WHY GARY BETTMAN IS THE WORST COMMISSIONER IN SPORTS

When former NBA executive Gary Bettman took over the job of commissioner of the NHL on February 1, 1993, he wasn't exactly the most seasoned hockey mind. Bettman's lack of experience, in fact was so well known that famed hockey writer Pat Williams stated "I gave Gary a hockey puck once and he spent the rest of the day trying to open it." Nearly two decades later, Bettman is still hockey's head honcho, and it's not really clear how much he has learned. What is clear though, is the multitude of problems facing professional hockey, all of which make Bettman the worst commissioner in pro sports today.

Bettman started to ruin the sport by watering down the NHL with too many teams and moving existing teams into markets that clearly don't give a crap about hockey. While the Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim had already been announced as expansion franchises when Bettman came into power, he has since added the Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers (1999), Minnesota Wild (2000), and Columbus Blue Jackets (2000). Minnesota, colloquially known as "the State of hockey", needed a team after the state's beloved North Stars moved south to Dallas in 1993.

Bettman further attempted to shift the NHL's focus into the American south by relocating teams from the hockey hotbed in the great white north. The Quebec Nordiques packed up and moved to Denver in 1995, the Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes one year later, and a year after that the Hartford Whalers moved to Raleigh and became the Carolina Hurricanes.

Furthermore, Bettman has been accused as having an anti-Canada bias, a seemingly ridiculous stance for the leader of a sport so popular north of the border to have. But when multi-millionaire Jim Balsillie reached a tentative agreement to buy the Predators with the hopes of moving them to Hamilton, Ontario, Bettman wouldn't allow it. The Preds had just finished their best regular season in team history, yet were ranked 21st in the league in average attendance. When Balsillie went to put season ticket orders for the Hamilton Predators on Ticketmaster, he received more than 7,000 deposits on the first day alone. Despite having somewhere around 12,000 deposits from Hamilton fans (more than the Nashville season ticket base), Balsillie, who had done this to prove Hamilton as a viable NHL market, had his bid rejected by the league for not putting forth "a good faith effort" to keep the team in it's current location.

Bettman, who was tabbed as commissioner primarily to end the league's labor problems, has been forced into lockouts on two separate occasions, in 1994-95, and again in 2004-05. The NHL became the first major professional sports league to cancel an entire season of play after the second of the lockouts could not be resolved in time to start the regular season in early October.

The league is still feeling the effects from the lockout, and may not fully recover for years to come. One major problem that has since developed is the lack of suitable television coverage. Hockey is probably the best sport to watch in high definition, yet nationally televised NHL games primarily appear on Versus, a small network that is hard to find for non-hockey fans. It's not something anybody is going to stumble across while channel surfing. Not a good way to attract more fans.

Now don't get me wrong, Bettman has done some good as commissioner of the NHL. His work to create a better salary cap has helped bring some parity to the league, and he has stabilized some of the league's financial troubles. On the whole though, Gary Bettman has been an overwhelmingly negative influence on the game of hockey.

Let's hope that one of these days he'll finally stop trying to open the puck and just drop it already.

NHL DROPS THE BALL AGAIN

As has been recounted many times (on this blog and others), the NHL has no clue what it's doing in setting precedent for suspensions. Randy Jones gets two games for nearly decapitating Patrice Bergeron, yet Sean Avery gets an "indefinite" suspension for his "sloppy seconds" comments and then isn't invited back to the team afterwards?

Well, the NHL is essentially now saying it's OK to do whatever the hell you want...as long as you are a star player. That's the only possible explanation for the Sidney Crosby/Boris Valabik tilt from a Pens-Thrashers game in Atlanta earlier this month. Crosby was clearly the third man into this fight, and took two big swings (with gloves on) at Valabik, striking him both times below the belt. His penalty? Two minutes for roughing. No fine. No suspension. Nothing.

Say this was the other way around, and Valabik had been the one cheap shotting Sid the Kid down south. You don't think NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell would have been all over it? Or say it was Alexander Ovechkin who made the sloppy seconds remarks. Would he have been suspended at all? This is just another ridiculous precedent being set by the NHL.

