THN.com Blog: Searching for leadership

Gary Bettman has a new weekly radio show on XM Radio.

Adam Proteau
2007-11-28 13:32:37

• So, according to NHL commissioner and neophyte DJ Gary Bettman (DJ GB?), very few NHL owners want to sell their team, and there’s a line as long as the eye can see of magnates and corporations drooling at the prospect of owning one. Uh-huh.

Somebody tell that to the fine folks in Tampa Bay, who’ve just watched the agreement to buy the Lightning fall apart faster than Amy Winehouse at a rave. Didn’t seem as if there were dozens of white knights jousting for position to ride in and save the day (and the deal) there, did it?

With every rickety franchise transfer, Bettman looks worse and worse, and Jim Balsillie looks better and better.

Patience, Jim. Your time is gonna come.

• Bang-up job by the ice-cleaning crew prior to the shootout between Montreal and Toronto at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night.

No word whether the higher-ups at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment have formed a committee to search for a senior adviser to the Zamboni driver.

•  Another week, another potentially career-threatening concussion.

But remember, there’s no epidemic of head injuries in the NHL to worry about. As DJ GB told XM radio listeners yesterday, the league is in fine shape, so it’s only natural to presume all of its players have never felt better, too.

This also raises a more important philosophical question: what came first – the head injury or the unwillingness to properly address head injuries?

• Let’s finish off today with a heartwarming tale many NHL types surely will take great pride in.

A full-on brawl between eight-year-olds might turn the stomachs of more sensitive souls, but I simply can’t get enough of it. Why, we’re just letting kids blow off some steam, right? Allowing the players to police the game themselves is the way it was meant to be, right? You do understand sarcasm, right?