probably make the playoffs. They'll say "we can't give up now when we're this close" and run up another bill. The NHL has lost so much money on this thing already and they haven't given up. Not sure why they would now. They did say "never say never" about running the team a fourth year. Has a league ever owned a team for four seasons? I think the Expos/Nationals were league-owned from 2003 to the beginning/middle of 2006. That comes close. The difference there is that the league's job was to make the Expos bad so they could move them easily, but then they couldn't find an owner in Washington once they got there. The NHL's job has been to make the Coyotes better so they could be sold locally.

Haha oh man, remember when there was that Mystery Buyer who was going to buy the Thrashers (maybe the whole Atlanta Spirit package), then he turned out to be some goober who was, like, president of Dynamic Church Investments or something? And then it turned out he didn't actually have any money? Nothing's as good as Greg Jamison and/or Garry Jamieson, though.

So the Anaheim Ducks' Goose has been cooked.

Teams are terrible about maintaining the logos of their leaguemates, especially the Montreal Expos, who were terrible at maintaining everything. Look, they've got that weird proto-alternate Marlins logo, too. Wrigley Field still dragged out the navy/gold Houston Astros logo for their on-deck circle well into 2005, perhaps 2006. On one hand, it's kind of a funny little subliminal message that you're not worth the time and money to properly represent, but on the other hand, it looks kind of unprofessional, and having two bad Astros logos in the same camera shot is two too many.

So with the Mayor of Sportytown stepping down, is Glenderp now more or less likely to pay the NHL a third $25 million? Things to consider: CON: they don't have $25 million to pay PRO: hey, they're all gettin' outta here, so they aren't the ones who don't have the money to pay! CON: they don't seem to have a very cordial relationship with Gary Bettman right now PRO: yeah but honestly who does? CON: with elections on the way in their land of far-right gun nuts and gold-hoarders, the city council members are publicly talking about what a bad deal the bailout has been PRO: they do that every year and vote for it anyway. so I dunno guys!

The Canadiens cancelled their preseason game at the Colisee. Another piece of the puzzle. They also fired Pierre Gauthier, and Patrick Roy wants to get back into the NHL. Questionable piece of the puzzle. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/architects-of-glendale-pro-sports-disaster-wont-be-around-for-fallout/article2384632/ I was thinking, "whoa, that's not good," then my eyes caught something on the sidebar:

Considering the Coliseum is only accessible by car, will there still be enough parking available for the old and new buildings to co-exist? Actually, come to think of it, that's precisely why they shouldn't build right next to the existing Coliseum. That you can have that sort of venue in Greater New York with no public transit is stunning. They need to get it right this time and build on the Long Island Rail Road.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2012/03/27/20120327glendale-mayor-elaine-scruggs-will-not-seek-6th-term-brk.html The mayor of Glendale is not seeking re-election and the city manager is resigning. Rats on a sinking ship.

"Satisfactory" air quality gives me pause. Hey, if you're going to build a hockey rink, you're going to have some rat feces in there.

It doesn't "belong" to anyone, though the Blackhawks would do well to squat on Milwaukee and Madison as best they can if there's not going to be a team there.

Milwaukee as a hockey farm team for Nashville is the most upside-down affiliation in sports. It'd be like Vancouver sending its prospects to AAA San Diego.

There's a city in Quebec named Asbestos. Such a move wouldn't help them get away from their problem at all! I don't think the Nassau Coliseum is long for this world, but that doesn't mean the Islanders are similarly doomed. They're worth too much where they are.

Kaner!

Yeah they were flying banners over the Dodger's game at Camelback Ranch on Saturday trying to lure some spring training visitors over to the arena after Sunday's games to watch some hockey on Sunday. Found that just funny given that a large number of spring training go'ers aren't locals. The Blackhawks played a road game in Phoenix during spring training the last few years because of all the Cubs/Sox fans that make the visit. I can't confirm that there were Sox fans who rooted for the Coyotes because too many Cubs fans like the Blackhawks, but I can't confirm there weren't, either.

Comping playoff tickets doesn't seem very wise when you're already giving the parking away for free, but we might be in lame duck territory with today's news, anyway.

The NHL posted this and then deleted it. Predicting that they'd take it down, I cleverly screencapped it. I'd like to congratulate Quebec City on its forthcoming "NHL-style arena." I'm going to bake them a batch of chocolate chip-style cookies.

I'm sure someone will ask Peladeau and the mayor about the Coyotes, and then one of them will force "oh we wouldn't know a thing about that" through an array of snorts and giggles while the other elbows him in the side saying "shut uuup" (all this in French, of course). On the whole, the Quebecois seem to lack the discipline and stoicism of their prairie brethren, from what I've seen.