Crosby should probably watch out next time Pittsburgh and Atlanta meet. And the Thrashers should also probably be weary of suspensions from the head honchos upstairs. Unless of course Ilya Kovalchuk is the one taking the cheap shots.

MORE DALLAS DRAMA: AVERY WON'T RETURN TO STARS

Mark wrote a great post a while ago about Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery's comments about other NHL players dating his ex-girlfriends, and the subsequent "indefinite" suspension that followed. And now, just a couple weeks later, the plot thickens once again.

Avery, just 23 games into a four year, $15.5 million contract, will not return to the club once his suspension ends. Commissioner Gary Bettman suspended Avery for six games on November 2 for saying "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight" before a game between the Stars and Calgary Flames. Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf is dating Avery's ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert.

This seems like a convenient excuse for Dallas to rid itself of Avery. I mean, they can't really be kicking him off the team for this comment, right? Not only is it a freedom of speech issue, but it really wasn't all that vulgar. It appears that the Stars players, who were united in their decision to dump Avery, believe that he has problems beyond ex-girlfriends. If this interview is the only reason he won't return to the club, it sure seems like a gross overreaction.

One commenter on ESPN's article about the decision wrote "He should have just slashed Phanuef in the head, then he would have gotten two games, if anything." Unfortunately for the NHL, it's actually a valid point. In his blog for NESN.com, Bruins play-by-play man Jack Edwards questioned precedent in NHL suspensions. Flyers defenseman Randy Jones viciously hit Patrice Bergeron from behind, giving him a grade-3 concussion and a broken nose, and knocking him out for 72 regular season games and seven playoff games, and was suspended for two games. Same with Scott Hartnell, who took a cheap shot at Andrew Alberts and gave him a terrible concussion as well. So that's two games for cheap shots on the ice that badly injure opposing players, and six games for a comment about an ex-girlfriend in the media, and then a ban from returning to the team. Wow.

So what's next for Avery? The Stars can trade him, send him to the minors (through waivers), or buy him out for two thirds of his deal ($8 million instead of $12 million). He probably won't be flat out released, because then Dallas would need to pay him his entire salary for the next four years. Should he get claimed off waivers, his new team and the Stars would split the salary. Whatever ultimately happens with Avery doesn't matter, the NHL will look stupid either way. But that's nothing new for Gary Bettman and company.

Yes there is still more drama in Dallas. But for once it has nothing to do with TO.

YET ANOTHER REASON TO LAUGH AT THE NHL

I really wanted to get back into hockey this season. I swear. With the Bruins playing as well as they are (and myself being unemployed and bored), I figured now was as good a time as any to start watching hockey regularly.

But the worst commissioner in sports, Gary Bettman, continues to do his best to cultivate the laughing stock image of hockey he has so successfully created in his tenure. His most recent bonehead decision is the suspension of Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery for comments about his ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert. Here's Avery's quote:

"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada," he said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight."

The trauma. The horror. How will our children sleep at night with Sean Avery's words creeping into their bedrooms at night and raping their eardrums.

As a result of his comments, Bettman decided to suspend Avery INDEFINITELY. This comes the same day as the New York Giants suspended Plaxico Burress for the remainder of the season. Let's compare infractions.

Plaxico Burress:
-Carrying a concealed weapon in a club
-Carrying a weapon without a permit
-Discharging said concealed, unpermitted weapon inside club into his leg
-Trying to find a hospital where incident would not be reported
-Checking into hospital under a fake name
-Trying to dispose of said concealed, unpermitted, weapon somewhere in New Jersey

Sean Avery:
-Made fun of another hockey player for dating his ex-girlfriend

Burress is slapped with a 4 game suspension, Avery is suspended INDEFINITELY. I cannot stress this enough. If Gary Bettman has any sense left whatsoever, he will make this a one game suspension and get it over with. It is a complete joke. Not only is it not even remotely worthy of deserving suspension, but should also be protected within the first amendment. This is a free speech issue! In other sports, when atheletes say non-politically correct things, they are fined. But in hockey, you are suspended INDEFINITELY. Welcome to the first sport that runs itself like the Chinese government.