Gearing up for the Rangers-Islanders rivalry tonight when I realized... there is no rivalry. There are no rivalries in this league anymore. The reason for that is no one cares. Most people don't even know hockey is being played right now. The reason no one watches is a guy named Gary Bettman.
Long gone are the days when the Islanders, getting blown out, iced the puck with :02 left. One of the greatest coaches of all time, Al Arbour, dispatched Mick Vukota and Ken Baumgartner to beat down Jeff Bloemberg and others. That was the way this game was played... messages were sent if not for that game than the next. This happened in a playoff game in response to Chris Nilan laying out Pat LaFontaine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8SrvGjcWFg
If this fight happened today... well it wouldn't happen today because there are no fighters in the league anymore. If it did, however, the fines and suspensions would be astronomical. Take a look at what hockey was and enjoy it... you'll never see it again. Notice how quiet the crowd is when Scott Stevens and Dave Manson head to center during the St. Patrick's Day Massacre:
If this fight happened today... well it wouldn't happen today because there are no fighters in the league anymore. If it did, however, the fines and suspensions would be astronomical. Take a look at what hockey was and enjoy it... you'll never see it again. Notice how quiet the crowd is when Scott Stevens and Dave Manson head to center during the St. Patrick's Day Massacre:
There are no messages sent anymore... it costs teams and coaches too much. Take a look at this joke which is the fighting rules on nhl.com:
www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26336
This is what happens when a man takes over a professional sports league, without ever having seen a hockey game AT ANY LEVEL. Commissioner Gary Bettman worked for the NBA and David Stern... Stern sent him over to the NHL... now the sports is less watched than the NBA though it's play resembles it. Bettman incredibly is making $7.1 million a year on his crusade to ruin the sport and the league.
Another good advantage in a fight was to pull your opponents jersey over his head. You certainly can't do that anymore. If your jersey is not tied down you get an unsportsmanlike minor and a game misconduct. Are you kidding me? God forbid you put your fighter, if you have one, out there at the same time as your opponents fighter (Yeah right... 2 fighters in one game) and they drop the gloves before the faceoff. The ref can then call misconducts and give out fines if he feels it was planned.
Commissioner Gary Bettman has done everything he can to make this sport unwatchable. From idiotically expanding the league, to changing all the rules to "speed up" the game, to instilling a shootout. A shootout is a complete gimmick and an individual skills competition which has nothing to do with the flow of a hockey game. Again... this is an idiot who had never seen a hockey game of any kind before taking the position. He also "placed" Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh to save a dying franchise. The Rangers would've had the number 1 pick in the draft that year but a "new" draft lottery was instilled just in time for the game's most promising prospect. Wow... what are the odds of a bankrupt franchise getting the first pick and the team with the worst record in the league (Rangers) ending up with the 16th pick? Not good.
The penalties Bettman and the refs have instilled are ridiculous and it's just a matter of time before we're calling them "fouls". The first thing I was taught while learning hockey was to hold on to your stick. If you don't someone could knock it out of your hands. This was a great play and a "penalty" to the player that wasn't paying attention as he would be out of the play. Now they actually call a penalty for this. Can you imagine? Grown men who are professional athletes rewarded for not gripping their stick tight enough. Stick checking and solid defense are not allowed as the players use composite sticks that can break while receiving a pass. You hit a guy's stick and it breaks... you guessed it... penalty.
It's not just those penalties either. If your stick comes up on a guy and touches his hands or above his waist you're automatically in the box. Think of how many great players made their careers slowing people up. Kevin Lowe, Cam Neely, Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Jeff Beukeboom... Or even fighters like Vukota, Baumgartner, Willie Plett, Bob Probert, Tie Domi, George McPhee... most of these players wouldn't even make teams today. they've been replaced with "skill" guys who have no heart or passion for the game.
Everything Gary Bettman has done for this league... has been wrong. People used to love this sport. You'll never hear an arena louder than when there is a fight at center ice. You'll never feel the anticipation of knowing your tough guy is out to send a message in the closing minutes of the game. Those days over. Rivalries are over. And this league, which is making no money thanks to this clown, is almost over.
www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26336
This is what happens when a man takes over a professional sports league, without ever having seen a hockey game AT ANY LEVEL. Commissioner Gary Bettman worked for the NBA and David Stern... Stern sent him over to the NHL... now the sports is less watched than the NBA though it's play resembles it. Bettman incredibly is making $7.1 million a year on his crusade to ruin the sport and the league.
Another good advantage in a fight was to pull your opponents jersey over his head. You certainly can't do that anymore. If your jersey is not tied down you get an unsportsmanlike minor and a game misconduct. Are you kidding me? God forbid you put your fighter, if you have one, out there at the same time as your opponents fighter (Yeah right... 2 fighters in one game) and they drop the gloves before the faceoff. The ref can then call misconducts and give out fines if he feels it was planned.
Commissioner Gary Bettman has done everything he can to make this sport unwatchable. From idiotically expanding the league, to changing all the rules to "speed up" the game, to instilling a shootout. A shootout is a complete gimmick and an individual skills competition which has nothing to do with the flow of a hockey game. Again... this is an idiot who had never seen a hockey game of any kind before taking the position. He also "placed" Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh to save a dying franchise. The Rangers would've had the number 1 pick in the draft that year but a "new" draft lottery was instilled just in time for the game's most promising prospect. Wow... what are the odds of a bankrupt franchise getting the first pick and the team with the worst record in the league (Rangers) ending up with the 16th pick? Not good.
The penalties Bettman and the refs have instilled are ridiculous and it's just a matter of time before we're calling them "fouls". The first thing I was taught while learning hockey was to hold on to your stick. If you don't someone could knock it out of your hands. This was a great play and a "penalty" to the player that wasn't paying attention as he would be out of the play. Now they actually call a penalty for this. Can you imagine? Grown men who are professional athletes rewarded for not gripping their stick tight enough. Stick checking and solid defense are not allowed as the players use composite sticks that can break while receiving a pass. You hit a guy's stick and it breaks... you guessed it... penalty.
It's not just those penalties either. If your stick comes up on a guy and touches his hands or above his waist you're automatically in the box. Think of how many great players made their careers slowing people up. Kevin Lowe, Cam Neely, Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Jeff Beukeboom... Or even fighters like Vukota, Baumgartner, Willie Plett, Bob Probert, Tie Domi, George McPhee... most of these players wouldn't even make teams today. they've been replaced with "skill" guys who have no heart or passion for the game.
Everything Gary Bettman has done for this league... has been wrong. People used to love this sport. You'll never hear an arena louder than when there is a fight at center ice. You'll never feel the anticipation of knowing your tough guy is out to send a message in the closing minutes of the game. Those days over. Rivalries are over. And this league, which is making no money thanks to this clown, is almost over.
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