When there is nothing better to print, they come up with garbage. So today the hockey haters who claim to be writers, conjure up outrage on the schedule? If you think the NHL is bad have you ever tried to follow the NBA playoff schedule?  This is just another attempt to turn everything into a Bettman bashing event. The outrage is Bettman would dare have back to back games so that NBC (gasp) could show primetime games in the US. That Bettman would do this when CBC has to show games on the weekend at noon for NBC (gasp) is proof he hates Canada! More crap made up to use Bettman as a scape goat to hate anything non Canadian.  But Bettman is not really the target of their rage, their rage is at the US and foreigners playing hockey, that they don’t control it, that teams can play in Nashville or horrors Phoenix and MUST be stopped.  Because only those from the land of the NORTH love and protect this game. Their real fear is that hockey will grow, that the US will surpass Canada in the number of players and eventually play the game as well or better than they do at a national level. This is one reason they have turned the World Junior Championship into holy grail that must be won at all cost, or the infidels will take the sport from them. They know they can’t grow the game in Canada, but with 10 times as many people in the US it can still grow here.  Well I hope your fears come true, that the US becomes the largest hockey playing nation in the world, that we do dominate the game. We are your worst Nightmare!

Posted by tero from tacoma on 05/23/09 at 08:57 AM ET

That this came out of Vancouver and spoke of America’s NBC does not truly make it a Bettman hates Canada incident. What it does highlight is just how little respect hockey gets from all American broadcasters; NBC just happens to be the station that was willing to chip in extra pittance for the rights.

Without suggesting that American hockey fans are nothing compared to Canadian hockey fans, it remains that hockey and the NHL is so far down the ladder in the United States that it doesn’t matter how diehard their fans are, they are beat out by fans of multiple levels football, basketball, baseball, auto racing, and other sports, leaving only a scrap of television left to consider airing hockey during. The goal of teams like Phoenix is at least partially to create a widespread and national enough fanbase, adding enough eyes (eyes that Hamilton would not add) to boost hockey far enough up the ladder to command real dollars when it comes to advertising and broadcast rights.

But the League does not command that, not in any sense, and instead has to settle for the scraps that are left, compromising their integrity throughout. I’ve said it before, but I truly think that the League needs to service its fan base even further, rather than grasping at straws in the hope of converting others. They have the most tech savvy fans; it’s time to offer their product in the most tech savvy way, in conjunction with or bypassing television entirely. And no, paying $20 for a night of GameCentre or hundreds for a year-long subscription that still blacks out seemingly just as many people as it serves, that is not the answer.

Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 05/23/09 at 11:17 AM ET

If NBC offered that douche bag bettman another $5 or $10 Mil. gary would bend over before the network officials and scream:

“thank you sir may I have another”

  He and bill daly would then proceed to tell everyone who would listen that this is good for the league.

Jackass!!

Posted by dbcooper from parts unknown on 05/23/09 at 02:29 PM ET

Now we know what DB stands for!

Posted by lloyd on 05/23/09 at 03:11 PM ET