THN.com Blog: League would be smart to allow Burke-Lowe feud to fester
Kevin Lowe had plenty to say about his Anaheim counterpart during an interview last week. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Adam Proteau
2008-07-07 13:34:39
When Oilers GM Kevin Lowe finally answered some of Brian Burke’s pointed criticisms of him with a few nasty shots of his own late last week, the garden-variety tsk-tsking and haughty pleas for proper decorum were quick to follow.
“Where has all the civility gone?” was the general theme emanating from the Miss Manners representatives, some of whom were so appalled by the escalating war of words, they demanded NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to step in and put an immediate halt to the public feud between Lowe and his counterpart in Anaheim.
Bettman reportedly did just that Monday, telling the two GMs to simmer down during a conference call.
Too bad.
I would've loved nothing more than to see Bettman add more fuel to the fire and give Lowe and Burke (a) full license to draw caricatures of each other in public, (b) two of those giant cotton swab devices they use on American Gladiators, and (c) a dump truck’s worth of salt for each other’s wounds.
It doesn’t matter whether you believe Burke’s notion that Lowe single-handedly drove up player costs with his lucrative offers to other teams’ restricted free agents, or Lowe’s assertion that Burke is “an absolute media junkie” who deserves little credit for building the Ducks into a Stanley Cup champion.
What matters here is people are talking about hockey in July – and, most importantly, the next time the Ducks and Oilers play, there will be a huge buildup of hype and anticipation regarding what the next chapter of the dueling GMs will read like.
In case you’ve completely lost the plot, hype and anticipation is what the NHL needs most these days. With the competition committee and changes to the game, the league has gone a ways toward improving its steak; now they need to improve the sizzle that has to go along with it.
You don’t do that by issuing a gag order. You can’t capture the attention of casual fans and newbies by playing nicey-nice and treating any organically grown drama as if it were a benign tumor to be lanced and forgotten about.
Anyone who has followed the rise of NASCAR and the Ultimate Fighting Championship group knows the promotion of personalities – especially when those personalities clash – is a major reason for their ascendance in the era of sports-as-entertainment.
Despite that fact, the NHL carries on as it always has – i.e. utterly terrified one of its employees will say something unconventional and/or challenging to a particular paradigm. And that’s a big part of the reason why hockey is often treated as the vanilla ice cream of the Baskin Robbins sporting world.
No guts, no glory, as they say. So here’s hoping the league doesn’t completely disembowel two men whose mutual distaste for one another ought to be underscored and not undermined in the name of congeniality.
Adam Proteau is The Hockey News' online columnist and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Mondays and Wednesdays, his Ask Adam feature appears Fridays, and his column, Screen Shots, appears Thursdays.
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Dan H (Posted 2008-07-08 17:31:40)
He should publicly state what the fines will be to avoid any suspected favortism.
Rick Martin (Posted 2008-07-08 14:39:12)
I absolutely agree with Muttley tha first
Brian P (Posted 2008-07-08 14:30:50)
If Bettman actually ever publicly fines one of them for talking smack about the other then I'll believe they want to put a stop to it. Otherwise I think this phone conference thing was just for appearances. Even if the league wants this feud to spice up the league they can't look like that's what they want, so have a conference call about it where you say you've told both sides to cool it, have them lie low for a couple of weeks, then watch it flare up again, especially during the season just before the Oilers and Ducks play each other.
muttley tha first (Posted 2008-07-08 13:08:26)
If you ever assert that hockey should be more like NASCAR or Ultimate Fighting again, you should be beaten mercilessly on the spot.
Paul Lefebvre (Posted 2008-07-08 09:21:17)
Bettman immediately addresses a little verbal warfare, but does nothing about the financial stake of owners in LA and now Minnesota in the Nashville transaction? Is it because he's afraid of going down with them? My money says Bettman and Daly are gone before the 2008-09 season. We nned a hockey guy like Colin Campbell running things.
Pedro (Posted 2008-07-07 20:34:31)
Burke.......ALPHA male, Kevin is, was and always has been. Regardless if he fought or not in the NHL, it takes a certain type to succeed at the level Kevin did when he played and you don't get that from a follower. Fat man would last 5 minutes...tops....few too many grease burgers have your boy hard on the inside but soft and flabby outside.
Dan H (Posted 2008-07-07 19:37:10)
In other NHL news the WINDY city has been awarded the OUTDOOR game next season. I was personaly waiting for news saying that GARY BETTMAN was being sent FLYING OUT of the DOOR
Burke Rocks (Posted 2008-07-07 19:33:59)
Pedro Lowe never fought as a player what makes you think he could do anything as a middleage small time gm
Kurt Alan (Posted 2008-07-07 18:09:25)
(Even as an Avs fan) I have to agree with Motor City Man and Jim R. But, I'd combine what the two of you are saying. I think it's really the combination of helmets/visors and the addition of the instigator rule. With the instigator rule, players who may take cheap shots aren't as worried about instant retaliation; and with the helmets/visors players feel that they, and their opponents, are more protected and therefore they play a little harder/riskier. I can't find any specifics, but I remember when the NHL went to mandatory helmets there was an article about how head/neck injuries had jumped significantly in college hockey when they went to mandatory helmets (maybe it was mandatory full face shields.)
Suppose I should mention the blog: it's a personal opinion, but I think of Lowe as a real hockey guy, and Burke as a tool. I do agree with Adam though, if it's got people talking hockey in July, then it's not all bad.
Skeezix (Posted 2008-07-07 18:08:36)
If this is the start of an ongoing feud between the Ducks and the Oil, maybe they should get the captain of the Exxon Valdez to drop the puck at upcoming games!
Chris B (Posted 2008-07-07 18:06:31)
I'm shaking my head here... now I love Kevin Lowe sticking up for himself and finally fighting back after what Burke's been doing to him. However if the NHL starts to encourage this kind of thing, they'll really start following something very similar to the plot of Slap Shot. I think this suggestion crosses the line in determining the difference between competition & circus. If it happens, fine let it happen, but don't start encouraging it by doing nothing.... that would be like dropping not only the instigator but fighting majors as well.... that would definitely be more entertaining, but it takes away from the purity of the game.
Motor City Man (Posted 2008-07-07 17:42:00)
I with ya Jim, but the instigator rule has more to do with it than the lids, you hit someone from behind in those days and you WOULD have to answer the bell on the very next shift, if you had not already. Players had a mutual respect those days and you didn't have wee-mites acting as fools along the boards like they do in Bettman's NbaHL. I think thats why the warmups are so cool, except when Brenden Witt was doing his caveman/ biker hair thing, you get to see the players in a different light.
Jim Reinecke (Posted 2008-07-07 17:22:27)
I couldn't agree with you more, Adam; however, if the league wants to provide further personality to the game, why not try something that would promote individuality in players and make them a little more recognizable to the public. . .namely, going back to the good old days when helmets where optional. (Yes, Adam, I can here you all the way down here in St. Louis screaming "Horrors!!!!") Before all of the Nervous Nellies out there start reacting like a mother seeing her six year old trying to climb a seven foot fence with the childhood cliche of "Get down off there, you'll break your neck!", take a look at the number of concussions that we've had in the league since headgear became mandatory (blame John Ziegler for that, who makes Bettman seem like Pete Rozelle by comparison) compared to the late sixties to mid-seventies when helmets were optional; they were virtually non-existent. I can still remember when I watched my beloved Blues in the early seventies and could tell Barclay Plager by his short, close-cropped hairdo, Garry Unger by his long, flowing blonde locks and even an obscure penalty killer by the name of Gerry Odrowski, who nevertheless was easily identifiable by the fact that he was nearly bald, even though he was in his late twenties. I'm not saying that anyone who CHOOSES to wear a helmet of a piece of plexiglass that further depersonalizes players should be forced to discard it, I'm just saying that anyone who CHOOSES to be so bold and daring that he would actually allow the paying customers (who are paying more and more every season) to see him as an individual should be treated like an adult, not a 9-year-old in a bantam league. (I will now wait for all those afflicted with Nannyism to call me a Cro-Magnon, a barbarian, etc. . .go ahead, but I'm still pointing out that concussions were NOT as prevalent then as they are now.)
Dan H (Posted 2008-07-07 17:10:47)
Where is the accountability Mr Bettman? You never seem to address us fans. Simply releasing a statement saying the two GMs have been put on notice is not good enough. Where is the substance? How about answering some questions of our ?'s Mr Bettman. What lead you to this dicission? Why was Burke allowed to carry on for over a year about this? Us fans as a whole have to do something about this guy. He does not listen to us fans and I for one am sick of It. Being in a group of friends who share a season ticket I will ask for the first 5 game of this upcoming season and give my ticket away to some kids as part of my BOYCOTT and hope that others follow suit. Gary Bettman needs to be etheir fired or start listening to us. Plus it would be nice to see our NHL arena's filled with a future genaration of hockey fans and send a statment to the head office in NY at the same time.
johnnyb (Posted 2008-07-07 16:03:11)
I like Guzy's comment. Not big on the goonery of the 70s and 80s but the b.s. of the scrum after the wistle during the playoffs was sickening: face washes, small slashes, clutching, grabbing, and i assume discussions of the virtues of people's mothers. Every pipsqueek and trash talking lightweight got to play tough guy at the end of every scoring chance. It was pathetic. Either get a decent fight going or shut the hell up. Same with GMs. You hate each other so shrug off Bettman and go at it. Turning hockey teams, managers and players into safe (read: bland and lifeless) corporate hacks will kill this game.
Emily Beezwax (Posted 2008-07-07 15:10:26)
An Adam Proteau column that encourages fighting? I never thought I'd see one of those!
Sean (Posted 2008-07-07 14:48:15)
* Robbie Ftorek
Pedro (Posted 2008-07-07 14:24:41)
I remember the slew-foots, can-openers and all the other mucking it up behind the play that was allowed "in the spirit of competition" and who could forget Bobby Fetoruk tossing the bench on the ice. I think the game has changed, we saw it with the Bertuzzi incident, it has to be the kind and gentel type of game, so not to draw attention with the softer side of America, you know the same soft Americans who flip you off in traffic, from the safe confines of their car, but would never do it to your face because the have no backbone. The internet provides them with a safe area to throw insults about and provide plenty of critizim of anything they feel is "flavor of the day" important. The game caters to these types of Americans and it is sad that two GM's squabbling is BIG NEWS. Maybe when they roll up the sleves and go fist-a-cuffs, thats when it becomes interesting for me. Old-school, you got an alligator mouth, you'd better have the brawn to back it up. I'd love to see Kevin impose his will on chubby boy Burke.
Joe Guzy (Posted 2008-07-07 14:02:33)
I absolutely agree with you on this point. I remember back when I was 7 or 8 (I am now 35) and watching great team rivalries, coaches yelling at one another from their benches, players dropping the gloves to pummel one another where has it gone. Now a days a player drops his gloves to fight after a dirty play by the other team and he is going to wind up with an instigator penalty, so in reality the victimized team is penalized twice.
Let us please get back to OLD TIME Hockey where you better have your head on a swivel.
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